What is the first step to become an efficient learner?

Start from zero and wipe the slate clean of previous learning habits that aren't serving you.

How should professionals learn effectively?

Learn in aggressive sprints and apply knowledge immediately after consumption.

Why is it better for professionals to learn like experts?

Adopting an expert mindset enhances the depth of understanding and application of knowledge.

What is the common mistake in note-taking for professionals?

Writing too many notes without focusing on understanding and processing the information.

How can one visualize their learning effectively?

Use mapping techniques to visually represent connections and organize knowledge.

What is the latent learning period?

The time gap between learning something new and receiving feedback on its accuracy.

How can I avoid cognitive overload while learning?

Familiarize yourself with the main ideas before diving into detailed learning.

What is the best approach to reading books or courses?

Tactically hit the books with a clear target for what knowledge you need to acquire.

How can I improve the efficiency of my learning process?

Learn slowly and give yourself time to process information.

What is the final tip for becoming a better learner?

Consistently bring your best thinking to every professional task and discussion.

How To Learn as a Busy Professional - Full Masterclass

00:35:43

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7h1D2uA09I

Zusammenfassung

TLDRIn this video, a learning coach shares insights gained over 13 years of helping professionals improve their learning efficiency. Key strategies include starting fresh with no pre-existing study habits, learning in focused sprints, and developing a mindset of expertise rather than simply meeting current requirements. The coach stresses the importance of applying new knowledge immediately, reducing the reliance on note-taking and memorization, and using visual aids to connect information. Additionally, professionals are encouraged to ask better questions, learn deliberately, and maintain a high standard of critical thinking across all responsibilities. Ultimately, adopting these techniques leads to a marked improvement in career progression and learning ability.

Mitbringsel

📝 Start from zero: Clean slate for learning habits.
⏱️ Learn in sprints: Set clear, aggressive goals.
👨‍🏫 Lead, don't follow: Adopt an expert mindset.
📉 Write less: Focus on understanding, not note-taking.
🧠 Don't memorize: Understand and connect information instead.
🗺️ Map everything: Visualize the connections between knowledge.
🔍 Ask better questions: Improve depth of understanding.
📚 Tactically hit the books: Study with a clear purpose.
✋ Don't overeat: Pace your consumption of information.
⚖️ Slow is fast: Take time to process for efficient learning.

Zeitleiste

00:00:00 - 00:05:00
The speaker discusses their experience as a learning coach, emphasizing that unlearning bad habits is crucial for efficient learning. They suggest starting from zero, meaning to reset previous learning techniques that no longer serve the individual in a professional context.
00:05:00 - 00:10:00
Learning in sprints is introduced as a technique for effective learning. Setting clear goals is emphasized, with aggressive consumption of knowledge followed by practical application to consolidate understanding.
00:10:00 - 00:15:00
Professionals should lead rather than follow by adopting the mindset of an expert. This perspective influences how new information is organized and understood, fostering deeper insights and more relevant applications in the workplace.
00:15:00 - 00:20:00
The speaker advises against excessive note-taking, which can detract from genuine learning. The focus should be on active engagement with the material in the brain rather than mere transcription of notes.
00:20:00 - 00:25:00
Memorization is criticized as ineffective for learning; understanding and applying information is prioritized. Techniques to simplify and connect new knowledge enhance retention without reliance on rote memorization.
00:25:00 - 00:30:00
Preparation is highlighted as a means to facilitate efficient learning. Familiarizing oneself with upcoming content can enhance understanding and reduce cognitive overload during actual learning sessions.
00:30:00 - 00:35:43
The danger of overconsuming information is discussed, with a recommendation to periodically pause and reflect to ensure comprehension rather than merely accumulating knowledge without processing.

Mind Map

Video-Fragen und Antworten

What is the first step to become an efficient learner?
Start from zero and wipe the slate clean of previous learning habits that aren't serving you.
How should professionals learn effectively?
Learn in aggressive sprints and apply knowledge immediately after consumption.
Why is it better for professionals to learn like experts?
Adopting an expert mindset enhances the depth of understanding and application of knowledge.
What is the common mistake in note-taking for professionals?
Writing too many notes without focusing on understanding and processing the information.
How can one visualize their learning effectively?
Use mapping techniques to visually represent connections and organize knowledge.
What is the latent learning period?
The time gap between learning something new and receiving feedback on its accuracy.
How can I avoid cognitive overload while learning?
Familiarize yourself with the main ideas before diving into detailed learning.
What is the best approach to reading books or courses?
Tactically hit the books with a clear target for what knowledge you need to acquire.
How can I improve the efficiency of my learning process?
Learn slowly and give yourself time to process information.
What is the final tip for becoming a better learner?
Consistently bring your best thinking to every professional task and discussion.

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Untertitel

Automatisches Blättern:

