In my opinion, modern times makes it inevitable to adopt a lifelong learner mindset. If you are reading this blog, you probably also share this idea.
But we all have limited time in a week. You probably have a full-time job, a social life, and many things to deal with besides learning. Therefore, learning how to learn is a critical skill to succeed in becoming a Renaissance Man.
The processes that lead to successful learning are counter-intuitive to most people, and picking your instinctive way of learning is probably not the optimal way.
In this article, you will discover 7 concrete habits you can implement in daily life to improve your learning path.
The insights from this article come from books such as How to Read a Book, Make It Stick, and How to Self Learn, and my own experience being a lifelong learner.
1. Set Learning Goals, Deadlines, and Exams on Purpose
This is one of the most important habits you need to take for successful learning.
I know what you’re thinking: you have enough stress in your life already and see no point in adding that extra pressure on yourself with deadlines and exams during your free time.
But hold on.
Even if you are learning for fun, setting goals and evaluating yourself leads to multiple benefits.
It makes your knowledge concrete and directly applicable
When starting a new discipline, the number of subdomains within the domain often seems so big, that we don’t know where to focus our attention.
Let’s say you want to be more knowledgeable about history.
Historical knowledge can be divided chronologically, geographically, or by theme. And even when focusing on one period, one region, and one theme, how would you know what is important to retain?
By setting goals and deadlines, you make your knowledge directly applicable. You switch from knowing something to knowing how to do something. You learn things that make sense to your brain because they are related to something real.
Some examples :
- instead of “learning history”, aim to write an essay about a specific question that intrigues you, and have it corrected by a teacher
- instead of “learning house repair”, make a checklist of things you want to learn and learn them one by one
Long-term goals give you a “why”
This one seems obvious, but one who has a reason to learn learns better.
When motivation starts to fade out, and you have to choose between studying alone on a rainy day and watching TV, a long-term goal might make a difference.
On top of that, goals make you accountable if you share them with other people.
Short-term goals enable you to correct your trajectory along the way
As opposed to your long-term goals and your vision, which keeps you disciplined in the long term, short-term goals have a more concrete purpose to optimize your learning process.
As highlighted by learning experts, learning is a very counter-intuitive process, and we are most of the time poor judge about our learning abilities.
For instance, one might think that cramming and frenzied repetition are efficient for remembering something, but it is far from being the optimal method for long-term learning/
That being said, what is the best way to know whether you’re learning effectively? By testing yourself as often as possible.
Testing does not have to be a formal exam but can be as simple as a deck of flashcards that you review regularly.
It helps you practice effortful retrieval
This one is a corollary of the previous point but allows me to highlight the importance of the practice of effortful retrieval for learning.
Researchers have found we will remember a piece of information better if we actively retrieve it from our memory, AND if this retrieval is effortful.
If you practice regular testing, you will naturally practice effortful retrieval.
How to Establish this Habit?
First, setting goals and tests does not mean you have to put a lot more pressure on yourself. Testing can be as simple as a deck of flashcards or practicing with a friend as your evaluator.
Here’s what you can implement right now.
Set long-term goals. Why do you want to learn? What do you want to achieve concretely one year from now? Set practical goals: don’t just learn for the sake of knowing.
Set middle-term challenges. Find some goals that reflect your daily practice. For example: finish a university book about some discipline; pass a certification; travel in the country of your target language…
Set goals and tests for each learning session. Ask yourself the following questions before any session. What do you want to study today? How will you know that you successfully did it? What test can you create?
2. Take Notes
In your learning adventure, you will necessarily find yourself in the need to read a book, watch a video, or listen to a podcast about your topic.
Therefore, you need to learn how to take notes.
Notes are the first step in ensuring that you have not lost your time consuming a piece of content.
You might fail to assimilate the content, or you might forget it later on. But if you have taken proper notes, it will be much easier to come back to your topic, even after years without practicing it.
Good notes are the ones that you can use to study a topic without having to go through all the original content again.
How to Establish this Habit?
- Learn how to take notes. If you want to learn how to take good notes, I highly recommend you read the Book How to Read a Book.
- Choose a note-taking system. You can use apps like Evernote, Notion, or Obsidian to capture your notes, use a paper-based system, or both. In the beginning, I recommend you use something very simple, that you like to use, and that allows you not to lose your notes. When you are more confident, you’ll have more time to choose a more elaborate system.
- Take notes of everything relevant. Books, videos, podcasts… First start with drafts and simple notes, but take notes.
- Regularly update and review your notes. Reread some notes. Rewrite them and make them prettier. Create flashcards or other tests from your notes (remember part 1 ?). You don’t need to spend a lot of time on this habit, but regular updates will do great for your learning.
3. Find a Private Teacher
Even if you prefer self-studying, you should find a teacher.
Today the internet makes it possible to find a teacher in almost any discipline.
