9 Ways to Learn Effectively

There is learning, and then there’s effective learning. Everyone can learn, but not everyone knows how to learn effectively.

Before I enrolled in Flatiron School’s Online Web Development Program, I took a free MOOC on Coursera called “Learning How to Learn,” which I highly recommend to anyone considering learning anything new in the future (read: everybody). I also recommend the book the class is based on, “A Mind for Numbers,” written by the MOOC instructor, Dr. Barbara Oakley. Here I will outline the key takeaways from the class, and the principles I use everyday in my studies here on Learn.co.

Why should you care about learning effectively?

Learning is an inherent and inevitable part of life, and is therefore a skill anyone and everyone can benefit from.
Natural ineptitude is a myth. Anyone can learn anything, with the right approach.

1. Focused and Diffuse Modes of Thinking

The Focused Mode is a concentrated, focused form of thinking. It lets you ‘consume’ new topics.
The Diffuse Mode is a relaxed, unfocused form of thinking. It helps your brain ‘digest’ these topics to make new connections with pre-existing neural pathways.
Both modes are critical for effective learning.
When you start to feel frustrated or ‘saturated,’ it’s time to enter the Diffuse Mode. Trying to keep learning at this point will be a waste of your time, it just won’t work.
Examples of activities that trigger the Diffuse Mode of thinking:
Sleep, exercise, going for a walk, dancing, showering, anything that isn’t a focused activity that lets your mind wander

2. Create Understanding

Ask yourself: Do you really understand the material? Or are you just blindly memorizing?
If you can’t explain a topic to someone else, you don’t understand it.
If you don’t understand it, you haven’t learned it.
Don’t skip over difficult topics. Stop and Google a topic that is vague or confusing.
Create metaphors. They link abstract ideas to concrete topics in your brain, which helps create understanding.

3. Make Mistakes

4. Learn Actively, Not Passively

Reading books, listening to lectures, and note-taking are passive learning techniques. They don’t require much effort.
Recalling material and self-testing are active learning techniques, as they actually require brain power.
Active learning techniques trigger and strengthen neuronal connections in your brain.
Active learning also reveals gaps in knowledge, highlighting topics you need to study more.

5. Spaced Repetition

It is better to study a little bit at a time with greater frequently, than to study a lot at once, like you would when you cram.
Spaced repetition builds a solid foundation of knowledge over time.
Forgetting is a natural process of learning. Spaced repetition lets you re-learn topics you naturally forget over time.
When you cram, you have no way of recovering information you naturally forget.
Anki is a great flash card app with built-in spaced repetition algorithms to help you learn effectively. I use it everyday!

6. Learn Together, Not Alone

Communicating with others in your field reveals new perspectives, better techniques, and gaps in your knowledge.
Sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know until someone else shows you.

7. Sleep

A well-rested brain is a well-functioning brain.
Sleep clears toxic neurochemical by-products from the brain. Without enough sleep your brain can’t function optimally.
During sleep your brain solidifies important neuronal connections and erases unimportant ones. This process works hand-in-hand with spaced repetition. The more frequently you study a topic, the more important it becomes in your brain.
Sleep is the #1 best way to enter the Diffuse Mode, which is critical for effective learning.

8. Exercise

9. Nutrition

Proper nutrition is critical for optimal brain function.
Avoid sugar in all its forms, including grains! Sugar impairs learning, memory, cognitive function, and psychological well-being. It exasperates anxiety and depression, and is a risk factor in age-related cognitive decline and dementia.
Other inflammatory foods that impair brain function include dairy, vegetable oils, processed foods, and grain-fed animal products.
Stay hydrated! It keeps you energized, and helps your brain clear itself of toxins.

** TL;DR**