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The ultimate guide to learning anything faster

by Sean Kim[1] Tweet[2] 7 Jun, 02:38pm in LifeHacks[3]

If only I could have LEARNED SPANISHthree years ago
If only I learned about investing when I was still in my early twenties
If only.
For many of us, there are more things we want to learn than we have time.
As information becomes more readily accesible online, the number of things we want to learn is only continuing to
increase. And the only variable we can control is the amount of time we spend learning them.
Shortening the learning curve is a topic thats been studied for many years, and this guide will cover the
fundamental core principles of learning faster. Youd be able to leverage these principles to push yourself to learn
faster in any topics including languages, business, musical instruments, and more.
One skill you want to master in this day and age we live in, if you want to
have an extraordinary life, is the ability to learn rapidlyAnthony Robbins

Dont Reinvent the Wheel

Why reinvent a wheel thats already been created?
The common tendency we all havewhen learning something new is trying to master it alone, underestimating the
amount of timeand effortthat can be savedby getting help from someone whoslearnt it.
Think back to a time when you first learned how to speak a new language or a new skill.
You probably had a steep learning curve initially, but after a few years or even months of experimenting and
making mistakes, you could design a shortcut to help a friend avoid those same mistakes you made early on.
In order to achieve mastery faster, our first step should be to consult the top players in the field, and model the
path they have already carved out for us.
As Tony Robbins puts it:
Many great leaders have proven that the fastest way to master any skill, strategy or goal in life is to model those
who have already forged the path ahead. If you can find someone who is already getting the results that you want
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and take the same actions they are taking, you can get the same results.
It doesnt matter what your age, gender, or background is, modeling gives you the capacity to fast track your
dreams and achieve more in a much shorter period of time.
In this day and age, its possible to retrieve almost any solution thats out there in the form of books, blogs, training
videos, consultants, someone in our networkthe list goes on.
Good artists copy. Great artists steal.Pablo Picasso

Deconstruct the skill

The next step to hacking the learning curve is to deconstruct the skill into its basic, fundamental components.
Break down the parts and find the most important things to practice first.
This is in reference to the popularized Paretos Principle[4], where the goal is to generate 80 percent of results
putting in 20 percent of the effort.
[5]

[6]

It turns out that this concept can apply to almost anything in life, including:
Business (80 percent of sales comes from 20 percent of customers)
Employee efficiency (80 percent of results comes from 20 percent of employees)
Happiness (80 percent of happiness comes from 20 percent of relationships)
Travel experiences (80 percent of our travels can be summed up from 20 percent of our highlight experiences)
And so on
Heres the Pareto graph in a different visual format.
[7]

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[8]

Embracing this way of thinking only goes to show that very few things actually make a difference in any aspect of
our lives, including learning.
Our goal then, should be to separate the 20 percent of our learning materials that will give us 80 percent of the
result.
As it turns out, fast-learning experts have already embraced this ideology, and have provided some concrete
examples on how to do this effectively.
In his Ted Talk, Josh Kaufman believes that you dont need 10,000 hours in order to master a skill. As Kaufman
elaborates, the key is to embrace the first 20 hours, and learn the most important subset skills within that time
frame to get the maximum amount of impact.
Numerous studies in the fields of motor and cognitive skill acquisition have established that the first few hours of
practicing a new skill always generate the most dramatic improvements in performance.
The general pattern looks like this: when you start, youre horrible, but you improve very quickly as you learn the
most important parts of the skill.
Related topic to learn: Parkinsons Law[9]
For example:
If youre trying to learn a musical instrument, you should know the few, most common chords that gives you
access to 80 percent of songs.
If youre trying to learn a new language, you should focus on learning the most common 1,5002,000 words that
will give you 80 percent of text coverage.

Stop Multitasking
Multi-tasking is a guilty pleasure weve all developed in the age of constant notifications and mobile applications.
From checking our emails every ten minutes, to scrolling through our Instagram feed, to co-workers coming by our
desk for a five-minute break.
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However, multi-tasking can be one of the biggest hurdles preventing us from learning faster.
Think about your own computer.
When you have 20+ different tabs open on your browser, your computer begins to slow down and it takes longer to
process every action afterwards.
[10]

[11]

Studies have shown that when an individual gets distracted, it takes an average of 25 minutes[12]to return to the
task at hand.
Whats more important to note, is that a study[13] done by the University of California, Irvine, found that a coworker gets only 11 minutes work done before theyre distracted.
The same thing applies to our long-term focus. Many of us arent able to dedicate the 6-12+ months it takes to
learn a skill because of the countless new projects, ideas, or hobbies that come our way.
And when we decide to shift our focus towards a new distraction, its much more difficult to find the same passion
and drive to focus on the previous skill.
Once you have deconstructed the subset skills that will give you the maximum amount of results, focus solely on
improving those skills and avoid learning anything else until youve mastered them.

Reps, reps, reps

This is the part where most of us struggle, and what many of us dont want to hear.
YES! The key to mastering anything faster requires practice.
It requires frequency and persistence of performing the same skill over and over again, until you can do it
subconsciously, without having to think about it.
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The best performers in the world understand this secret to learn faster and become the best, yet rarely talk about
its importance because of how unsexy it sounds.
[14]

[15]

Expert-level performance is primarily the result of expert-level practice, not due to innate talent.
As K. Anders. Ericsson, a scientific researcher from Florida State University, elaborates in hispaper:[16]
People believe that because expert performance is qualitatively different from normal performance the expert
performer must be endowed with characteristics qualitatively different from those of normal adults. This view has
discouraged scientists from systematically examining expert performers and accounting for their performance in
terms of the laws and principles of general psychology.