I used to have a private teacher of history, years after the end of my studies. And today, of course, I have a language teacher.
Even though all the knowledge you need is available online, good teachers are still irreplaceable, for different reasons :
- It makes you committed and disciplined. During my work week with a full-time job, even though I was often exhausted and didn’t feel like learning Russian, my commitment to two lessons a week after work forced me to study, and I thanked my teacher (and myself) afterward.
- You have an expert available to whom you can ask questions
- You can communicate and receive direct feedback on your performances. Remember the part about feedback?
- You spend less time elaborating a study plan, and more time studying.
How to Establish this Habit?
When choosing your teacher, keep in mind the principles mentioned in this article. In particular, make sure your teacher :
- is knowledgeable
- is patient and available for you
- regularly tests you and makes you practice
4. Focus
If you are an aspiring Renaissance Man and are learning many different topics, you probably practice context-switching a lot.
Interleaved practice (which means, alternating between learning different things) is not a bad thing essentially; actually, researchers showed it can even be beneficial for learning. However, do not confuse it with a lack of focus and multitasking.
According to [The Organized Mind], multitasking is basically the worst way to do anything, because it wastes your energy while being less efficient than doing things in sequence.
As a lifelong learner and as a Western man, your life is already full of so many distractions, that you don’t want to waste any more of your energy with a lack of focus.
How to Establish This Habit
Only take the necessary items for your study session. Put your phone and computer away, or turn off the internet connection to avoid distraction.
Study in a quiet place. It does not need to be in the same place all the time but make space for your study.
5. Space out Your Practice and Use Flashcards
Contrary to popular belief, efficient long-term learning is slow and effortful. Cramming is probably the worst way to learn.
Researchers have highlighted the efficiency of effortful retrieval, a concept that we already discussed in previous parts.
This means that something is better learned when you :
- discover it, then
- almost forget it
- actively try to recall it
- repeat steps 2 and 3
A very famous method to implement this principle is flashcards. Flashcards are particularly popular among language learners, but one can find many ways to use them in other topics.
Flashcard apps often use a “spaced repetition system”, in which each card will be reviewed after a time interval that is optimal for each card, depending on how well you know it.
How to Establish This Habit
Choose the right flashcard system. There are many flashcard apps available online. If you like it old school, you can also buy or build your paper cards (but you won’t have the spaced repetition system). My only recommendation would be to choose a highly customizable system.
Flashcards are useful when you can connect them to your imagination or experience. Therefore, you want to be able to modify them at will.
Create new flashcards after each learning session.
Practice 5 minutes per day. This amount of time is enough to make wonders for your learning.
6. Practice “What Have I Learned Today ?”
This habit can be practiced for a single topic, or in general at the end of the day.
The idea here is to spend a few moments every day reflecting on your learning and to let your creative thinking work.
This small habit leads to great results because it puts into practice two key concepts that are highlighted in Make It Stick:
- Effortful retrieval that we discussed earlier
- Generation: this principle consists in finding creative ways to use your newly acquired knowledge. The idea behind that is that learning is more efficient when connected with other ideas and what you already know. This strengthens connections in your brain and allows you to shape mental models, which are abstractions that allow you to think more clearly.
How to Establish This Habit
Take a blank piece of paper at the end of the day and ask yourself :
- What have I learned today? What do I remember?
- How does this connect to what I already know?
You can even take some moments to share your results with someone or write it online.
This will clarify your thinking and make it even more efficient.
7. Do Things That Are Fun!
Now it is time to bring some kind nuances to the seriousness that has been expressed in this article so far.
You should not be afraid nor ashamed to “gamify” your learning as much as you can.
Game as a way of learning has existed for hundreds of millions of years and has proven to be efficient. It makes the learning process practical, concrete, and less effortful.
How to Establish This Habit?
Regularly reflect on how you can make your learning smoother and funnier.
Here are a few ideas for your inspiration :
- Learning languages? Watch a video about one of your hobbies
- Practicing music? Learn a simplified version of your favorite song.
- Studying psychology? Play a game where you’re trying to “classify” your friends into one psychological type
- Learning programming? Take your favorite hobby and make a website dedicated to it.
The only limit is your imagination!
Conclusion: Tiny Habits, Big Changes
In this article, I have tried to expose findings about efficient learning and extract them into practical habits that your can use in your life.
After reading it, you might feel slightly overwhelmed and perceive these new habits as constraints and burdens. That’s why I would like to draw your attention to a few things to conclude this article.
First, bear in mind that I am describing an ideal situation. It might take a lot of time to implement all these changes into your life, but even adding one of them to your daily routine can produce great results.
In addition to that, do not forget to have fun in this process, and reward yourself as you”re getting closer to your learning goals. By starting this journey, you are already ahead of the game.
Good luck with your learning!