00:00:00
I've been a learning coach for the past
00:00:01
13 years. I've coached hundreds of
00:00:04
professionals, entrepreneurs, and CEOs
00:00:07
to learn effectively even under immense
00:00:09
time pressures and responsibilities.
00:00:11
This is going to be no BS advice on how
00:00:13
to learn as a professional. Number one,
00:00:15
start from zero. Let's say we have two
00:00:18
different types of professionals. The
00:00:19
first is a great diligent student
00:00:21
throughout university and the other is a
00:00:24
university dropout. Of the two, which
00:00:27
would you think is easier to coach to
00:00:29
become a super efficient learner? In my
00:00:31
experience, most of the time, the second
00:00:33
person who struggled, was a terrible
00:00:36
student, is actually easier to coach.
00:00:39
This is because they actually have less
00:00:41
built-in habits of learning. A lot of
00:00:44
professionals struggle with learning,
00:00:46
especially with high workloads, because
00:00:48
when they start learning, they use the
00:00:50
same techniques and habits that they
00:00:52
were used to while going through
00:00:54
university. not realizing that those
00:00:57
methods are not serving them anymore.
00:00:58
And a lot of the time it didn't serve
00:01:00
them back then either. They just got
00:01:01
away with it. And it's not to say that
00:01:03
book smarts is not important, but it's
00:01:06
about understanding that your learning
00:01:08
system probably is a combination of good
00:01:10
habits that are working and you should
00:01:12
keep doing them and then bad habits that
00:01:14
are holding you back which you are
00:01:16
probably not even aware of. And the hard
00:01:18
part about becoming an efficient learner
00:01:19
is not actually just learning new
00:01:22
methods and techniques. That is easy.
00:01:24
The hard part is discovering and then
00:01:27
unlearning your existing bad habits that
00:01:29
have set in over years. So start from
00:01:32
zero means just wipe the slate clean.
00:01:35
Forget about the way you used to learn.
00:01:38
If it's still working for you now, it
00:01:40
will come back into your system. But
00:01:42
don't build your learning system from,
00:01:44
okay, here's what I used to do in
00:01:46
university. Let's start from that. Just
00:01:48
start from what is my learning goal?
00:01:50
What's my current situation? and then
00:01:51
just build from a blank slate. Number
00:01:53
two, learn in sprints. When you go
00:01:56
through uni, everything is laid out for
00:01:59
you. There's a curriculum to follow and
00:02:01
all you have to do is just learn what's
00:02:03
given to you and then hit the
00:02:04
assessment, which they usually tell you
00:02:06
how they're going to market. None of
00:02:08
that applies in a professional learning
00:02:10
context. However, having that structure
00:02:13
makes it much easier to learn. So, one
00:02:16
of the things that I recommend any
00:02:17
professional to do is to actually set
00:02:18
very clear, explicit learning goals,
00:02:21
almost like lecture objectives for
00:02:22
yourself. What do I need to know? How
00:02:25
well do I need to know it? And in what
00:02:27
time frame do I need to achieve this
00:02:29
expertise by? Once you've set your
00:02:30
learning goals, learn aggressively. This
00:02:33
is the sprint part. Consume as much as
00:02:35
you can about this topic until you feel
00:02:37
like you're starting to lose track of
00:02:39
it. It's a little overwhelming. And that
00:02:40
may actually only take like a few hours
00:02:44
of learning about it and then apply what
00:02:46
you've learned immediately. So the
00:02:48
sprint is setting a learning goal,
00:02:51
consuming about this aggressively, and
00:02:53
then applying it usually for a more
00:02:55
extended period of time. Once you've
00:02:57
applied it enough that this new
00:02:59
knowledge feels like your own and you're
00:03:01
pretty comfortable with it, then you can
00:03:03
move into your next sprint where you set
00:03:05
your next learning goal and then again
00:03:06
consume aggressively. There's been
00:03:08
situations where I've spent maybe two
00:03:10
weeks to read a few books on something
00:03:12
and then I'll spend six months just
00:03:14
applying what I've learned because I
00:03:16
don't feel comfortable enough to consume
00:03:18
more information without having
00:03:20
consolidated and lived through the
00:03:23
learning that I've already accumulated.
00:03:24
Remember that the value of learning as a
00:03:26
professional is your ability to execute
00:03:29
and apply that knowledge. It doesn't
00:03:31
matter how much you've consumed and how
00:03:32
much you know. If you can't actually use
00:03:34
that and if you don't have the wisdom to
00:03:36
use that in the right way, it's
00:03:38
ultimately meaningless. Number three,
00:03:41
lead don't follow. I go around the world
00:03:43
doing workshops for various different
00:03:46
industries. And when I work with new
00:03:48
graduates, one of the most common things
00:03:50
that I see is that the new graduates
00:03:53
that really excel, whose managers see a
00:03:56
lot of potential in them, that they're
00:03:57
being picked to be the rising stars,
00:03:59
they do something different to the
00:04:02
typical graduate. And it's very rare.
00:04:04
What they do is they put themselves in
00:04:06
the mindset of becoming the expert. And
00:04:10
this is actually really important when
00:04:11
it comes to learning because the way
00:04:13
your brain will store and organize new
00:04:16
information that you learn is heavily
00:04:19
influenced by the context and the
00:04:22
purpose with which you're learning it.
00:04:23
So if you're learning just trying to hit
00:04:26
your current requirements and your
00:04:28
current level, then yes, you will be
00:04:30
able to reach that current level, but
00:04:33
90% of the value of that learning is
00:04:36
going to end there. But you can bet that
00:04:38
that same piece of information, if you
00:04:40
were to ask an expert about it, they
00:04:42
