If you’d like to learn faster, there are some science tricks that can help you understand and memorize concepts and tasks. Researchers specializing in cognitive science have been studying how humans learn for years, allowing them to offer useful advice to speed up the process and make it more efficient.
1.- Learn individual parts
Skills are easier to study and learn as individual parts. For this reason it is useful to divide knowledge into different units, to reproduce them one by one until they are mastered. Over time, the accumulation of these smaller skills will add up to learning the larger skill.
For example, to learn photography, it is best to get to know the operation of the different components, such as the shutter or the lens, one by one. Little by little, this knowledge will add up and allow you to learn the superior skill faster.
2.- Focus on one thing
If you want to learn faster, it is best to use all five senses and not get distracted doing other things. Multitasking doesn’t work when we want to store new information, so you can’t be on multiple topics at once. Also, every time you get distracted you need about 25 minutes to refocus.
3.- Write what you learn
Put aside the keyboard, take a pencil and paper and write down the new knowledge that you are acquiring. Surely you have heard that writing by hand helps us consolidate what we learn, and it is a claim backed by science.
According to scientists, tracing letters on paper is a stronger cognitive bond than typing. A 2014 study found that students who take notes by hand remembered facts better, classified complex ideas better, and synthesized information better. Therefore, writing is another of the scientific tricks to learn faster.
4.- Mistakes help improve
There is nothing more natural than making mistakes and mistakes help us better internalize what we have done wrong. A study of motor learning reveals that the brain reserves a space for mistakes, which allows us to retrieve these memories to improve on future attempts. Therefore, it is important to view failures positively, analyze them and figure out how to fix them.
5.- Practice as much as you can
The more you practice, the more you will learn. According to science, when our brain has to carry out a task over and over again, the paths are carved steadily until they remain forever.
6.- Teach other people
An interesting trick to consolidate skills is to teach other people. When you use the learned concepts and describe them in your own words, in addition to mastering the idea, you are deepening your understanding of it.
7.- Being optimistic helps to succeed
Being positive and trusting in your abilities is another tip to study better, learn faster and be successful. Negative thoughts produce anxiety, and this feeling prevents you from exploring solutions to solve problems. For this reason, if you face new tasks with optimism, you have a better chance of achieving your goal.