7 Ways to Learn Things You Don’t Really Want to Learn
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Frequently we’re all faced with moments when we are forced to learn. Perhaps you’re a student who needs to pass a test. Or maybe you’re a top executive who has to absorb a new process as part of your job.
Regardless of your specific learning situation, it’s pretty common to not be totally enthusiastic about it. But it’s still necessary to learn some things in order to do other things. In other words, learning isn’t always fun by itself.
But there are some things you can do to ease the learning process and improve the absorption rate of information and skills. Here are 7 of them:
- Find the connection between the subject and your own interests: Once you find out how the topic will help you in areas that do interest you, it’ll be a lot easier to learn.
- Invent games: This doesn’t have to be too complicated. Just exercise your creativity and think of some way to make the subject more enjoyable. After all, this was how most of us learn our first lessons in life! Who didn’t learn at least a little something about money from Monopoly?
- Reward yourself for learning: This is a tactic used a lot in dieting. Follow your diet to the tee during the week, and reward yourself with a piece of cake on Sunday. Use the same logic for learning. Maybe you can watch that new movie if you finally dominate a difficult lesson.
- Teach others what you just learned: For some reason, whenever I do this I start to remember stuff I didn’t know I knew. Somehow I feel I need to know the material well enough to teach it, so I’m forced to learn it.
- Compare subject to things you already know: This is one of the most effective learning methods available.Use analogies to use your present knowledge as leverage to acquire new knowledge. This is also a very effective memorization technique.
- Translate subjects into drawings or poems: Simple: Images are easier to remember than words. Drawings are images, and poems elicit images.
- Watch and listen to entertaining presenters: One of my favorite websites is TED. I get absorbed by the entertaining speakers, and therefore by the information they convey.
As you see, there are plenty of ways in which you can make learning fun. What other tactics to you use?
Image: iloveconor.com
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