What I Wish I Knew About Learning

We’re here right now thanks to a  massive amount of learning and the progress we made since we were able to make from the moment we were born. We have learned every single thing we do “automatically” today. Think about it! We didn’t know how to crawl, walk, climb, or even do simple things like chewing or brushing out teeth. We were taught to do all that. If we could learn so much up until now, just imagine how much we can still learn with all the experience we have accumulated.

Real miracles happen in the process of learning and development.  When we learn we open doors to new ideas and become better, more curious, and playful people. Learning is truly the beginning of any great story!

It’s like watching a plant that is born from planting a seed in the ground and grows to be this majestic and complex creature that stands tall and mighty! From this perspective, humans are exactly like plants. If the seeds are placed in the right soil, if they are watered regularly, and are exposed to enough sunshine -beautiful flowers will blossom in no time!

4 main ways of learning

For a long time, I associated learning with school, with doing my homework, and scoring well on tests. In my college years, I noticed that out of all the information I am learning, only a small part I will apply in life, while the rest will serve as general knowledge or will just be forgotten.

The most important part of my learning journey happened when I became an enthusiastic young adult who wanted to conquer the world. The world slapped me and laughed at me at that time. It told me to “get over it” because that was not going to happen. I told the world “I owe it to myself to at least try” and my journey started then and there, after graduating. The quest to earn my own money, to experience life, and to get to know and heal myself in the process had begun!

This is why I do believe that learning is about what we learn on our own, what we learn from others, and about having the right environment (external and internal) that will allow learning to take place.

• Self-learning

Self-learning is the most important 21st-century skill that you will ever acquire. Nobody can force you to learn. From a certain point onwards, you will learn and grow only if you want to!

Self-learning is more difficult than going to school. You are the teacher, the principal, the professor, the student of your own school. You call all the shots! And while this might sound really exciting, you need to be disciplined like a soldier to be able to provide for yourself the right training and to push yourself in the right direction.

• Educational institutions

There are schools, academies, and universities that we place nicely in our CVs so society can assess our level of intelligence and skill. This is very important because it opens doors to teachers who can influence us, to school contests, and a lot of social interaction by being grouped in classrooms. School is nice, we make friends, we grow together and we will also be accepted into society. School also teaches you how to learn. If the teachers are good and know how to do it they can also help you build inner discipline or give you guidance to pursue what you like, to explore deeper the topics that you are attracted to, and figuring out what your future career will be.

I do think that educational institutions have a lot of flaws just by starting from the “one size fits all” approach. But I will save this topic for another time.

• People

We can learn so much just by building relationships and interacting with people. it’s very interesting how people serve as mirrors for us and they come into our lives with a message from our inner world. For example, If if you are a coward, you might meet people who are brave and stand up for you and for themselves. They will teach you how to do the same.

Feedback is very important! Listen to what other people are telling you., There is a lot of learning there!

• Experiences

This is the “school of life” kind of learning. We are what we do – how we react to experiences and how we learn by exploring is a big part of becoming who we are! Imagine that every single experience we had contributed to who we are right now. the truth is that we get better at this thing called life just by living it. 🙂

The main types of learners

Do you know what type of learner you are? Are you one of the seven types below?

• Visual (spatial) – people who easily visualize information, have a good sense of direction, and learn by using pictures, images, diagrams, whiteboards where they draw or doodle.
• Aural (auditory) – people with a “musical ear” that are usually singers or musicians who are familiar with different instruments and the sounds they make; they learn best through verbal presentations like lectures and speeches.
• Verbal (linguistic)  – people who learn by using words, both in speech and writing, can easily express themselves and usually love to read and write; they have a vast vocabulary and excel at activities like speaking, debating, and journalism.
• Physical (kinesthetic) – people who learn through touch and physical activities/sports; they learn better when they do rather than when they see or hear.
• Logical (mathematical) – people who use logic, reasoning, and numbers to learn; they solve complex problems by using strategies and their scientific way of thinking. Computer programming, math, and science are usually their favorite disciplines.
• Social (interpersonal) – they have great communication skills and excel when working in a group, where they can brainstorm and discuss ideas.
• Solitary (intrapersonal) – they like to self-study and work alone, in a quiet place where they can focus.

What challenges can stop us from effectively learning?

• Unproductive living environment

Imagine the ideal home where you have exactly everything you need to grow and develop. How does that space look like for you?

I realized that a study/living environment is influenced by many factors, both internal (feelings, thoughts, beliefs, childhood trauma etc.) and external (living in a cluttered space, not having room to study, not having a space that encourages creativity, not personalized, people etc.).

