Learning how to learn

Humans have a massive capacity to learn. Indeed, it is one of the key differences between us and other species of life on Earth. Historically our learning has been biased much more towards the early part of our life. This is no longer good enough, here are some examples as to why:

• Speed of change is accelerating and if you do not keep up to date, you fall behind

• New fields of society are opening up that did not exist in the past

• AI and bots taking over certain roles so humans have to find other uses

• More wealth creates more people searching for meaning, not just survival

• We are living longer and need to keep ourselves busy and to have a purpose

• Increased access to both ‘know-what’ and ‘know-how’ democratizes learning

• We live in an ever more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world and need the mental tools to cope

To survive and thrive in this advancing society, we all have to stay up to date and relevant. We have to step up and challenge ourselves as to whether our current learning activity and patterns are sufficient. Chances are they are not. So what do we do? We need to learn how to learn.

Let’s look at some examples of what that means in practice:

• Acceptance – first step to learning is acceptance of the need or desire to learn. You have to be curious, you have to ask yourself how to you learn today and what can you do to improve

• Five stage life – this hypothesis says that with more of us living to 100 years of age, it will be necessary to re-invent ourselves a number of times during our life. Learning is fundamental to the ability to re-invent

• Self-directed learning paths – there remains value in curriculums produced by various organisations. With the plethora of know-what and know-how available on-line, there are increasing opportunities for self-directed learning. This is a key distinction compared to earlier generations where there was much less material to access and hence less chance to be the author of your own learning

• 168 hours – this is how many hours we all have in a week. How you spend those hours will dictate the steepness of your learning curve. The steeper it is, the more opportunities will open up in life. Certain Asian societies understand this more than most

• Watching videos – this an increasingly popular approach, not just with the YouTube and Netflix generation. LinkedIn Learning, for example, is a very popular platform and is used by all ages

• x1 or higher – at what speed do you watch videos? For example, if you watch videos at x1.25 speed, it means that you have increased your efficiency by 25% and hence increase your learning volume. If you are able to still comprehend the messages at speeds higher than x1.25, you can be even more efficient…speed watching has arrived

• Virtual classrooms – whilst there is no substitute for spending time physically together with fellow students, virtual classrooms provider an excellent alternative

• Two things at once – the podcast and spoken book industry growth means that you can listen and learn whilst walking, exercising, driving, commuting etc

• Focus – multi-tasking is not necessarily always a good thing since it can reduce our focus. In our rush for consumption and the ‘now’ society, taking time to focus upon fewer topics retains a place in how we learn

• Note taking – with the likes of OneNote and Evernote, it is easier than ever to collect and organization notes

• Apps – there seems to be an App for most things and quite likely one for something that you are interested in learning about

• Presenting in videos – people are increasingly using this channel to reach their audience and this improves presentational skills and ability to convey key messages

• Choose who you follow – easier today than in days gone by. Associating yourself will great leaders will definitely energise and motivate, bringing the best out of you

• Role models –  with a more connected world, there are more chances than ever to find role models which can provide inspiration

• Learning from the best – it is easier than ever to watch, listen and learn from talented people that you may never meet but who publish their teachings and perspectives through multiple mediums

• Writing – there are many channels through which to get published and the discipline of quality writing forces investigation, reflection, contemplation and assimilation. These are all hallmarks of learning

• Gamification – humans like to play and when doing so we naturally learn. This is not lost on App developers who are expert at including this aspect to improve engagement and impact

• Virtual reality and augmented reality – this has yet to hit the mainstream, even though it has been around for some years now. However, it is only a matter of time since these tools significantly increase the dynamism of the learning experience

• Hackathons – maybe not for everyone but a turbo driven learning experience nonetheless

• Travel and living abroad – this has always been a great educator and the opportunity to do this is higher than ever

And if you are wondering, this is your responsibility to learn how to learn. Maybe you are lucky and get some support from whichever organization that you work for. If so, great. But do not be a victim if this is not the case, take control yourself. Be disciplined, be curious, look around you at how others are learning.

Some folks will feel overwhelmed by the need to keep on learning, others will see it as energising and full of opportunity. You?