Here are three key components to effective learning which will, in the long run, save you time, money and energy.

1.  If you can’t understand the instructor, quit or change instructors.

I know that’s not always possible but it is so critical to your learning and absorbing the information as quickly as possible.  Often teachers know their material really well and they may even be famous for their work.  However, they just can’t explain it to others in such a way that others can learn from them.  It’s no one’s fault.  It can be a matter of style, language, temperament – a whole host of factors.

If you have no alternative than to remain in the course, then find someone quickly to teach you in such a way you can understand.   It can be a classmate, a friend, or someone else who has previously taken the course and passed.  If you don’t know anyone, advertise for a tutor.  If you can’t pay the fee, barter.  It’s imperative to get the right instruction otherwise the struggle to learn new material will be enormous.

2.  Apply the knowledge immediately.

If you can’t apply it to a job or a process immediately, then find someone who is willing to ask you questions.  Answering the questions out loud will tell you immediately if you have understood the concept or not.  The words will either flow out of your mouth easily and effortlessly or you’ll stumble through the explanation.

3.  Take care of yourself. Take care of your brain and body with the right amount of sleep, good food, lots of water and exercise.  The dividends from these three components will for a life time.

It’s true that sometimes you have a job with many overtime hours just to keep afloat or your study load is intense or you’re  an intern in medical school working several shifts in a row or in the military where you have manoeuvres for several days and nights in a row.  Obviously, there are “insane” periods of time in many people’s lives.  During those times, learning can be difficult.

For instance, would-be doctors must learn to work under intense pressure, under less than ideal conditions and still maintain the ability to think, reason and apply the medical knowledge they have garnered to help people in distress.

It’s especially critical at times like these to stay focused on yourself. Focus on sleep, eating properly, drinking a lot of water and exercise – even 5 minutes of stretching will re-energize and a 20-minute nap will refresh the brain and body,   the water will keep everything hydrated.  I know it may sound silly to be so self-focused under such extreme conditions.  It is the only way. Your brain and body are not computer components – they are human bodies which need the right kind of attention especially when trying to learn something new or applying what you have learned.

These three components will:

a) Save you time – you won’t have to study extra hours because you don’t understand the instructor.  You won’t need to re-learn material several times over if you apply it immediately and by taking care of yourself, you likely will remain healthy.  You know how being ill can set you back in your studies.

b)  Save you money – you won’t have to repeat the course and pay for the course a second time if you make a change immediately when you can’t understand the person teaching the course.  If you stay healthy, you won’t need to buy medications to help overcome an illness. And by applying the knowledge, you learn it well – you won’t have to buy additional books or pay for additional resources later.

c)  Save you energy – The right teaching will save a lot of energy because you won’t have to struggle so hard to understand the concept.  Applying the material as soon as possible is obviously a more efficient way to learn anything thus you’ll expend less energy.  And, of course, when you take care of yourself, you will have the energy you need to do the necessary learning – so much time is wasted “dragging” your body and brain around – take care of them as best you can.

Manage these three components well and you’ll see learning will be much easier and more efficient in the long run.  There is no question that these three components are critical to the human machine during the learning process.

Learn lots!

Lorraine Arams

http://www.wizetime.com

Three Tips on How to Learn Better and More Efficiently

As a lifelong learner, I’ve had to “squeeze” my education into some fairly tight time constraints at times.  I’ve learned some very efficient ways to learn and I’m sharing them with you in the hope that they will save you time and energy.

1.  As you read through, even your first reading, start jotting down notes and questions.  These questions will eventually become a list of good questions with which to study – some you’ll eliminate, some you’ll expand upon and some you’ll keep just as they are.  Throughout the course, pull these questions out at lunch time or during coffee break or riding the bus and answer them in your head.  It’ll keep the material fresh in your mind.

2.  For any new concept, write out 60 words explaining the concept – ONLY 60 WORDS. If you can explain any concept completely in 60 words, then you really understand it and it will stick your mind.  This does take several revisions of what you write the first time.  Your first attempt may result in 1500 or more words.  Keep cutting it down until you get to 60 words.  You’ll be amazed how effective this method is!

3.  Focus when you study - no music in the background, no email or Facebook or Twitter, no games, etc. – just you in a quiet environment focusing. Focus for periods of one hour at a time and then go for a walk for 20 minutes to let your brain process what you have just studied.  Study for another hour and take another walk for 20 minutes and process that bit. You’ll get more out of these two hours than you will  studying with distractions or sounds competing for your attention – your brain can only process one thought at a time.  You’ll be amazed how well you learn.  It’s not a good idea to study for more than 3 hours at a time.  With this method, a lot of time is saved and more information is absorbed in less time.

Hope these tips help you to learn better – they will certainly help your efficiency!

Lorraine Arams

http://www.wizetime.com

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How do you make time for education?  Easy.  Time management in this area has many benefits.

This is one task that you can do in “bites”.  I personally hate thinking about cutting down a task into “bite sized pieces” because it usually doesn’t work.  Often, it takes me more time to cut down the project then to actually do it.  I’m a “blocker” – I prefer to block off good chunks of time and feel I’ve made progress in the project rather than splitting my attention.  However, as with all time management practices, there is a time and place to use them where they suit you. 

Education is one of those tasks which can be cut up into pieces easily.  Why?  Because of the nature of education; education is not a one shot, one book, one course or even one class process.  It’s on-going.  Learning something new is a process which cannot be rushed – we need the facts or the rules or methodology, then we need to understand it, process the learning and assimilate it into our world to the point that we can actually use it.  Therefore, learning can only be done in small increments and that’s great for time management purposes.  Education or, if you prefer to call it learning, is a lifelong process which can be incorporated into your life forever. 

A day without learning is a day wasted – we need to be learning every day otherwise we become stale and set in our ways.  Ever notice some people who come out of university, land a job and never think of learning again unless their company sends them on a training course?  What happens?  They get very “old” very quickly – their energy becomes “un-vibrant” and they lose their spark.  Stop learning = start growing old really fast even at 25!  We’ve all met 25 year olds who seem as though they are 105!

Make it a point to learn every day.  Pick a topic or topics you want to learn about – eg hiking, reading financial statements, chess, HTML, website design, bridge, skating – whatever new interest you want to develop.  Schedule the learning – it could be as little as 15 minutes a day during your lunch hour but imagine, in a week, you’ve put in one hour and 15 minutes learning something new!  In a month, 5 hours, you’ll likely have learned what you need to know to put it into practice! 

Imagine if you learned even 6 new things every year of your life, how interesting your conversations would be, how many people you would meet and what a fascinating person you would become in conversation.     At work, every day learning can have huge impacts on your career when directed at continuously improving your knowledge and experience.  Experience is the most important learning.  The benefits are enormous.

Bite-size time management techniques work wonderfully in building an incredible background of knowledge and experience throughout your lifetime.