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Scott Young is a writer of a few books that are mostly about learning more and productivity. He is probably famous especially for his astonishing project of finishing a four year MIT Computer Science curriculum in one year learning on his own without being at MIT. He writes in a blog mostly about ways of learning more and better. A couple of weeks ago, Scott Young held a webinar about the myths and misconceptions that people have about learning well. The webinar was not intended to be recorded, so I had to wake up at 2:30 am to watch it because of the time zone differences, but I consider it totally worth my time and effort. In this article, you can find some notes that I took while attending the webinar, hoping that they may be beneficial for you.
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All learning time is created equal
Myth: What matters the most is: More hours, more learning
Actual truth: Different methods of learning have different effects. There are different methods that can help you learn at a more rapid phase. What really matters when you learn is how deep you are connecting to the learning material, what type of method of learning you are using.
Feynman technique may be one of the best methods to learn efficiently.
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You just need to memorize certain things
Myth: There are not a lot of things to understand, e.g. In law, accounting, languages etc. there is not anything to understand, you simply need to memorize.
Actual truth: Almost all the subjects There is almost always a deep structure behind them. There is a reason why a certain formula, or a statement is as it is.
When you can learn that, you may become more interested to learn and memorize for a longer period of time.
You need to learn things by understanding them.
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My subject is boring
This may be because of the differences between opinions: Something that is interesting for me may not be interesting for you.
Two general reasons why people may see something boring, while you enjoy learning it are:
- a) Their school lectures are boring
- b) The method they use to learn is boring
Learning should be interesting if you use a good method.
Read here about ways you can use to turn a seemingly boring subject to an interesting one.
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Old people may not be able to learn
Partially true: You may not be as efficient in your late sixties to learn as you were in your twenties.
However, it may also be that people who say these things may have lost the skills to learn, to study, and when you start again, it may be hard to get back.
You can learn anything at different ages, though not with the same rhythm.
When you are young, you may reach a peak level of your fluid intelligence (the ability to solve new problems, use logic in new situations, and identify patterns).
When you are older, you reach a peak level of your crystallized intelligence (the ability to use learned knowledge and experience).
Lifelong learning (learning at any age) is so important, because it may help you a lot with your mental performance, and give you a better quality of life after all.
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Some people simply do not have the talent to learn a particular subject
This is one of the most dangerous overall.
It is something partially true. Different people may be a bit more efficient than us at learning different things, but this does not mean that I am not able to become good at or learn about it.
Some people simply have more exposure to something prior to the actual learning task, and it may seem that it is simply so easy for them.
Example: People who were really good at Computer Science in college actually were doing a lot of programming at high school.
Some people can learn a bit faster than others, because of a head start (previous experience), but you can learn for a longer period and eventually surpass that level.
Anyone can learn anything: You simply have to have the desire, the patience and the right method.
You start to enjoy something when you are good at it. When you are good at something, you get positive feedback. When you are not good, you get negative reinforcement, and may start to think that you are simply not meant to learn this subject.
