Use THIS NAUGHTY Method to Remember What You Learn.
Secrets from productivity expert.
Imagine not having to spend hours and hours studying every day, re-reading books over and over again, and pouring over your notes.
I recently came across Ali Abdaal’s video, where he shared secrets on how to learn more efficiently. In the video, Ali went through 6 tips, which I found all to be interesting, but there was one that particularly stood out to me.
I found it to be slightly controversial when put out on its own, but it may be the reason why some of the most popular study techniques, such as active recall work.
What’s Wrong With the Traditional Way?
Ali went on to explain that too many people tend to focus on what he called just-in-case learning. This is exactly what it sounds like. Learning a bunch of information just in case it comes up.
This causes you to learn too much and it will induce information overload, additionally, you will not know how to apply it to the real world, or the problem you are trying to solve.
The Better Way
With just in time learning you are learning as you need to. Experiencing the problem and then trying to solve it can be a better learning experience, as Ali mentioned in the video. Also, experiencing the problem and then learning how to deal with it can help you remember it better, as you have experiences associated with whatever you had to learn.
This may be why active recall and solving past problems, in the context of standardized testing, works.
How to Use It
There comes an obvious obstacle to using this approach.
There will always be some prior knowledge required.
For example, Ali Abdaal, coming from a medical background, mentioned that seeing someone experience a heart attack and then figuring out what to do is more valuable than learning from a textbook. But you would still need to know what to do, broadly speaking.
Therefore, my approach would be to still use just-in-case learning, but only to familiarize yourself with the topic, and then get into just-in-time learning fairly quickly.
In the context of school, you should go to classes and lectures, read the recommended reading, but then head straight into the practice problems. If for example, you are looking to start programming you should get straight into building websites, apps, games, or whatever you are trying to do.
So next time you are learning something new, get straight into how it can be applied to the real world.
Thanks for reading.
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