would know even deeper and more nuance.
00:04:45
It may not be new information that you
00:04:47
haven't learned, but it's a way of
00:04:49
seeing that information that the
00:04:51
beginner normally can't see. And so if
00:04:53
you're setting your sights on trying to
00:04:55
develop that higher level of expertise,
00:04:58
being the expert, not just following
00:05:00
along everyone else, but becoming the
00:05:02
leader within your level, then not only
00:05:04
will you hit your current requirements,
00:05:06
but because you are thinking like an
00:05:09
expert, the way that that knowledge is
00:05:11
consolidated into your brain is going to
00:05:13
be closer to that of an expert. So it's
00:05:16
actually going to carry you to the next
00:05:18
level and beyond. And trust me, when you
00:05:21
are tackling a new topic or a new client
00:05:24
or a new project and you have learned
00:05:26
about it and the way you contribute and
00:05:29
the questions you ask and the way you
00:05:31
think about it is way beyond your
00:05:33
current level, people will notice.
00:05:36
Number four, write less. You are not a
00:05:39
human photocopier and words on paper
00:05:43
don't mean anything. Back when you're a
00:05:45
student, some of you may have taken a
00:05:48
lot of pride in writing lots of really
00:05:49
nice, pretty comprehensive notes. But
00:05:51
what you will probably quickly realize
00:05:53
in a professional learning environment
00:05:54
is that writing a lot of notes takes a
00:05:56
lot of time and doesn't really provide
00:05:58
much benefit. Learning is not about
00:06:01
writing notes. Writing notes is a tool
00:06:05
to help you think so that you can do the
00:06:09
learning. The learning happens in the
00:06:10
brain. And if you're learning in the
00:06:12
right way, you're constantly comparing
00:06:14
and contrasting the new things that
00:06:16
you've learned with other new things
00:06:17
you've learned or with existing
00:06:19
knowledge you have. You're constantly
00:06:21
trying to make analogies. You're
00:06:22
constantly trying to simplify what
00:06:24
you're learning. That is a constant
00:06:27
active process that should be going on
00:06:29
in your brain. And it's hard to keep
00:06:31
track of all of these thoughts if you
00:06:33
just do it mentally. That's why you use
00:06:36
notetaking. It is a cognitive offload
00:06:40
mechanism. And so when you look at your
00:06:42
notes, it should be like a visual
00:06:45
representation of your thought process.
00:06:48
And any adjustment you make to your note
00:06:50
takingaking method that gets you closer
00:06:52
to this onetoone match with your thought
00:06:55
process and how your brain is trying to
00:06:57
organize that information, the more
00:06:59
effective your learning is going to be.
00:07:01
And therefore, naturally, you'll feel
00:07:03
that you need to write less notes. And
00:07:05
this logic also directly applies for the
00:07:06
next tip which is don't memorize.
00:07:10
Learning through memorization is a
00:07:12
losing game. You don't there's no way to
00:07:15
win this. The more you try to memorize
00:07:18
and learn through repetition, the less
00:07:21
efficient your learning is going to be
00:07:23
overall. There is going to be some
00:07:25
information that you do need to
00:07:27
memorize. You can't avoid it. Especially
00:07:28
if you are in a lot of scientific
00:07:30
disciplines or really technically uh
00:07:32
heavy disciplines. So when I was a
00:07:34
doctor, yes, there was lots of things
00:07:35
that I had to memorize. But what you
00:07:37
need to understand is that memorization
00:07:39
is a method of learning when all other
00:07:42
methods of learning are not applicable.
00:07:44
It is the process of your brain
00:07:46
receiving information that it doesn't
00:07:48
connect with, doesn't see the relevance
00:07:50
of, doesn't know why it's important,
00:07:52
doesn't know why it needs to keep it,
00:07:54
and therefore tries to remove it and
00:07:56
prune it from your memory because that's
00:07:58
what it's meant to do. and then you
00:08:01
taking it and then ramming it back into
00:08:03
your brain to say, "No, I need you to
00:08:05
hold on to this." And with enough
00:08:07
repetition, it does actually work. You
00:08:10
can deepen this neural groove so that
00:08:13
that information just stays there
00:08:15
stickier. But this requires repetition
00:08:18
and is very timeconuming if you're
00:08:19
trying to do this at scale. In the first
00:08:21
instance of learning new information,
00:08:23
your primary objective should be how can
00:08:26
I learn this in such a way that I don't
00:08:28
need to memorize it. How do I make it
00:08:30
simpler, inherently more intuitive, more
00:08:34
relevant? How can I find a way to apply
00:08:35
it and consolidate it straight away? And
00:08:38
the biggest barrier I see when coaching
00:08:40
people is that they are so used to
00:08:41
learning through memorization that
00:08:44
they're not even aware that they're
00:08:45
trying to memorize it. Whenever you hear
00:08:47
something or you're reading something
00:08:50
and you go into this loop of thinking,
00:08:52
I'm going to forget this. So, let me
00:08:55
repeat that again and again to try to
00:08:57
consolidate it into my memory. That
00:09:00
behavior, that thought process is you
00:09:03
trying to memorize. So start building a
00:09:05
a radar, an awareness of when you enter
00:09:08
into that habit and then use that as an
00:09:10
opportunity to say, okay, instead of
00:09:12
just repeating it again and again, maybe
00:09:14
I just pause for a moment and just think
00:09:15
about how I can connect it to something
00:09:18
or simplify it so that it's easier to
00:09:20
remember. Now, one thing I need to
00:09:22
mention is that even though I'm
00:09:24
packaging this information as a bunch of
00:09:27
tips, learning to learn is a messy
00:09:30
process. Some people watch my videos and
00:09:32
they assume that because they watched
00:09:34
it, they will magically get better at
00:09:35
learning. But if you are serious about
00:09:38
