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Teach What You Learned!

Of course, you have to put in the effort to read and study. This will help you to become better at your craft. You will grow by learning and combining information.

But is this all you should be doing?

No, you should be doing more. Let’s have a look at that.

Teach What You Learned

The Problem

Many people feel they should be reading, studying, and memorizing their study books. They believe it helps them to become a better version of themselves.

The problem with this is that they try to do all three of these things, but they fail with at least one of them.

They read, but they miss out on key information. They study but don’t combine the information the right way.

They try to memorize… well let’s not get into the way people memorize information too much. This is done mostly for a quick win (read pass an exam). And they are using brute force, like cramming. That, when there are so many beautiful memorization methods available!

What do you think will happen when you don’t read with all your focus? And next, you don’t combine the right information for the right conclusions? And to top that off, they don’t remember the right information?

Exactly, they will have a hard time passing their exam or learn something new.

The Solution

The moment you read with more focus, and the right tactics, you can take better notes.

Combining information using a mind map or visual map offers more clarity. Improved clarity creates understanding. This reduces the amount of information you have to memorize. When you combine the above with memory tactics, you are well on your way to learn more and learn faster.

But there is another thing you should be doing.

You have to become a doer and a teacher.

Take your notes. Go through them and find where you can use the information in your life. You can almost always start using it.

You must take your paper knowledge and apply it in your work or personal life. You can even set up little experiments to test what you learned. It doesn’t matter what you study: finance, psychology, engineering. Everything can be used in an experiment.

What you can do as well is explain events happening with your book’s wisdom. Why do people respond a certain way? Or what happens when a car hits a statue? Or if there will be a vaccine for a virus, how does that affect the world economy?

Ask questions and try to find an answer for them using your acquired knowledge. 

There is even a better way of learning than experimenting…

When You Can’t Do, Teach

If you tested yourself with experiments, you can take your knowledge to a whole new level. You start teaching.

The easy way is to teach adults with enough background knowledge. Great to do, but a bit easier than 8 to 10-year-old children!

To become good in your craft, you experiment and then teach young children. This way you have to dig deep in finding a good way of explaining your information.

Can you take out all the difficult words?

When you can teach children

Are you able to make complex concepts understandable to children?

For instance…

  • Explain the difference between Keynesian and Fisherian contractions.
  • Talk about entropy and the 2nd law of thermodynamics
  • Discuss cognitive dissonance?

No… I’m just messing with you 🙂

This is important to remember. Teaching complex things to others is very helpful in improving your own understanding.

I know when I first was allowed to teach the martial arts that I was doing for many years. I had to go back to my basics and learn how to explain it to others why I did certain moves. 

The same will happen to you when you start teaching. You will grow!

What if there are no children to teach?

You can do something very helpful to others as well. You can create a podcast in which you explain what you study. 

Start A Podcast To Teach Others (And Yourself)

Here’s how this works:

  1. Go through your chapter and take notes.
  2. Start recording yourself when you read aloud your notes. Add other information you remember as well. Create a good study notes episode of 10 to 30 minutes. 
  3. You upload and share your notes with others, for example, other students and people interested. 
  4. Even when no one is listening, you should listen! Download your own podcast and listen to it on your way to work or school. Listen to it while running or doing chores around the house. You listen and learn!

Before you know it, you may have a little following who enjoy what you do. 

The beauty of this is that you read, take notes, and you teach! All within one session of going through your chapter. Isn’t this amazing!

Quick Summary And Why This Is Important

There you have it.

Make sure you take the knowledge from your book. Experiment and learn. And after that, you teach what you learned to others!

You go from being unconsciously incompetent to consciously competent… quickly!

If you have any questions about this, let me know. Would you like to learn more about studying and how you can do this more efficiently? Have a look at the Studying Made Easy home study course.

The Productive

Study Session Cheat Sheet

Start using your limited study time productively.

Simply follow the outline and learn more in your next 30 minutes than before!

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