Knowing how to learn by yourself is one the most important skills you can possess.

It is an ace card which you can trade for almost any other skill.

Being able to capture new knowledge will give you a lifelong advantage.

It will bring you energy and vitality.

Like a chiseled athlete about to compete for gold.

It will allow you to understand the changing world.

It will help you to solve any problems.

And will help you make the most of any opportunity you choose to pursue.

–

Learning in school

When we are in school, we study every day. We take classes, we do homework, prepare for exams. We are spoon-fed knowledge from our teachers. Our young brains soak in everything in like a sponge.

This also means that we rarely think for ourselves. We develop a mentality that knowledge is something that comes down on us and must accepted as true. All of our colleagues consume the same text books and follow the same curriculum.

Have you ever had the courage to stand up to any of your teachers and ask “Sorry, I don’t think you are right!” Correcting your school teacher on anything is considered a no-no. They know better than you, right?

“What do you think?” is perhaps the most important question you can ask a child. Not expecting a right or wrong answer. Just expecting an articulation of their opinion, the reasons and later on, connecting the dots to other subjects. Teachers don’t like to ask that because it deviates from their well establish methods to feed students with information.

This habit stays and continues well beyond school. People often say the first month in university or first month on the job often feels like the ‘first day in school’. This is because the same mentality aplies; mentality of “teach me, show me, I will learn and… accept everything you say.”

However, the difference is that in school we are challenged and pushed outside of our comfort zones all the time. Actually, there is no such thing as a comfort zone when you are teenager. You study new subjects each year, fail exams, sit next to a new person each term, have to do things you don’t like (e.g. sports, music or chemistry), deal with your first crush, while your body and mind goes through all sorts of changes.

As you graduate from schools and universities, start earning a salary, you settle into a comfort zone and the amount of learning that is passed down to you comes to a grinding halt. And you do not have the skill, the need nor the motivation to learn new things. There is just no such requirement. Figuring things out for yourself doesn’t really feature much.

So reigniting that learning engine becomes crucial.

Learning how to learn as an adult.

Of course you have to want it, and most people don’t. Some think they do but soon enough their actions proves that they don’t want it enough to go through the the learning to learn process.

So how to learn to learn?

I came up with four building blocks.

Reading

The first solid foundation of learning is reading. Loving to read is a starting point for a lifelong journey of learning. Reading for pleasure. You don’t have to dive into Homer’s Iliad right away. Read what you enjoy and cultivate your interests.

Make sense of what you are reading

The second foundation is to make sense (for yourself) what you are reading. Taking the time to digest what you have read and connecting the dots without things. Do you understand what the author is trying to convey? Do you agree with it? If not, why not? How strong are you about your views? You can take a pause, take step or two back and think about how you feel.

Writing

The third foundational piece of learning is writing. Writing challenges what you really know. Talking is much easier. But writing exposes the gaps and blind spots in your understanding.

Conversation

The last foundation of learning is a conversation. Can you explain your point of view clearly and comprehensively to another person? Can you be challenged and defend your view? Can you explain the concept to a ten-year-old?

What to learn today?

How to start learning to learn?

Here is an idea.

Pick a subject that scares and fascinates you at the same time.

Can be anything.

Alexander the Great, history of South Africa, astrophysics, British cinema, Confucious, Darwin, French literature in the 19th century, Nelson Mandela, Orthodox Christianity, Philosophy in the Islamic World, plaent Jupiter, Renaissance art, Robotics, Samurais, Shakespeare, the Antarctic, US Constitution, Silk Road, Galileo…

Anything.

Study one of those subject for three weeks at a time and get as much depth on it as you can. Read about it, watch videos, explore blogs and essays that other people wrote about the subject.

In the forth week, write a short essay about it. A one pager will do. Describe why you picked this area, what you found facscinating? What have you not known ? Has anything surprised you? What raised more questions? What seemed hard and complicated at the start and less so now?

Call a friend or a colleague who you think might remotely be interested in the topic or who knows a thing or who about it already. If you are learning about Napoleon, call your university room mate who studied History. Say that you want to pick their brains a little. During the conversation, share some of the questions and doubts you have. Share what you learned and ask how they understand it. Post your essay online or join a conversation that others are having about the same topic.

Move on to the next subject. Do it consistently for a year.

Congratulations, you have learned how to learn!

The world is now your oyster.

Update: Since writing this article, my thoughts on this subject have developed. I wrote a new article on the topic which you can read here: Principles of Learning