Editor’s Note: How to learn mandarin fast in one year, complete three years of computer courses at MIT in one year, and learn to draw a self-portrait in one month… “God of Learning” Scott Yang in “Speed Learning” The book shares tips for quick learning, hoping to inspire you.
This article is translated from Medium, author Erik Hamre, the original title is Ultralearning — A Proven Method to Drastically Improve Your Skill Learning.
You might enjoy playing the piano and guitar, and after a while you become interested in Spanish, and a few months later, you learn to cook and surf, while also trying to become a good chess player.
It is also a good thing to have a wide range of hobbies, but if you want to make real progress in a certain field, you can’t just “dabble widely”.
There is a more targeted approach to learning called “Speed Learning,” a method defined by Scott H. Young, who I highly recommend reading “Speed Learning” (Ultralearning) this book.
Scott himself learned four new languages in one year using this method: Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin and Korean.
He also used the method in a project called the MIT Challenge, teaching himself a three-year MIT computer science course in just one year.
He’s also used the method to complete shorter challenges, such as learning how to draw a self-portrait in a month.
Hyperlearning is a proactive, self-directed learning strategy. The goal is to learn something specific and make rapid progress.
Focusing on a results-driven approach allows you to improve yourself quickly.
This type of learning is more intensive and requires more effort on your part. How to learn mandarin fast means you are in control of everything.
Some basic elements of superlearning include: blocking out distractions, learning the hardest parts first, focusing on your weaknesses, devoting lots of practice time and using resources creatively.
If you’ve done one or a few speed-learning projects, you’ll find that learning any skill has a lot in common, and once understood, you can master the secret to learning anything fast.
The opposite of “speed learning” is “dabbling”, which is when you take a moment to participate in an activity from time to time, but you don’t want to go deeper. You do this activity mainly to have fun and make friends.
This is perfectly fine, but if you want to make progress just by “dabbling”, it’s unlikely.
By starting broad, you can find your interests and determine if you want to start a speed-learning program.
You can try everything and see if you like the skill.
If not, you move on to the next thing. Dabbling is fun and easy, doesn’t require much effort, but doesn’t lead to impressive results either.
“In a superspeed learning program, you don’t just try it out, you immerse yourself in it.” – Scott Young
Before deciding whether to embark on a speed-learning project, you should ask yourself one question: Is this something I really want to accomplish and invest a lot of time and energy into?
Or am I just doing it for fun and I don’t care if I improve? If you’re after relaxation and socializing, then “Dabble” might be a better choice.
Why speed study?
Your happiest moments come not from doing simple things, but from discovering your potential and breaking through your limitations.
Superlearning gets you through the frustrating stages of being a beginner faster and quickly reaches an intermediate level where learning will be enjoyable and fun.
Everything is difficult in the beginning, when we start to learn a new skill, we usually feel terrible, and the speed learning method can let you quickly reach the intermediate level in a very short time.
After you have mastered some skills, subsequent learning becomes more interesting.
In this rapidly changing world, it becomes increasingly valuable to learn how to learn a new skill quickly. Once you’ve learned how to learn something quickly, you can replicate that approach and apply it to learning other skills.
You can decide what you want to study, how you want to study, and create a plan for what you need to do.
Both success and failure are your own, and you must make your own decisions, not follow what others tell you, so that you will have a deeper understanding of the learning process.
The Core Principles of SuperSpeed Learning
In the book “Speed Learning”, Scott Young lists 9 basic principles to improve learning efficiency.
1)Meta-learning: Meta-learning is learning “how to learn“, drawing a map before starting to learn.
By knowing which learning methods work best, you can get to your destination faster and less likely to get lost along the way. By discovering what works best for others, you can improve your own skills faster.
2) Concentration: How to stay focused and avoid procrastination is crucial to improving your studies. If you’re the type who can’t sit still for a minute, try sitting for half a minute. Half a minute quickly turned into 1 minute, then 2 minutes, then 30 minutes. You need to gradually improve your ability to do something, it’s like building a muscle. If you can’t do a single push-up right now, you can’t suddenly force yourself to do 10.
3) Straightforward: Take the shortest path. If you want to learn a foreign language, chat with people in the new language, not some fun app. If you want to be a programmer, design an app yourself. Don’t do something else just because it’s more convenient or comfortable to do it.
4) Repeated practice: hit your biggest weakness and practice your weakest point repeatedly. Many people don’t like to practice something they’re not good at, which prevents them from getting better. The most important element of a skill is what’s called breaking the bottleneck, which is a critical aspect of a skill, but you’re not good at it yet, so practice it.
5) Retrieve memory: Use tests to learn, and testing yourself is one of the best ways to tell if you’ve really learned something. We often have the illusion that we have learned everything, but when we are tested, we know nothing. After learning, first write down what you have just learned, and the output is helpful for further input. The test will also show which skills you lack, and which you need to improve.
6)Feedback: Get your learning feedback as soon as possible. Feedback can feel harsh and uncomfortable at times, but it’s the only way to know if you’re making progress.
7) Preserve memory: This one is about how not to forget, and how to learn something that you won’t forget. Rather than constantly trying to fill a leaky bucket, sometimes it might be better to fill in the holes so you can remember what you’ve already learned.
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8)8) Develop intuition: Intuition is a deep understanding of how things work. One way to test this is to see if you can simply explain something to someone else. If you can’t do this yet, your understanding may not be as deep as you think it is.
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10)9) Dare to experiment: Explore things outside your comfort zone. True mastery of a skill comes not only from following the path others have walked, but also from exploring possibilities they never imagined.
Keys to Speed Learning Success
Learn one thing at a time and focus on one project at a time. Trying to improve your French, guitar playing and cooking all at the same time will only lead you into confusion and often fail.
Active learning, learning by doing, not just on paper.
Hit the weak spot, directly practice what you want to improve, and if your goal is to learn Spanish, talk to people in Spanish.
Get feedback as soon as possible to see if you’re doing it right, and then make adjustments accordingly.
Be curious about the How to learn mandarin fast process and spend some time practicing to get results.
Instead of saying “I’ll do it when I have time,” put specific times for projects you’ll be working on.
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