Seek Immediate Feedback

In 1960, while they were still an unknown high school rock band, the Beatles went to Hamburg, Germany to play in
the local clubs.
The group was underpaid. The acoustics were terrible. The audiences were unappreciative. So what did the Beatles
get out of the Hamburg experience?
Non-stop hours of playing time, practice, and immediate feedback that forced them to get better.
Thats the key difference that rose The Beatles to the top[17], according to Macolm Gladwell in his book Outliers[18].
The band brothers didnt just practice in their garage for the sake of practicing; they strived to get in front of a live
audience that will provide them immediate criticism and constructive feedback.
[19]

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[20]

As the Beatles grew in skill, audiences demanded more performancesmore playing time. By 1962 they were
playing eight hours per night, seven nights per week. By 1964, the year they burst on the international scene, the
Beatles had played over 1,200 concerts together.
By way of comparison, most bands today dont play 1,200 times in their entire career.
This is why at Rype[21], were solely focused on connecting you with native speaking tutors, who can give you
immediate feedback during your lessons.

Go Long
Unfortunately, many of us give up before or during what Seth Godin calls The Dip.[22]
[23]

[24]

Godin describes that although its important to know when to quit, many potential winners dont reach success
because they quit before the dip.
According to Godin:
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Five Reasons You Might Fail to Become the Best in the World
1. You run out of time (and quit)
2. You run out of money (and quit)
3. You get scared (and quit)
4. Youre not serious about it (and quit)
5. You lose interest (and quit)
Psychologists have also studied whats known as the transition cycle.
Its the cycle of progress we go through whenever were experiencing change or a novel event, such as a tragic
event or even learning something new.
[25]

[26]

As you can see, theres a sense of euphoria we all experience when we begin something new. Its why were so
addicted to seeing notifications on social media, because dopamine[27] gets released each time.
Once the Honeymoon phase fades away, we experience the dip and our progress begins to plateau or diminish.
This is when most of us quit.
The reason why this is important to visualize is because if you can predict that a dip is coming whenever youre
learning anything new, its easier to fight through it.
More importantly, the dip is there because those persistent enough to stick it through can ride the upward wave
that is at the end of the tunnel.

We made it! Heres the summary of main points discussed in the ultimate guide to hacking the learning curve:
Model an expert whos been there and dont reinvent the wheel
Deconstruct the skills that will deliver 80 percent of results
Stop Multitasking
Reps, reps, reps! then seek immediate feedback
Go Long and dont quit before or during the dip
Do you have any tips or strategies that we may have missed? Wed love to hear it below!
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Read Next:Hitting a wall? Heres how to get your creative juices flowing[28]
Image credit:Unsplash[29]
This post first appeared on rypeapp.[30]

Links
1. http://thenextweb.com/author/seankim/
2. https://twitter.com/intent/tweet/?

text=Interesting%20post%20by%20@heyseankim%20%E2%80%9CThe%20ultimate%20guide%20to%20learning%20anything%
3. http://thenextweb.com/lifehacks/
4. http://betterexplained.com/articles/understanding-the-pareto-principle-the-8020-rule/
5. http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/06/1-aIk2I6qSmtnzCb4BSo_OmQ.jpeg
6. http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/06/1-aIk2I6qSmtnzCb4BSo_OmQ.jpeg
7. http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/06/1-f6__-luLfJ1ToENmryJ44A.png
8. http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/06/1-f6__-luLfJ1ToENmryJ44A.png
9. http://impossiblehq.com/parkinsons-law/
10. http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/06/1-i7m5AEFXlhq8ZqndV91RuA.png
11. http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/06/1-i7m5AEFXlhq8ZqndV91RuA.png
12. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/opinion/sunday/a-focus-on-distraction.html?_r=0
13. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324339204578173252223022388.html
14. http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/06/1-KzQgUKw7lwUbsDiWNZXKUw.jpeg
15. http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/06/1-KzQgUKw7lwUbsDiWNZXKUw.jpeg
16. http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=1993-40718-001
17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eHa9n4jbGw
18. http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017930
19. http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/06/1-fW9zi-YYd30RygtOYwimA.jpeg
20. http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/06/1-fW9zi-YYd30RygtOYwimA.jpeg
21. http://rypeapp.com/
22. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/the_dip/
23. http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/06/1-e-hsGk1ISu30wU4lGAkJgg.jpeg
24. http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/06/1-e-hsGk1ISu30wU4lGAkJgg.jpeg
25. http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/06/1-9ofM65sfyVY_V-GFAojdeA.gif
26. http://cdn1.tnwcdn.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/06/1-9ofM65sfyVY_V-GFAojdeA.gif
27. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine
28. http://thenextweb.com/lifehacks/2014/06/13/hitting-wall-heres-get-creative-juices-flowing/
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29. http://thenextweb.com/lifehacks/2015/06/07/the-ultimate-guide-to-learning-anything-faster/unsplash.com
30. http://rypeapp.com/blog/learning-curve/

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