How to learn better

For some time now, learning has been a subject that has fascinated me. Learning is one of the things I enjoy doing the most. And because of this, I have been philosophizing about learning for a while. In this article I will share ideas that I have thought and collected about learning, and that can help you learn better.

Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets. — Leonardo Da Vinci

• Learning should be seen as something fun. Learning should feel like playing. The idea has been formed that learning is something boring.
• Learn what you love until you love to learn.
• “Curiosity is the fuel for learning”. Without curiosity learning is tedious. With curiosity learning is fun.
• Curiosity begins with a question. Ask yourself a question that genuinely interests you and seek the answer to that question. Very often, the answers to some questions can trigger other questions.
• The Internet has made it possible to learn almost anything for free. In the past people did not have this great opportunity.

The tools for learning are abundant. It’s the desire to learn that’s scarce. — Naval Ravikant

• Learning is not memorizing. Learning is understanding. When learning you should seek a deep understanding, not memorize.
• If you memorize, you will probably forget it. If you build a deep understanding, you will never forget it.
• You know you have a deep understanding of something when you are able to answer several consecutive whys, hence the importance of asking yourself questions to satisfy your curiosity.
• You can memorize something by understanding it deeply, but you can’t understand something deeply by memorizing it.

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. — Robert A. Heinlein

• The human being can learn from everything. It’s a good idea to major in something, but it’s also a good idea to learn the basics of all the subjects that interest you.
• Knowledge is an admirable goal. Don’t be ashamed to learn.
• If learning something is difficult for you, don’t worry, it doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you need more time. With enough time, dedication, and effort, you can learn anything. The educational system forces everyone to learn at the same pace. You can’t teach different people at the same pace and expect it to turn out well.
• We live in a world that is constantly changing and that is the reason why one of the best habits you can develop is to never stop learning.

In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn’t read all the time — none, zero.

I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than when they got up and boy does that help — particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.

— Charlie Munger

• Learning styles are just a preference, in fact they often do not enhance learning. The best way to learn is to engage different ways of understanding the same information.
• Each person should create their own learning method. Richard Feynman created his own method, and his method has helped many people learn. You can start by trying other people’s methods, you may not need your own.
• A learning method must be like an algorithm. It must be a series of steps in order to learn. The steps must be finite, precise and defined.
• Not all knowledge must be useful. Sometimes it is convenient to look for it for pure pleasure.
• Learning is one of the best investments a person can make, since no one can take away their knowledge and they can also have infinite returns on that knowledge.

The more you learn, the more you earn — Warren Buffett

• Knowing more and more will make you aware that you still do not know many other things. Perhaps this was what Socrates thought when he said his famous quote: “I only know that I know nothing.”