Ultralearning: How to Master Anything, Fast
Getting what we want out of life often requires learning new skills. When we were kids, we could pick up skills easily — our brains were wired to learn. Even as teenagers, we were quick to learn (not to mention all the free time we had to pursue new interests).
But zoom ahead ten, twenty five, or fifty years, and we find we can’t learn things as fast. We shrug our shoulders and resign ourselves to the fact that we are “just getting older.”
But what if there were things you could do to supercharge your ability to master new skills? What would you be able to accomplish? How would a learning superpower change your life?
Below, I’ve assembled some tips on ultralearning, a new way of looking at the process of teaching ourselves anything, fast.
Practice Over Study
For most skills, you will learn much faster if you prioritize direct practice over studying. If you want to become a pool shark, you can watch YouTube videos about aim and ball spin for weeks. But if you don’t get reps in at a pool table, you’ll never get better than you were at Day 1.
A lot of people can also use studying to put off the fear of actually trying and (potentially) failing. But with an open mind and the right attitude, trying and failing can be fun! What’s even better, it’s like a rocketship for your mastery.
Find People to Provide Feedback
There are people in this world who know how to do the exact thing you want to do. Use this resource! Someone who has gone through the hard work of mastering a skill can guide you in ways you just can’t guide yourself.
They can help you avoid dead-ends in your studying, fundamental errors in your technique, and advice on how to proceed. You don’t have to figure out everything on your own. And if you let someone else impart their expertise, you’ll learn much faster.
Handwritten Notes and Paraphrasing
This is especially helpful if you need to learn a lot of information.
When we write notes by hand, rather than typing, we retain the information much better. A likely reason for this is that handwriting is a more involved cognitive process, and there are a lot more tiny sensory experiences that go on — helping information sink in better.
And when you are writing down things you want to remember, always paraphrase, rather than directly copying from a source. When we put things into our own words, our brains work more to understand the meaning of the information, rather than just remembering the exact words used to describe it.
Here is a really powerful way to use paraphrasing: at the end of every practice or study session, figure out how you would explain the ideas to yourself at 12 years-old. When we have to break down and simplify with the aim of teaching someone else, our brains deeply integrate all the concepts and ideas we are learning.