getting better, you cannot avoid putting
00:09:41
in the time and effort to try things,
00:09:44
make mistakes, and learn from them.
00:09:46
Personally, it took me over 7 years of
00:09:48
constant trial and error and reading
00:09:51
thousands of research articles. And
00:09:52
those years of experience are what have
00:09:54
allowed me to make YouTube videos like
00:09:56
this today. But if you're a busy
00:09:59
professional trying to become
00:10:01
hyperefficient at learning, you probably
00:10:04
don't have a spare seven years. This is
00:10:06
why I created the I can study program on
00:10:09
YouTube. I try my best to give you
00:10:12
content and valuable information, but
00:10:16
there is a lot to go through and if you
00:10:18
want to improve quickly, you need to be
00:10:20
focused on what to do next rather than
00:10:23
what video should I watch next. On the I
00:10:26
can study program, I'm able to distill
00:10:28
my years of experience into the ideal
00:10:31
order and structure. I can give you
00:10:33
tasks and check your understanding and
00:10:35
give you feedback. I can go into
00:10:37
examples and walkthroughs for your
00:10:39
specific goals. So, while I will keep
00:10:41
posting videos for free on YouTube, if
00:10:44
you are interested in a faster, more
00:10:47
guided, less confusing path to
00:10:49
improvement, you may be interested in
00:10:51
checking out my program at
00:10:53
iconstudy.com. If you'd like to explore
00:10:54
it, I'll leave a link to it in the
00:10:56
description below. And we'll move on to
00:10:58
the next tip, which is actually one of
00:11:00
the first lessons in the program as
00:11:01
well, which is to prep everything. Think
00:11:04
about your brain's ability to learn like
00:11:07
a physical muscle. If I give you like a
00:11:10
potato to carry, that's not going to be
00:11:12
very difficult. But if I'm constantly
00:11:14
throwing potatoes at you and now you've
00:11:17
got like you've got this sack of
00:11:19
potatoes and you're constantly trying to
00:11:20
catch more and hold this huge heavy sack
00:11:24
of potatoes, you're going to get very
00:11:25
tired. And the exact same thing happens
00:11:27
with our learning except instead of
00:11:28
muscular fatigue, we're going to enter
00:11:30
into cognitive fatigue or cognitive
00:11:33
overload. And so the trick to learning
00:11:35
efficiently is to balance our cognitive
00:11:38
resources. That's basically how much
00:11:40
mental energy and strength that we have.
00:11:42
And so if you imagine that you are in
00:11:44
some workshop or a seminar and you're
00:11:47
listening to someone give you this large
00:11:49
volume of very dense information that
00:11:51
you have never been exposed to before.
00:11:53
Your brain is trying to process that,
00:11:55
understand it, organize it in your brain
00:11:58
while simultaneously receiving the next
00:12:00
piece of information. And it's trying to
00:12:02
juggle so many things at the same time.
00:12:04
And if that's the situation you're in,
00:12:06
it's pretty much impossible to make your
00:12:09
learning more efficient except using
00:12:11
some very cognitively advanced
00:12:13
techniques. So when I say prep
00:12:15
everything, what I mean is to take that
00:12:18
big block of learning and to start
00:12:21
chipping away and working at it in
00:12:23
advance. And you can spend just five to
00:12:26
10 minutes just generally familiarizing
00:12:30
yourself with what the main ideas are
00:12:32
going to be about what you're learning,
00:12:34
what some of the more complicated ideas
00:12:36
might be, and just generally how it's
00:12:38
all connected and why you need to know
00:12:41
this, why it is important for you. and
00:12:44
how it's going to be relevant for you.
00:12:45
And it doesn't take very long to get a
00:12:47
general familiarity and a sense of
00:12:49
purpose with what you're about to learn.
00:12:52
And that means that when you learn that
00:12:54
information, your brain isn't trying to
00:12:56
process and understand it and then
00:12:58
desperately try to figure out where it
00:13:00
fits all at the same time. It has an
00:13:03
idea about where this information will
00:13:05
fit. And so, it's easier and faster to
00:13:08
store it away. Spending just 10 minutes
00:13:10
to prep yourself on what you're about to
00:13:12
learn can save you literally 10 times
00:13:16
that amount of time and effort in the
00:13:18
future. Having said that, one of the
00:13:21
most common ways that you can ruin the
00:13:24
benefit of that preparation is to
00:13:27
overconume information. Which brings me
00:13:30
to the next tip. Don't overeat. Learning
00:13:34
is essentially this constant battle of
00:13:36
consuming and digesting. You're
00:13:39
consuming new information and your brain
00:13:41
is digesting it. Figuring out how to
00:13:43
organize and store this into your
00:13:45
memory. The figuring out and storing
00:13:48
part of this process takes a lot of
00:13:50
effort and there's a limit to how fast
00:13:52
you can do this. This is the bottleneck.
00:13:55
It's very easy to consume a lot of very
00:13:58
dense information very quickly just like
00:14:01
how I actually realized in the last few
00:14:03
years that I tend to stress binge eat
00:14:07
and I didn't even know what overeing
00:14:10
actually meant. Uh and I'm working on
00:14:12
that now. You may also not know what it
00:14:15
actually means to over consume and
00:14:17
overeat new information. So, here is the
00:14:20
mental check that I use every time I'm
00:14:24
learning something new that makes sure I
00:14:26
never overeat. There are two questions I
00:14:28
am constantly asking myself while I'm
00:14:29
learning new information. The first is,
00:14:32
does this make sense to me? Not just do
00:14:35
I understand it, but do I actually feel
00:14:38
like it makes sense? It makes sense
00:14:41
because that pattern of connections is
00:14:44
something that your brain feels
00:14:45
comfortable and familiar with. The
00:14:47
second question is, do I feel like I'm
00:14:49
about to forget this? This question is