I had two realizations in my life that helped me cope with difficult environments:

1. “Home is where I am”.This means that if I am peaceful internally, I have the power to do anything, even create a great space where to live my life that encourages learning.  It means that wherever I am in the world, I will feel at home.
2. “I create my own environment.  I am not tied to a place, city, country”.I want to live and learn in an environment where I feel fully comfortable, which helps me bring out the best in me. For example, this is why I chose to move abroad or to buy a house when I felt it was right, not when others thought it was right. I tried at all costs not to listen to people telling me how I “should” do things.

• Negative role-models

Did you ever have people around you who gave you a hard time or made you feel bad for a long time? Maybe your parents, teachers. bosses, siblings, or even friends. My literature teacher was a remarkable man. I learned so much from him and he had a great impact on me and my colleagues. He even managed to say something to me that will forever influence me. We were in class one day and he asked me to read a paragraph from a story out loud. The moment I was done he said to me: “Thank you, you will never be a radio presenter with that voice”. I didn’t notice until 15 years later that I was deeply impacted by his words, struggling with speaking in public and making myself heard in groups of people. I managed to get over that in therapy, but imagine my shock when seeing a simple phrase, randomly said in a literature class has affected me for so long without me even knowing.

Made me wonder what other impactful things people said or did to me in my lifetime that I am not aware of?

As the author of Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin would say – “people are good and bad” and their roles in our life can be positive or negative, or both. What are the negative role models holding you back?

• Negative self-talk and preconceptions that come from low self-esteem

Does any of these statements sound familiar?

“I am too old to…. learn/start my hobby/change my beliefs, etc.”

“I am not good at…. and I will never be” 

“I can never get a job in….” / “I will never be promoted”

” I am poor/ fat/ stupid/ too shy etc….. things don’t happen for people like me”

“This is boring, I don’t want to do it”

“I am fine as I am, I don’t have to learn anything new”

“I know everything”

“I want to learn everything”

Negative self-talk can be an internalization of the negative role models I was mentioning earlier. They live within us as bad influences that follow you when their sources are not found.

• Poor self-knowledge

Who are you? What do you like/dislike? What is your best way of learning? What are your life goals? Then, what are your learning goals?

Being aware of your strengths and weaknesses is a superpower!

Getting to know ourselves is a lifetime activity and it does require a lot of work. From my experience, the more you know yourself, the more you understand your life more and you can fully take control and give yourself what you need and want. Learning becomes more fun, clear, and efficient when we know ourselves.

• Not having clear learning objectives

While learning anything that sparks your curiosity can be fun, it might not be an efficient way of learning. First, figure out what are your life goals and define your learning objectives. For example, if you want to start your own business you have to assess what knowledge you need to have in the beginning or later on, and start learning towards your goals. Maybe you need to learn how to make a business plan or how to attract clients and start networking. Remember that learning is also an investment and if you do it right, it will pay off!

• Poor time management skills

Discipline is the backbone of our life and it’s the key to success. There are people who are more inclined to be organized than others. Most creative people have a hard time being very organized, considering a lot of time they like to improvise. Also, creatives learn that discipline is not a constraint, but it’s freedom disguised as a constraint. The more organized you get, the more you make room in your life to be creative. It’s weird how it works, right?

Coming back to learning, it’s important to find your own way of organizing that brings you positive results. The main key things to pay attention to:

• your office is tidy and you have everything you need
• plan daily and track progress. It will keep you focused and in check
• study/learn on time vs at the last minute (as much as possible)
• your body needs water, good food, and sleep to function – pencil that in your planner!
• take good breaks

• Lack of energy

Your body’s energy can reach peaks and lows, according to how you take care of it (keep this in the back of your mind). It’s hard to learn when you don’t have energy, regardless of how much time you have.

• One-size fits all educational institutions

Sometimes we just become disinterested in school because we feel we don’t fit in. The reality is that the curriculum in most countries is standardized, to give the same information by using the same learning tactics for all students with different interests and personalities. In this scenario, it’s hard to make all the students like all the disciplines they are learning.

I am in favor of more flexible educational systems in which students can make choices and study strictly according to their interests, but this is at the moment hard to achieve worldwide.

Tips to make students engage more with school:

• parents making sure kids go to a school that’s right for their interests
• extra-curriculum disciplines
• explaining why certain disciplines that students don’t like are useful Some examples: we learn history to understand what happened in the past so we make better choices in the future, using geography knowledge to understand the world and use that knowledge when traveling/ learning math for brain development etc.).

• Not having any hobbies / Not experimenting

The best way to learn is by following your interests and curiosity. This is why we pick up hobbies, we travel, we try out new food recipes, we make new friends and we explore new ideas.

Especially in the first part of your life, experimentation is crucial to figuring out what you like/dislike, and what you want to keep/discard from your life. All of those experiences bring more self-awareness and improve the decision-making process when it comes to life choices.

