How do I learn new things?

Want to know how to learn new things and actually understand them and remember them? If your answer is yes, keep reading.

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

— Albert Einstein

Actually, I had my own process how to learn new thinks, but recently I encounter John Z. Sonmez’s “10-step process” of how to learn new thinks, and I admit, it is better than mine, so I will explain his “10-step process” and I will add my comments when needed.

BTW, You should read his book, “Soft Skills” — Manning, it is great one.

For each topic you want to learn, you will have 10 steps of learning process.

Steps 1–6: Do these once

The first 6 steps are the research steps, to make sure that you know exactly what you’re attempting to learn and how you’ll know you’re done. These first six steps will only be done once.

Step 1: Get the big picture

Basic research on the topic you want to learn about. You can probably accomplish most of this research using internet searches. If you happen to have a book on the subject, you might read an introductory chapter to skim through the material.

Step 2: Determine scope

Narrow down your focus to determine what exactly you want to learn.

Step 4: Find resources

Find as many resources as possible for learning about the topic you’ve selected. Don’t worry about quality at this point. (Books, Blog posts, Online videos, Experts or people, Podcasts, Source code, Example projects, Online documentation).

Step 5: Create a learning plan

Basically, you want to end up with a series of modules you individually focus on learning until you reach your final goal. A good way to create your learning plan is to see how others are teaching the subject you want to learn about. When I’m working on this, find the correct path for learning.

Step 6: Filter resources

Now that you know what you’re going to learn and what order you’re going to learn it in, it’s time to decide what resources you’re going to use to accomplish the task.

Steps 7–10: Repeat these

You’ll repeat the next four steps for each of the modules you’ve defined in your learning plan. The goal of steps 7–10 is to actually learn the material by using John’s learn, do, learn, teach (LDLT) formula. You’ll start off by learning just enough to get started. Then you’ll play around to learn and gather questions through self-discovery. After that, you’ll learn enough to do something useful. And, finally, you’ll teach what you learned in order to fill in any gaps in your learning and cement the ideas in your head through a deep understanding.

Step 7: Learn enough to get started

For this step, the goal is to get just enough information about the topic you’re learning about to be able to get started and to play around in the next step. The key to this step is to not go too far, and be able to experiment on your own in the next step.

Step 8: Play around

This step is both fun and scary. It’s fun because you “play around”. But it’s scary because the step is completely unbounded. There are no rules. You can do whatever you want to do for this step. It’s up to you to decide how to best execute this step.

For this step, you want to take what you learned from step 7 and actually get started. Don’t worry about outcomes. Just explore. Write down the questions that you have but don’t have answers for. You’ll have the opportunity to look for the answers to those questions in the next step.

Step 9: Learn enough to do something useful

Now is the time to answer the questions from step 8. For this step, you’ll go through all the resources you gathered and learn about your module in depth. This is your chance to really dig into the material and learn as much as you can. Don’t be afraid to go back and play some more as you discover answers to your questions and learn new things about your subject. Take as much time as you need to thoroughly understand your subject matter by reading and experimenting, watching and doing.

Step 10: Teach

If you want to learn a subject in depth, if you really want to gain understanding about a subject, you have to teach it. There’s no other way.

Ways to teach are: Write a blog post, Create a YouTube video or tutorial, Give a presentation, Have a conversation with a friend or your spouse, Answer questions in an online forum.

Final thoughts

This 10-step process can help you go through the process of organizing your studies before you jump in. If the steps in this process don’t work for you, throw them out. It’s the concept behind this learning process that really matters.

The important thing is to develop a system that you can use to teach yourself — a system that you can consistently apply to get results.

References:

John Z. Sonmez. Soft Skills. Manning — SHELTER ISLAND.