00:14:52
bringing our attention to a very similar
00:14:54
and important cognitive phenomenon. When
00:14:56
we have too many things that don't make
00:14:58
sense, where our brain doesn't know how
00:15:00
to organize it and file it away, then
00:15:03
it's going to prune that information out
00:15:06
of our memory. And so that feeling of I
00:15:09
feel like I'm going to forget this means
00:15:12
that your brain has not found a
00:15:14
worthwhile and meaningful way of
00:15:17
organizing this information. And if
00:15:18
there's lots of information you've
00:15:20
consumed in a in a short period of time,
00:15:22
your brain will probably struggle to get
00:15:24
meaning out of it because it's
00:15:26
overloaded. It's holding a very big sack
00:15:29
of potatoes. And so in that situation
00:15:31
where you feel like either it doesn't
00:15:32
make sense or you're about to forget it
00:15:34
or both, the most important thing you
00:15:36
can do is to stop eating. Put the potato
00:15:39
chip down. You don't have to, Justin.
00:15:42
Just because you opened up a bag of
00:15:43
chips doesn't mean you have to finish
00:15:45
it. You need to give your brain the
00:15:46
space to just process what it's already
00:15:49
consumed. This is where note-taking in a
00:15:52
way that reflects your thinking process
00:15:54
can really help. You write down what
00:15:56
you're thinking. You track your thoughts
00:15:57
and you use that note-taking to help you
00:15:59
to organize, group and simplify this
00:16:02
information. Now, how long it takes, how
00:16:05
long you need to pause for for this to
00:16:07
be
00:16:08
consolidated, this can be minutes,
00:16:11
seconds, or even hours or days depending
00:16:14
on your skill level and the amount of
00:16:16
practice you have as well as the
00:16:18
complexity of the information and how
00:16:20
much knowledge you already have about
00:16:21
the subject. But I can guarantee that if
00:16:24
you keep overeing and it doesn't make
00:16:26
sense and you feel like you're going to
00:16:27
forget it, then you the only thing
00:16:30
you'll be able to do when you overeat is
00:16:32
vomit it back up. You won't be able to
00:16:35
use that information probably for the
00:16:36
reasons you're trying to learn it in the
00:16:38
first place. And like I said, one of the
00:16:39
things that really helps you with this
00:16:41
is tip number eight, map everything. The
00:16:44
human brain is vastly more efficient at
00:16:49
processing visual information than
00:16:51
written information. Some studies
00:16:53
suggest 20 to 40,000 times faster. This
00:16:57
is why you can look at a painting of
00:16:59
something and understand what you're
00:17:00
seeing in half a second when it might
00:17:03
take you half an hour to read a detailed
00:17:06
description of everything that you saw.
00:17:08
Well, if you want to get more efficient
00:17:09
with learning, you have to develop the
00:17:11
habit of visually representing what you
00:17:16
are thinking about in your notes. Like
00:17:18
I've mentioned, the brain works in
00:17:20
connections. It forms networks of
00:17:22
knowledge that are all connected to and
00:17:24
influence each other. And when
00:17:26
information doesn't fit into this
00:17:28
network somewhere, it is eventually lost
00:17:30
and forgotten. It is your ability to put
00:17:33
something into a network and connect
00:17:35
that meaningfully that determines your
00:17:38
attention and your depth of expertise
00:17:41
aka how you can apply that information.
00:17:43
As a professional, most of the things
00:17:45
you are learning, you're expected to do
00:17:47
something with. Everything you learn is
00:17:50
connected to something and it is your
00:17:52
job as a learner to figure out what
00:17:54
those connections are. and mapping
00:17:57
nonlinear notetaking. Actually
00:18:00
physically representing connections and
00:18:03
flows and influences on paper as you
00:18:07
learn is an incredibly powerful
00:18:09
technique that can help your brain to
00:18:11
think of and see these connections. And
00:18:13
if you've tried mapping and note-taking
00:18:15
before and you haven't found it very
00:18:17
effective, then I can
00:18:19
guarantee it's not because the map is
00:18:22
not effective. It's because the way you
00:18:25
are thinking as you make the map is not
00:18:28
effective. And so one key tip to make
00:18:31
this more effective is to judge
00:18:35
everything. The value of each new piece
00:18:38
of information you learn is not always
00:18:42
equal. Some things are more important
00:18:44
than other things. Some things are
00:18:46
important in one context and less
00:18:48
important than another context. And the
00:18:50
reason something is important is usually
00:18:51
because of the influence or impact it
00:18:54
has on another piece of information.
00:18:57
This is the network. A great learner
00:19:00
doesn't just organize information based
00:19:02
on how someone tells them to organize
00:19:05
it. They actively think about why this
00:19:09
piece of information is important. They
00:19:11
judge and critique the information. And
00:19:15
sometimes this is how you gain a
00:19:17
perspective on knowledge that is
00:19:19
uncommon amongst your peers. Where your
00:19:21
peers can say, "Oh yeah, this thing is
00:19:24
made up of A, B, and C." But you can
00:19:27
talk about it as, "Yeah, this thing is
00:19:29
made up of A, B, and C, but really the
00:19:31
most important thing is B because of the
00:19:34
influence it has on A and C." And you
00:19:36
can immediately tell that the second
00:19:37
person has thought about it more and
00:19:40
understands the topic to a deeper level.
00:19:43
In fact, even if you don't make a map or
00:19:47
create a network or do any of the other
00:19:48
things, simply just asking yourself on a
00:19:52
scale of 1 to 10, how important do I
00:19:56
think this piece of information I've
00:19:58
just consumed is? Just asking yourself
00:20:00
that question can have immediate impacts
00:20:03
on your attention and your depth of
00:20:04
