Learning new things is a huge part of life – we should always be striving to learn and grow. But it takes time, and time is precious. So how can you make the most of your time by speeding up the learning process? If you want to get a jump start on expanding your knowledge, here are some proven ways you can start learning faster today –

Sharpen the Axe

Abraham Lincoln said “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe”. In other words, we need to first work out how we're actually going to learn the thing.

Optimize Focus

When we fully focus on learning, our brains pick things up much faster. The 5-minute rule helps when we're finding it difficult to start – just work on the thing for 5 minutes. We can stop after this, but usually once you've started, you'll want to continue.

Find Opportunities for Immersion

The general principle is that we learn best when we're in the environment we're actually going to be using the skill in. So step out of your comfort zone and fully immerse yourself by doing the thing you want to learn.

Identify Your Weakest Link

We actually want to focus on our weaknesses instead of our strengths when learning. If you took an exam tomorrow, what would you be least happy with if it came up? Identify the weak points and get ready to test yourself.

Test Yourself

The idea behind active recall is that we don't learn by trying to put stuff into our brains. Counterintuitively, we learn by trying to take stuff out of our brains. Think of testing as a way to reinforce knowledge.