The Enormous Mistake Most Make When Learning

Stop going so fast, you're not a hedgehog. Part 2 of 4.

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Summary

• The primary goal: you should read for comprehension, not speed.

• Take notes: notes help to clarify your understanding.

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Last week, I shared a post on the most important thing to do when learning: planning.

When you finish the plan, it’s time to dive deep. You’ve found the material, and now you must read, watch videos, or whatever else. So what’s the hold up? Get cracking, start rushing through the pages!

Wrong.

Take your time

The crucial aspect of learning is to take your time.

The loading icon from the game Persona 5.

Reading/watching to learn is not the same as reading/watching fiction. It’s not a sprint. You’re not paid for how many pages you flip in an hour—eventually you’ll, hopefully, be paid for your understanding, how good you’ve become.

When rushing through the text we don’t get a good understanding. It’s like trying to drink wine from a sieve. You might get a few drops, but the rest is going straight to the floor, and wine stains can be tough to scrub out.

The internet encourages this speed mentality. There’s a lot of flexing. Here’s how I read 713 books in a year, and you can too if you follow these 3 simple steps. Here’s how I seduced 12 girls with my reading speed, and you can get the same results for $499.99, TODAY ONLY, pay back over 12 installments!

Don’t fall for it.

But don’t get me wrong—reading quickly is great. It will, in fact, save you a lot of time. But the primary goal of studying is, and should always be, comprehension.

How to read for comprehension

The time required to comprehend what you’re reading is dependent on the material. Are you reading a scientific article, with lots of formulas and opaque descriptions? Expect to spend a while on each page. Are you reading the garbage I write? Expect to finish it in 3 seconds.

But the real kicker is: you shouldn’t be just reading.

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

All throughout my education one concept continued to rear its ugly head—notes. I still hear the voices in my head: remember to take notes! Well, guess what, I didn’t. Ever. Even in university lectures. I just sat there, chugging coffee.

Yes, I am an idiot.

It always came back to bite me. When exams rolled around, it at times felt like I had to re-learn everything. What does this mean? I swear they never mentioned this before! They probably did, but as the learning pyramid suggest, we retain shockingly little information we passively consume.

So be active!

Find a note-taking method you enjoy, and use it. Scribble questions in the margins of your books. Ask questions. Take the time to consider what you read. And make use of your machine friends.

Utilizing AI

AI is a phenomenal tutor. It’s not a replacement, it’s an augmentation. Anything you read that especially piques your curiosity, or you struggle to understand, ask AI to explain it. Engage with those explanations. Follow up on them. Question them.

Another phenomenal way to use AI to learn is by using it to seek out dissenting opinions. Try asking the AI what counterpoints might exist to your view on a topic. This stimulates thought—it’s not about getting the answer, it’s about challenging the answers you have.

Take breaks

We cannot work endlessly without diminishing returns. We need to recharge. To stay focused and retain information we need breaks.

Photo by Daniela Turcanu on Unsplash

One method I like is the Pomodoro technique.

It follows a simple formula: focused work for 25 minutes, break for 5 minutes. This keeps you engaged and focused. Every 4th cycle, take a longer break, like 30 minutes. You can even modify this—maybe 50 minutes of work and 10 minutes of break feels better to you?

Just don’t go too long without the break.

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Here’s one note I want to highlight, one quote to make you ponder and one post/note from another creator I enjoyed this week.

The Note

The Quote

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn

The Promote

This week, I particularly enjoyed reading

Fabienne Mannherz

of

Postcards by Fabienne

unpack the next move, and why it differs from the many previous ones. You can read it here:

Unpacking why this move hits differently