understanding. And one of the best parts
00:20:06
about judging everything and getting
00:20:08
into that habit is that allows you to do
00:20:11
the next tip, which is to ask better
00:20:15
questions. There's no such thing as a
00:20:17
stupid question. Sure. But there are
00:20:20
definitely some questions that are
00:20:22
better than others for learning. And the
00:20:24
best questions that help you to hold on
00:20:27
to information, make sense of
00:20:29
information, and use that information
00:20:31
like an expert would. that helps you to
00:20:34
be a leader and not a follower is when
00:20:37
you are asking questions that help you
00:20:40
to map and judge the information. Let's
00:20:44
say you learn two new facts and you're
00:20:46
trying to decide which of these two
00:20:48
facts are more important and in what
00:20:51
situations and how do they connect to
00:20:54
each other? How can I map it? You can
00:20:56
see that trying to do that, trying to
00:21:00
achieve that outcome of judging it and
00:21:02
mapping it forces you to think about
00:21:05
this information more deeply and in
00:21:07
relation to another. You might have
00:21:09
understood each thing
00:21:11
individually. I understand what this
00:21:13
concept means. I understand what this
00:21:14
concept means. But when you start
00:21:16
comparing, well, which one is more
00:21:18
important? How does it influence each
00:21:20
other? It's a whole new realm of
00:21:22
thinking. And naturally, if it's a new
00:21:24
topic, you may have questions. You will
00:21:27
have
00:21:28
hypothesis. I think this is more
00:21:32
important in this situation because I
00:21:34
feel like it impacts this and this and
00:21:36
you know whereas I feel like this one is
00:21:38
more important in a different situation
00:21:39
because I feel like it connects with
00:21:41
this thing and this thing but not this
00:21:42
thing. You can see these are hypotheses
00:21:45
and to clarify those, we ask questions
00:21:48
and depending on your your situation,
00:21:50
you know, where you ask that question
00:21:51
might depend. Maybe you leave it on a
00:21:54
separate notepad and you go over it
00:21:55
later in your in your own time in the
00:21:57
evening. Maybe you do a Google search.
00:21:59
Maybe you ask a supervisor or a manager
00:22:01
or a senior. And not only does asking
00:22:04
and then answering these questions help
00:22:06
with your learning and help you reach
00:22:07
that expert level, if you are in a
00:22:10
situation where questions are welcomed
00:22:12
and encouraged, then your supervisor or
00:22:14
your manager or even your client is
00:22:17
going to be impressed at how deeply
00:22:20
you're trying to think about this topic
00:22:22
and the types of questions that you're
00:22:23
asking. If I'm working with someone and
00:22:26
I know it's complicated and it's new to
00:22:28
them and they don't have any questions
00:22:31
for
00:22:32
me, almost always that's a red flag. It
00:22:37
means that they're not even thinking
00:22:38
about it at the level that they need to
00:22:41
to have these questions pop up into
00:22:43
their heads. And if I know there's a
00:22:44
certain standard that they need to hit
00:22:46
and they're also not even thinking at
00:22:49
that
00:22:50
standard, then there's almost no chance
00:22:52
they're going to hit it. On the flip
00:22:53
side, if someone is asking me questions
00:22:56
that shows that they're thinking at this
00:22:58
level, then nine out of 10 times I know
00:23:01
that the outcome, the quality of the
00:23:02
work that they produce is going to be
00:23:04
excellent. By the way, if you're liking
00:23:05
this and you want me to go even deeper
00:23:07
and explore some of the nuances and
00:23:09
variations of these techniques that took
00:23:12
me over a decade to figure out, then I
00:23:14
want to mention that I also have a free
00:23:16
weekly newsletter where I cover that.
00:23:19
You can find a link to that in the
00:23:21
description below. Now, on to the next
00:23:24
tip. Number 11, tactically hit the
00:23:27
books. When you go from high school to
00:23:30
university, there's a big shift in that
00:23:32
you take a lot more independence and
00:23:34
responsibility. You decide how to study,
00:23:38
when to study, or whether to study at
00:23:40
all. When you go from uni to the
00:23:43
workforce, there's another transition in
00:23:45
that you now decide what to study in the
00:23:49
first place. And so when you think about
00:23:51
studying and having dedicated study
00:23:53
sessions, think about studying as your
00:23:57
fourth optimal solution to a knowledge
00:24:01
problem. So if you need to know
00:24:03
something for work or for an exam, the
00:24:08
first option like the most ideal
00:24:10
solution to that problem, the knowledge
00:24:12
gap that you have is that you just know
00:24:16
it and you can just remember it. there
00:24:17
was a gap, you thought about a little
00:24:19
bit more and it's like, oh yeah, now you
00:24:20
filled it. The second option is that you
00:24:22
just quickly look it up. A quick Google
00:24:24
search, looking through notes, looking
00:24:26
at a reference piece of information and
00:24:28
the knowledge is there. The third option
00:24:30
is that you can't find the information
00:24:32
quickly. So, you have to do a deeper
00:24:34
search. It takes you a little bit longer
00:24:35
to find the answer. You're crawling
00:24:37
through reading like dozens of different
00:24:40
uh Google results. You're reading
00:24:42
through articles trying to figure this
00:24:43
out. And the fourth option is when you
00:24:45
have to do that deeper finding. It's
00:24:48
timeconuming. You have to troll through
00:24:50
things. However, it's not enough just to
00:24:52
have found an answer. It's when you not
00:24:55
only have to have an answer, but you
00:24:57
also need to know how to think about the
00:24:58
answer and how to think about the
00:25:00
problem and all the other things that
00:25:01
are related to it. You actually have to
00:25:03
have expertise on the topic. And in
