Whether you want to learn a new language, understand coding, or learn how to start a business, the person who can learn faster will always have the upper hand in life. In today’s time, as information becomes more readily accessible on the internet, the number of things we want to learn has also increased. We’ve got so much time in a day to learn new skills & we can accelerate how fast we can learn something.

 

Here are 10 ways which can help you to learn things faster:-

 

1. Learn in short bursts of time.

Studies show that dedicating less than 30 minutes to new learning material is not just enough, but anything more than 50 minutes is too much for our brain to take in at one go. Once you are done, take a 5 to 10 minutes break before you start another session. One thing that you should keep in mind is that brief, frequent learning sessions are better than longer, infrequent ones. Changing how you practice a motor skill can help you master it faster.

 

2. Say out loud what you want to remember.

You are more likely to remember something if you read it out loud. It’s scientifically proven that the dual effect of both speaking & hearing helps encode the memory more strongly. Include the habit of reading out loud, you will remain more attentive and also learn the content quickly.

 

3. Take notes by hand.

Yes, we know in today’s technology quipped world, how easy it’s to take notes on gadgets like laptops and tablets but opting for the old school ways of using a pen and paper will help you learn and comprehend better. Studies show that when students took notes by hand, they listened more actively and they are more likely to identify the important concept.

 

4. Have effective note-taking skills.

The better your notes indeed are, the faster you will learn. Knowing the technique of making accurate & thorough notes will help you remember the concepts, gain a deeper understanding of the topic and develop meaningful learning skills.

Here are some basic tips for should keep in mind while notes making:-

• Listen carefully and takes notes in your own words.
• Leave spaces and lines between main ideas so that if you want to add in some other information later, you can do that.
• Write in phrases, avoid complete sentences.
• Learn to extract important information and ignore trivial information.

 

5. Learn from an actual expert.

No matter what skills you want to accomplish, you’ll always find someone out there who’s already a master of it. Hence, what you should do is, find someone who’s already getting the results you want in that particular skill, how they got where they are and likewise you can model your way after theirs. Thanks to the internet, you have an ocean of resources available to you with the help of which you can find experts, watch their videos, interviews read their articles etc. And if you know someone good at the skill you want to learn you can approach them over a coffee or a casual meet and seek their guidance.

 

6. Do something different, repeatedly.

When you do something new over and over again, your brain process it in such a  way that it finds new pathways that help you do this new thing better and faster. Think back to when you were 7 or 8 years old, you surely were big enough to wear sandals or shoes just fine yet you were not that smart enough to tie your laces neatly. It didn’t matter of not understanding rather it was the matter of cultivating more and better neutral ways that would help you tie your laces by yourself just like an adult does.    And guess what? With enough repetition you made that happen!!!

 

7. Give yourself deadlines.

Remember that paper in college you had all semester to write and yet you ended up writing the whole thing a few days before it was due?? Ever asked yourself why you procrastinate this much? The best way to avoid this is by giving yourself deadlines. When you’ll give yourself less time to get something done, it’ll make you do it more efficiently. The most effective way to do this is by planning something. That will require you to practice it beforehand.

 

8. Get enough sleep.

Sleep plays a crucial role in the process of learning new information. It’s a fact that when we are awake for too long new scenarios & stimuli can prevent new memories from consolidating in our minds, but when we are asleep we are better at consolidating new memories. Your sleep schedule should be at least 6-7 hours. A fresh mind is better at retaining new information.

 

9. Stay hydrated.

We know how important drinking is for our skin and immune system & it keeps our body function optimally but staying hydrated is also the key to our abilities of cognition. Carry a water bottle with you while studying or when you’re giving an exam. On the other hand, dehydration can have a serious effect on our mental functioning and when the body is dehydrated your brain has to work harder than usual.

 

10. Work your body.

You knew this was coming, right??

It’s very obvious, exercise does not just make your body fit,

it also improves the functioning of your brain. Even if you exercise for 20 minutes, it helps in bettering your information processing and memory functioning. You will learn faster, your alertness level will increase and you will get all of that after breaking some sweat.

 

At last just remember as we discussed in #6, by training your brain to do something new repeatedly, you are changing yourself totally for the long run.