Learning
“Seek Knowledge from Cradle to Grave” – Prophet Muhammed ﷺ
Knowledge is the Key To Civilisation. However, most students fail to enjoy the process of learning involved in gaining knowledge. Learning is often a nightmare for the students all over the world. Our education systems have failed to cultivate a love and desire for learning and seeking knowledge among the youth. Yet, the entire existence of humanity is dependent on learning and acquiring knowledge so that you can solve the issues pertaining to humanity.
This page provides you the essentials to not just learn faster, but also better. We aim to create a community of those who love to learn new areas of knowledge and spread their expertises for the betterment of the world.
The Obstacles To Effective Learning
The first step to cure of a disease is knowledge. To know How to Learn Effectively, one must know why prevents effective Learning. From my experience, I felt there are four obstacles that prevent learning in an efficient way. In his book, Buzan Study Skills Handbook, Tony Buzan also shares similar thoughts about why people fail to learn properly.
1. Having an “I-Can’t-Learn” Mindset: The first change must happen inside rather than outside. Most students fail to study better because they believe they can’t learn better. In her book “Mindset”, Carol Dweck gives us several examples of people who changed their lives by simply shifting their mindsets. Students must understand that our “in-born” abilities to learn can be improvised by having a proper mindset and that having a proper mindset impacts our success in learning new things.
2. The Nerd Mentality of the Herd: This issue also revolves a lot on the mindset. However, it’s more broader than the previous one. It involves the defective Thinking that is prevalent among the students in general throughout the community. The idea that “not studying” is seen as something that is cool is widespread in schools and universities. Students try their best to avoid the tag of “nerd”. It’s time to throw such negative Thinking under the bus which will hinder learning not just at an individual level but also at the social level.
3. Outdated Study Techniques: The traditional system of education focuses on the information and not on the individual. The information is imposed upon the individual irrespective of their abilities. The classical idea of reading a textbook thrice to understand is universally applied irrespective of the mental ability of the learner.
4. Distractions, Procrastination and Misguidance: In the world of social media and hyper gratification, students find it difficult to undergo learning which is a slow process that does neither provide instant gratification nor way as scrolling through an Instagram post.
The Pre-Requisites To Effective Learning
Here, I, share elements or tools which are necessary to maximise learning and minimise distractions during your journey.
1. Design A Proper Study Area : James Clear tells us that environments are the first cue for habits in his best-seller, “Atomic Habits”. They decide whether you will learn or get distracted. One of the insights learnt from famous Pavlov’s experiment on dogs is how our behaviours are primed by our environment.
2. Create A Calendar: Learning is a long term process. The Prophet Muhammed ﷺ advised us to seek knowledge from cradle to grave. It us not possible to learn well if you don’t have a calendar that directs you a provides you with a sense of time.
3. Manage Your Time Everyday Using 5 Minutes: After questioning several top students from leading universities of the world including Harvard, Cal Newport found that the most important factor that led to their success was time-management.
4. Fight Procastination
Modern Techniques to Supercharge Learning
Learning is not reading books thrice and cramming in that information. To truly master the art of learning, you must have command in the following disciplines:
1. Speed-Reading
2. Supercharge Memory
3. Vocabulary
4. Second Brain
Books That Will Help You Learn Better
- How To Become A Straight-A Student by Cal Newport
- Learning How To Learn by Barbara Oakley
- Buzan Study Skills Handbook by Tony Buzan
- Mindshift by Barbara Oakley
- How To Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens
- Triple Your Reading, Memory and Concentration
Other Related Books
- Atomic Habits by James Clear