00:25:05
order to achieve that, you need to do
00:25:08
studying. And the reason this tip is
00:25:10
called tactically hit the books is
00:25:12
because a very common thing that I see
00:25:14
is that people will have this general
00:25:17
knowledge gap within their discipline.
00:25:19
And so they'll find like a book or a
00:25:22
course that fills it and then they'll
00:25:24
just go through it. And it is a very
00:25:27
passive and inefficient and undirected
00:25:30
way of trying to fill that knowledge
00:25:33
gap. Some of the information isn't even
00:25:34
relevant to what you need and then you
00:25:36
have to sift through what is and isn't
00:25:37
relevant. It's often very timeconuming
00:25:39
and feels very boring and tedious like
00:25:41
you know going back to school and then
00:25:44
because it's not a targeted way of
00:25:45
filling your knowledge gap. It's not
00:25:47
providing you value for your daily work
00:25:50
straight away. You have to spend 3 weeks
00:25:52
finishing this course before you then
00:25:54
turn around and think okay did this help
00:25:57
solve my problem? But if instead you
00:25:59
think about the process of studying as
00:26:01
almost like this fourth option like this
00:26:04
really slow Google search then it means
00:26:07
you are much more deliberate about what
00:26:10
you are trying to learn and why you're
00:26:12
trying to learn it. What information do
00:26:14
you need to solve your knowledge gap and
00:26:16
how do you need to think about it for
00:26:17
this to be valuable? And if you start
00:26:19
here in a more targeted way then it's
00:26:22
easier to make this knowledge relevant.
00:26:24
It's easier to make it make sense. It's
00:26:26
more memorable naturally. It provides
00:26:28
you value straight away. And even if you
00:26:31
do go on and then study all the other
00:26:34
little details that may be less
00:26:36
relevant, it's easier to learn and
00:26:38
integrate that stuff later because
00:26:40
you're building on this solid foundation
00:26:44
of relevant material that makes sense to
00:26:47
you. And one thing that you should do to
00:26:48
try to make the knowledge that you gain
00:26:50
from hitting the books more relevant
00:26:52
more quickly is to delete the latent
00:26:56
learning period. If you studying in uni,
00:27:00
you might spend six weeks studying
00:27:01
something and then have an exam and then
00:27:04
in that exam you see how well you did.
00:27:06
Well, this is actually a very risky
00:27:08
studying strategy because it means that
00:27:09
if you've got gaps in your knowledge and
00:27:11
you weren't hitting the level, you don't
00:27:13
figure that out until the exam. So a
00:27:15
good student should be testing
00:27:17
themselves very regularly. So it's their
00:27:19
exam result is not a surprise to them.
00:27:21
Well, this is even more true if you're
00:27:23
learning as a professional. Forget 6
00:27:25
weeks. If you spend 6 days learning
00:27:27
about something, preparing some
00:27:29
solution, some strategy, solving a
00:27:31
certain problem at work, but the way
00:27:33
that you've approached it and what
00:27:35
you've learned has not been accurate,
00:27:36
hasn't been correct, then you've just
00:27:39
wasted that entire week and that time
00:27:41
and probably someone else's time and
00:27:43
money. And so that period from when you
00:27:46
start learning something through to the
00:27:48
point at which you start getting
00:27:50
feedback on the validity of what you
00:27:53
have learned, that's called the latent
00:27:54
learning period. And as a professional,
00:27:57
we want to bring that as close to zero
00:27:59
as possible. For a new and especially
00:28:02
complicated topic, it can be very
00:28:04
difficult to know what even is the
00:28:06
correct or right way of thinking about
00:28:08
it. And so we want to test the validity
00:28:11
of how we're thinking and structuring
00:28:13
this information very frequently. Go
00:28:16
from learning about it, making sense of
00:28:18
it, connecting it together, and then
00:28:20
proposing, okay, this is how I think I
00:28:22
should apply it. And try to do that
00:28:25
immediately. And then have that approach
00:28:28
or strategy checked by someone early and
00:28:31
frequently. If there are major errors in
00:28:33
the way that you're thinking about
00:28:34
something or learning something, you
00:28:36
want those to be signposted to you as
00:28:38
early as possible so you don't have to
00:28:40
then restructure your entire schema of
00:28:43
learning. But in reality, when I do
00:28:44
these workshops and I talk to these
00:28:47
professionals that I'm coaching, they'll
00:28:49
spend weeks learning about something and
00:28:52
only weeks or months later when they
00:28:55
actually apply it in a real world
00:28:57
setting at work do they realize that the
00:29:00
way they learned it isn't actually
00:29:02
helpful for their needs. And by having
00:29:04
this weeks or months long latent
00:29:07
learning period, we've just wasted all
00:29:10
of that time. And speaking of wasting
00:29:13
time, one of the most important things
00:29:15
that you can do to save time when
00:29:17
learning is to actually learn more
00:29:20
slowly. Because tip number 13, slow is
00:29:25
fast. This general manager of this
00:29:27
company that I worked with once told me
00:29:29
that good planning costs a lot, but not
00:29:34
planning costs much more. And I find
00:29:36
that this is really true for learning.
00:29:39
When we don't have a lot of time and
00:29:40
there's so much to learn, it's really
00:29:43
easy to want to learn faster and just
00:29:47
cover more content and overeat and just
00:29:51
just do whatever we can to get on top of
00:29:53
this knowledge gap. So you end up
00:29:55
reading a lot of books and attending
00:29:58
courses and and and workshops and you
00:30:01
know listening to a bunch of different
00:30:02
podcasts and audio books and all you
00:30:05
have is just more things that you're
00:30:09
forgetting. And the trap is that it
00:30:12
becomes so easy to get caught up in just
