“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” – Dr. Seuss
Action feeds learning and learning feeds action. Like a seesaw, they need to be balanced, moving from one to the other to create a rhythm and cadence. Research and learning concepts drive theory, applying concepts and moving them into action drive practice. Integrating both learning and action brings research into practice resulting in new ideas, connections and insights.
In Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career, Scott Young lays out principles to learning agility in ever-increasing noisy and information-overload environment.
“Beyond principles and tactics is a broader ultralearning ethos. It’s one of taking responsibility for your own learning: deciding what you want to learn, how you want to learn it, and crafting your own plan to learn what you need to. You’re the one in charge, and you’re the one who’s ultimately responsible for the results you generate. If you approach ultralearning in that spirit, you should take these principles as flexible guidelines, not as rigid rules. Learning well isn’t just about following a set of prescriptions. You need to try things out for yourself, think hard about the nature of the learning challenges you face, and test solutions to overcome them,” says Young.
Nine Universal Principles of Ultralearning:
Metalearning: First Draw a Map - Do good research and draw on past competencies to learn new skills;
Focus: Sharpen Your Knife - Carve out time to concentrate on learning;
Directness: Go Straight Ahead - Learn by doing – action!;
Drill: Attach Your Weakest Point - Break down complex skills into small parts;
Retrieval: Test to Learn - Testing is a way to create knowledge by actively recalling information
Feedback: Don’t Dodge the Punches - Forget your ego and use constructive feedback to grow. Decipher the signals from noise.
Retention: Don’t Fill a Leaky Bucket - Understand what you forget and why;
Intuition: Dig Deep Before Building Up - Play and exploration of concepts and skills help develop intuition. Go beyond memorization to a deep knowing.
Experimentation: Explore Outside Your Comfort Zone - Mastery comes from exploring possibilities.
In addition to implementing ultralearning strategies, the VARK (Visual, Aural, Read/Write, Kinesthetic) online questionnaire helps you understand your learning preferences.
The visual learner prefers information in the form of maps, diagrams, charts and graphs. The aural learner prefers lectures, group discussion, radio, email, using mobile phones, speaking and web-chat. Read/write preference includes using lists, definitions, handouts, dense with text, titles, headings, dictionaries and glossaries. The kinesthetic preference is focused on connecting to reality, either through concrete personal experiences, examples, demonstrations, simulations, videos and case studies with a focus on practice and application.
Understanding your learning preferences will help maximize your learning efforts. My highest preference is kinesthetic, followed by visual. Understanding this explains a lot about what I look for when I do research and write about. The free assessment shares how to take in information, how to present information to others and how to get ideas across in the workplace.
Writing also facilitates learning, thinking, understanding and generating ideas. In How to Take Smart Notes, Sönke Ahrens describes the slip-box method to gathering and organizing notes based on the method developed by German sociologist Niklas Luhmann. The tools include pen/paper, something to store references/literature (Zotero) and a “slip-box to place permanent notes and develop thoughts. It can be a simple as index cards in a box or the program Zettelkasten by Daniel Lüdecke. I am going to begin implementing this system in the next few weeks and look forward to reporting back on how it works in my learning and writing pursuits.
Personal growth is a lifelong journey of learning and action. As you contemplate new endeavors or if you are in the midst of pursuing them right now, find a balance between action and learning. The balance of a seesaw is a good method for many areas of our life.