Category Archives: Learn how to Learn

My Learning Goal Progress 2019

4th Industrial Revolution, Learn how to Learn, Learning

In the last post I promised to write an update on how I am progressing with my learning goal for 2019.  In this post I want to give an update on my learning goal and also write about what my learning process looks like on a day to day basis.

I completed the ‘Learning How to Learn’ course on Coursera and got my lovely new certificate.  However as with all courses they are of no use unless we actually implement what we have learned. The danger is that we park our new knowledge on the shelf and move on with our busy lives and nothing changes. Unless we put our new knowledge into practice then we don’t really know what we think we know.  We just know in theory.  We must be able to apply new knowledge.  That is a challenge that I need to reflect on.

Just to recap my goal is to spend an hour per day learning in 2019.  Learning is key to success in a fast changing world.  If we don’t keep learning we become outdated very fast.  We are in an age where life long learning is a must.  My problem is how to get an hour of learning in each day. We all have busy lives and can easily be distracted.  What I am doing is using my smartphone to learn and making use of whatever scraps of time I can during my day.

  1.  I am learning Portuguese on Duolingo. I will be spending a week on holiday in Portugal this summer so I want to refresh my Portuguese. This takes me about 5-10 minutes per day. The interesting thing is that I can do my Portuguese in the car as I wait for my son to drop him to school. My son is 15 so it is his responsibility to get to the car on time. In the meantime I am busy learning Portuguese.  What I learned from my learning how to learn course is that bit by bit every day I can build up my knowledge and that is true.  Learning Portuguese takes me little effort and I am using a chunk of time that I would have spent waiting in the car.
  2. I read a book in bed.  When I get to bed every evening I read for 15-20 minutes.  This helps me to switch off an feel sleepy.  Using a smartphone in bed is a bad idea because the light generated from the phone can keep you awake instead of helping to make me feel sleepy.
  3. I am currently working on an online course which I will be launching in the next few months.  The course will be about new technology and the skills needed to survive and thrive in the coming years of the 4th Industrial Revolution.  I will be launching the course on Udemy where I already have 2 other courses.  As part of developing the new course I am building additional skills on course creation, making videos, editing videos etc.  I am currently taking a course on editing videos using PowerDirector also on Udemy.  This makes sense because what I am learning I applying immediately to making my courses better.  Again I use chunks of time to learn which would otherwise be wasted.  While waiting to collect my family members from the bus/train I spend my waiting time taking a course lesson on my smartphone.
  4. While driving alone in the car and also while exercising I listen to educational podcasts.  Again I use my phone to access these podcasts.  The podcasts are on topics that interest me and I want learn more about such as business and personal development.  I enjoy listening to podcasters such as James Altucher and Tim Ferris and their guests.  There is a wealth of podcasts and audio books that you can listen to on your smartphone.  The app. that I use is Castbox but there are many others as well.  I also listen to audio books on Audible.  Here is a link to my own book on Audible.

Generally I do the above Monday to Friday.  On Saturday I might do some of them and on Sundays I take the day off and don’t feel under pressure to anything.  The most important point of all is that if I miss a day here or there there is no problem.  If I miss a day so what?  I just start again.  We all fall off the wagon from time to time but it is a mistake to feel guilty and beat ourselves up.  Just move on and begin again.  I love the quote below from St. Francis de Sales:

Begin again

In summary learning is key in today’s fast changing world.  I think we all can find time to learn.  We all have scraps of time that we can put to good use.  Our smartphones are powerful learning tools.  What bit of wasted time can you put to good use learning, today and everyday?

Best wishes,

Tom

First: Learn How to Learn

4th Industrial Revolution, Learn how to Learn, Learning, Technology

Learn How to Learn

In 2019 I have set myself a goal to learn new things.  I have no idea what I am going to learn during the coming year.  The goal is a process goal.  Focus on the process of learning and forget about the product (achieving a particular result such as a certain grade).  I simply aim to spend an hour per day learning and having fun doing so (the process).  I find myself making use of time for learning that would otherwise have been wasted.  Like for example waiting to collect my children from school/college.  I use my smartphone to watch a course video or listen to a podcast.  I am excited by the fact that if I stick to my learning goal then by December 2019 I can potentially have a number of new skills and interests which I don’t have right now.    My first port of call on my learning goal is to spend time to learn how to learn.  It makes sense that if you learn how to learn first then you will improve your ability to absorb what you are learning.  My learning skills will enhance and improve everything else I am learning and what I can remember and practice.

Why keep learning?

You might think that learning is only for school children or the young.  Not so.  We live in a very fast changing world.  Technology is changing rapidly and some of the skills you have today might be obsolete in a few years.  We cannot stand still – we all have to keep learning, changing and adapting.  A report by the World Economic Forum: ‘The Future of Jobs 2018’ states that by 2022 (only a few years away!), no less than 54% of all employees will require significant re-skilling and up-skilling….that is quite shocking!  According to a December 2017 report by McKinsey, the American management consulting firm up to 375 million workers (14% of the global workforce) may need to change their occupational category by 2030.  Learning is therefore a key skill for the 21st century.  But first we must learn how to learn.

How to Learn How to Learn

So how does someone learn how to learn?  Well it turns out that Coursera have a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on learning how to learn.  As I write I am now coming into the final week of the four week course.  The course is really well put together.  The course is informative and engaging.  There are very engaging video lectures and ongoing quizzes and tests as you proceed.  There are peer reviewed assignments.  The best part is that the course is free for everyone to take!  More than that the course demonstrates the awesome power and potential of online learning.  If I can learn so much from this course for free then what other great courses are out there for free or for very little cost?  I am excited about the possibilities of online learning!

So what have I learned about Learning?

I have learned a lot from this MOOC so far and I will come back to these topics again and again in this blog because they are so important.  For example the importance of engaging both the focused mode and diffuse mode of learning.  From my hypnotherapy training this translates to using both the conscious and subconscious minds in learning (creative geniuses such as Einstein, Thomas Edison and Salvador Dali have been very effective in tapping into the power of their diffuse mode thinking).  Techniques such as the Pomodoro technique are excellent in helping us to focus and deal with procrastination.  I successfully applied this technique myself when writing my PhD thesis (I wrote a book about my PhD experience).  Another technique discussed in the course is to separate writing and editing.  Just write and write.  You can come back and edit later.  This technique was also very helpful to me when I was writing my PhD.

Chunking and memory

The Learning How to Learn course also delves into the important concept of chunking.  Chunking is a term referring to the process of taking individual pieces of information (chunks) and grouping them into larger units. By grouping each piece into a large whole, you can improve the amount of information you can remember.  In addition the course deals with short term and long term memory and how to enhance our memories.  For example using the memory palace technique (take the course and find out more!).  The importance of sleep, exercise and good diet underpin everything.  This morning I watched an interview with Nelson Dellis who is a 4th time U.S. memory champion on how to improve your memory.  On my next visit to the shop I will be picking some fish oil pills.  The omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil play important roles in brain function and development.

In summary

There is way more to this course that I have touched on in this article.  Hopefully what I have mentioned will whet your appetite to Learn How to Learn.  You have nothing to lose as the Coursera course is free!  Learning how to learn and becoming a life long learner is an essential skill in the 21st century.  Taking this important course could be the first step you take in future proofing your career.  I am certainly excited and relishing the prospect of all  the new things I will learn in 2019.  By the way we all learn better when we are relaxed and having fun so relax and enjoy the process of learning!

Best wishes,

Tom