October 4, 2020 Antonio Aguirre, Jr. HOW TO LEARN (ALMOST) ANYTHING IN 2 DAYS

Information on anything can be found on the internet nowadays. You want to learn how to fix or take care of something and it’s there. Most of the time, it’s free, and for us to take advantage of it. What you’ll read is a 7 Step overview guide to learn anything in 2 to 3 days and being able to apply it in real life. This is something I learned over a decade ago and can be applied to almost anything that doesn’t require a diploma to do so.

This will create an outlined process for you to follow and ensure you’re on track to achieving maximum learning success. Bookmark now and take down notes.

1. Gather materials and resources to learn (3 hours) – Great! You’ve made the choice to learn something new! The first step then is to gather all the resources and materials you need to get you going. If you were to learn for example a language, the list of resources might include books, audio, websites and apps. It will be helpful to find a native speaker with whom you can practice speaking the language with.

2. Developing a memorization strategy (2 hours) – Now that you’ve gathered all that you need, decide on the memory techniques you plan to use. There are plenty of memory techniques to choose from online, so choose 1 that you think works for you best. For example, lengthy memorizations require me to use the Method of Loci. If I want to acquire knowledge fast, I use a mind map of the content and use visualization methods such as SMASHIN SCOPE to create engaging associations in my mind with the knowledge. The more practice you get at identifying which memory techniques to use, the better you become at developing a memorization strategy.

3. Prioritizing and organizing materials (1 hour) – With your strategy developed, the next step is to organize the materials and resources you have to fit inside your strategy. If your strategy was to memorize all 2,000 Japanese phrases, then you will need to make sure you have your 2,000 Japanese phrases set out in a way that will make it easy for you to go through them one by one. One method of doing that is to enter or copy & paste each phrase into a spreadsheet so that it becomes easy to access.

4. Create accountability (1 hour) – It’s important to share your learning task with a family member, friend, or anyone else that will hold you accountable. Accountability to other people will create motivation to get you going so that you don’t let others down. We do tend to slack off if we are accountable to only ourselves. Practice being accountable to someone you value.

5. Time to Memorize (30 hours) – It’s now time to take full action once you have all of your materials and have developed your process for learning. It is best to start with short periods of memorization rather than the long ones. The reason for this is that it is less strain on the brain, you will complete a set memorization period quickly, and as you get better you will increase your time. If you start with longer memorization periods then it’s going to overwhelm you very quickly. Always try to keep it short and simple.

6. Quick Review (1 hour) – Once you have memorized everything that you can, you’ll need to go back and review your work. This helps to store your memorization in your long-term memory. Depending on what you’re learning, the rule for Quick Reviews is to review an hour later, then a day later, then a week after, a month after, three months after, six months after and then a year after.

7. Practice and apply (10 hours) – Once you have memorized and used techniques to achieve what you want, you will need to practice to give yourself feedback on your memorization. This is the test of how much you have learned. If you have indeed memorized 2,000 Japanese phrases, go into an environment where Japanese is spoken and try to initiate conversations. Are you able to speak it? What works? What doesn’t? Note all these down and figure out why these were the case. Learn from them and then go back and re-memorize. Having the chance to practice what you have memorized is crucial to the learning process. Memorization only helps you to store the information, whereas learning helps you understand. Practice is the intersection where these two meet. So try to practice as much as you can and before you know it, you will learn anything you want to learn in record time. Good luck!

Question of the day: What are you going to try and learn after reading this? Comment below!