• Limiting learning only to teachings in school

There is a lot of information outside of school that is worth exploring. Sometimes students have homework and in some cases extra curriculum activities that sum up their day, leaving no energy to explore more and follow their curiosity. While some teachers try to influence the students to expand their knowledge outside of the school walls – how many of the students read more than they “have to”?

When the students become adults, they enter an institution called “The School of Life” and it gets even harder to allocate time and energy for learning.

10 tips for a better learning experience

1.Make sure your environment is good

Is your learning space comfortable and optimal for studying? Two basic things you need for a proper study environment:

• proper equipment: desk, comfy chair, monitor, the right accessories
• personal touch: paintings, plants, or whatever you like to have around

2. Have a decent amount of self-knowledge

Be aware of your habits, triggers, likes, or dislikes, and try to foresee any potential challenges that might interrupt you when you are learning. By learning how to manage yourself, you can also give yourself everything you need to learn efficiently.

Knowing yourself also helps you overcome the fear of failing. And we all know that this is where progress hides! Healthy learning habits support your learning journey.

Knowing your uniqueness will also stop you from comparing yourself with others and focusing only on being better than you in the past.

3. Identify what kind of learner you are

It took me a while to learn what are the learning types I fit into and I remember that while studying I always needed to write notes, highlight and draw roadmaps. This means my learning type is a combination of the “Physical (kinesthetic)” and the “Visual (spatial)”. I learned better when I touched the learning materials and I used pictures to remember. I also learn fast when I am working in a group, which also indicates some tendencies from the “Social (interpersonal” type.

As you can see, there is the possibility to recognize multiple learning styles that can help you create the most efficient learning routine.

4. Know  WHY you are learning

Why do we learn theory? How much of it should we apply in real life? Is it the grade that is important for us or the knowledge we acquire? How will this information help me further?

The questions may differ from one person to the next, but the ultimate goal is to know why you are investing that time to learn. Knowing “the why” can help in keeping yourself motivated, staying focused, and eliminating everything that doesn’t serve your goal.

Is theory better than practice, or the other way around? Learning facts nurtures brain development and helps you understand the full picture. It’s important to apply some of the facts you know to better understanding the world and your place in it. Some will argue that applied knowledge is more important, but the reality is that we need a balance between both theoretical and applied knowledge.

5. Create a learning plan and schedule

Make sure you plan and track progress every day in a physical or digital agenda. Also, try as much as possible to start learning in time and not at the last minute. This will result in a better-quality learning experience and, overall, it will be less stressful.

6. Find study hacks

There are some tricks you can apply to help you focus and assimilate information faster:

• walk for 20 minutes before an exam/presentation, to improve brain power and memory
• read out loud
• teach others what you have learned
• create mind maps to make associations in your brain; you can either use an app or just use pen and paper. Use doodling, diagrams, arrows, colors, or anything that matches your learning style.
• block distractions without mercy
• use flashcards or buzz words
• take regular breaks
• play music in the background to help your concentration
• practice, practice, practice
• set challenges and rewards

7. Master self-learning too

Only you know what you need to learn so you can create the life you want. When you start learning on your own, you are the one picking the curriculum, the techniques, and the pacing. Mastering self-learning is the most important skill you will ever develop.

There are some easy ways to learn on your own, such as:

• Establish your learning goals
• Find the right resources
• Practice
• Share your knowledge with others

8. Experiment as much as possible

Learning how to experiment made me take life as a process of trial and error. It taught me not to put too much pressure on myself and to just… try things out.

I used to love to dance and I have always told myself that I am too old to become a professional dancer. The truth is that I never wanted to be a professional, but the thought of not having the chance to be a professional made me let go of dancing for a while. Years later I decided to start dancing again and to experiment with different places and styles. I even installed the “Let’s Dance” app. Now I know when dancing really works for me (normally when I am home alone and I can invent my own groovy moves). I found my own style because I experimented with dancing.

You can literally experiment with anything – hairstyle, look, food, even learning and school. This way, you will find easily what you like/dislike and only keep the good stuff in your life.

9. Let your body help you – give yourself enough energy

We have the impression that the body controls us, but it’s actually the other way around. The body helps us only if we help it get enough energy. In the end, we are the only ones controlling our bodies.

This is why a good diet, sleep, thoughts, and physical activity are crucial to be able to study.

10. Find joy in useful (but sometimes boring) learning processes

It took me years to get accommodated with things that I know are good for me but are dull. I learned the hard way that cleaning for example can be a very pleasant thing – it forces you to use your mind to sort and arrange things and your body to clean. It also teaches you patience and gives you a nice feeling to stay in a clean place. Now I like cleaning and it’s just because I found the utility and fun element in a very dull thing.