00:30:17
going through more material
00:30:19
quickly that we
00:30:21
deprioritize actually spending the time
00:30:25
to think and process and organize what
00:30:28
we've consumed. the idea of learning in
00:30:31
sprints and consuming and then just not
00:30:35
consuming anything else, just applying
00:30:38
and consolidating and checking and and
00:30:40
living through that. This is a very
00:30:44
confronting suggestion to a lot of
00:30:46
people who would say, well, if I do
00:30:48
that, I'm not going to be able to cover
00:30:50
my knowledge requirements because I'm
00:30:52
not getting through enough content
00:30:54
quickly. And my answer is that if the
00:30:56
problem is with the knowledge you have
00:31:00
in your brain, then flicking more pages
00:31:03
with your hands doesn't change that. And
00:31:06
sometimes what we need to think more is
00:31:11
to give ourselves the space by flicking
00:31:14
pages a little less. I would say that I
00:31:17
am a very efficient, fast
00:31:20
learner. You would hope so cuz it's my
00:31:22
literal job. But when you watch me
00:31:26
study, it's not I'm not blazing fast. My
00:31:29
pen isn't catching fire, you know? I'm
00:31:30
not breaking through my keyboard every
00:31:32
study session because I'm just like
00:31:34
studying so fast. Most of the time when
00:31:37
I'm learning something, I'm doing a lot
00:31:39
of just looking, thinking, pondering,
00:31:43
maybe a Google search. Mentally, there's
00:31:46
a lot going on and it's very quick. What
00:31:48
I'm focused on is fixing the biggest
00:31:51
bottleneck, which is my ability to
00:31:53
process and organize the information.
00:31:55
I'm acknowledging that it doesn't matter
00:31:58
how fast I consume. The consuming
00:32:01
information part is never the
00:32:02
bottleneck. I can always do that faster
00:32:04
or slower. The thing that affects my
00:32:07
speed of learning is how much time and
00:32:10
effort I devote into the thinking and
00:32:12
processing part. And sometimes that can
00:32:15
make it feel like you're learning very
00:32:18
slowly if you are used to measuring your
00:32:21
speed of learning by how quickly you're
00:32:24
covering content. But if you are
00:32:26
learning correctly, thinking in the
00:32:28
right ways, it should take more effort
00:32:30
and it should take a little longer. And
00:32:34
that's what saves you time in the
00:32:36
future. Going slow and doing it properly
00:32:40
is what makes your learning fast. And
00:32:43
the final tip I have for you is to bring
00:32:45
everything to the table. One of my
00:32:47
employees is also one of my former
00:32:49
students. They joined my program. They
00:32:52
learned the skills. They did very well
00:32:55
academically. We hired him and there was
00:32:59
this big difference between his ability
00:33:01
to perform academically which is very
00:33:04
high versus his ability to perform at
00:33:07
work. And what we eventually realized
00:33:09
was that these skills of thinking
00:33:12
critically and connecting everything and
00:33:15
judging everything and mapping
00:33:16
everything, he wasn't holding himself to
00:33:19
that standard consistently with his
00:33:22
work. He was only doing that when it
00:33:24
came to studying something. But the key
00:33:27
to being an exceptional professional, to
00:33:31
being a thought leader, to being someone
00:33:33
who's able to just learn and just adapt
00:33:35
and tackle projects with confidence, is
00:33:38
that your brain needs to get used to
00:33:41
thinking at this higher standard. It has
00:33:44
to get used to it so that it can become
00:33:46
a habit so that it can become easier and
00:33:48
faster. You don't want to need to like
00:33:51
take a quadruple shot of espresso every
00:33:54
single time you sit down to do some work
00:33:56
because your brain is just like having
00:33:58
to think so hard to think at this level.
00:34:01
With enough practice, it just becomes a
00:34:04
habit. It becomes as easy to think in
00:34:06
this way as whatever way you're
00:34:09
currently thinking of. Now, it takes
00:34:11
time and it takes effort to get to that
00:34:13
point, but that's where your goal should
00:34:15
be. And if on a Monday you're thinking
00:34:17
at a lower level and then on a Tuesday
00:34:19
you're thinking at a higher level and on
00:34:20
a Wednesday you are back low, this tug
00:34:23
of war is going to make it harder for
00:34:25
you to just consistently build this
00:34:26
habit. So show up every day holding
00:34:30
yourself to this standard. Every meeting
00:34:33
you're a part of, every conversation,
00:34:34
every problem you're solving, do your
00:34:37
best to think and maintain this standard
00:34:39
for yourself. become the person who's
00:34:43
valuable to involve in the conversation
00:34:45
purely because the way they think about
00:34:47
it is valuable. And when you bring
00:34:49
everything you can to the table
00:34:52
consistently, not only does it help you
00:34:54
to train your brain with these new
00:34:56
habits, but you become someone who is
00:34:58
more dependable, who is capable of more,
00:35:01
is given more responsibilities and given
00:35:03
more opportunities. So that's the advice
00:35:05
and I can tell you that in the hundreds
00:35:08
of professionals that I've done face tof
00:35:10
face workshops for all around the world
00:35:12
that the number of people that follow
00:35:14
even half of this advice is extremely
00:35:16
rare. And if you do follow all of this
00:35:19
advice, your ability to learn, your
00:35:23
growth trajectory, your career
00:35:24
trajectory will tangibly improve. So I
00:35:27
hope you found this useful. If there are
00:35:29
certain situations that you want me to
00:35:30
cover or questions you want me to
00:35:31
answer, leave a comment down below. So,
00:35:33
if you're interested in joining my
00:35:34
program to get a fast track on
00:35:36
developing these skills, there's also a
00:35:38
link to that in the description below.
00:35:39
Thank you so much for watching and I'll
00:35:41
see you in the next one.