Principles of Learning

When I was in middle school, I used to think that I was not capable of learning new concepts very quickly because my peers would tell me that they never studied. Some of them would receive high grades in the range of 95–100, while I would sit there thinking how hard I studied and I would have a 90 or a high B. I would feel discouraged thinking that maybe I was not smart enough, because I would spend all this time studying while others would tell me that they would not study and would receive such high grades. However, I realized that studying is essential to learning and that there is no substitute for drive and persistence, and even IF people went by without studying, they would not be successful. I will highlight thirteen principles of learning that I learned from an amazing instructor, Andrei Neagoie (last name pronounced Nagway) 😉. I will link to his course on Udemy at the very end of this article. I highly recommend that you take it. I wish I knew about these principles a long time ago and this course will be very eye opening for you and you will learn so much about how to learn and how the brain works when it comes to learning.

Learning Vs. Winning the System

When you go to school, do you think about what you are going to learn on that day, or do you think about how you can make an A in the class? Many of us are guilty of the latter, since external influences can play a part in how we think about school, such as family, friends and even teachers. When I took my US Economics class in 12th grade, the teacher would just tell us to do the review at the end of the chapter, look for the answers in that chapter, and just turn in the assignment. That was LITERALLY all we had to do in that class. There was absolutely no learning involved. It was more about solving a puzzle than it was about concepts like supply, demand and opportunity cost. Even though I got a 100 in that class, I would not call myself an economic guru. Just because I got a 100, it does not accurately reflect my knowledge in the field. This is the disparity between learning and winning the system. We are told from a young age that if we get good grades, we will have a successful life. However, that is not entirely true. Even schools such as Stanford are trying to get rid of using standardized test scores to admit students into the school, because those test scores do not accurately reflect a student’s potential to succeed.

When you are studying for an exam, do you actually study for the sake of learning the material, or do you think about what will and will not be on the exam? I am guilty of this, as are most people. In an ideal world, measuring a student’s knowledge about a particular subject would involve the student and the teacher in one room, where the teacher asks the student about all the concepts taught in the class and the student explains what he or she learned about that concept. A lot of times we are looking to find ways in which we can hack a test, since we start noticing question patterns from teachers and only think about getting those answers right rather than thinking about what we learned. We have to learn to un-learn because we have always been learning how to hack a test, whether it involves the SAT, ACT, MCAT, GRE, LSAT, PCAT, DAT and so on. There is a whole industry devoted on how you can hack these tests by learning tips and tricks. Is it enough just to read the first and last paragraphs of an article and then just read the first sentence of the paragraphs in the middle? This tip was given to me when I was studying for the ACT Reading section. This hackery will never help in lifelong learning, and it is about time that standardized testing gets abolished.

What is Success?

A lot of people think that in order to be successful, you have to be very smart, but that is not enough nor will it ever be enough. There are two things that help you get to the success that you want to achieve: drive and persistence. You can be very smart, but if you are lazy and you are not willing to put in the hard work, you will never be successful. I can give a story based on real events. There was someone who was valedictorian at a well respected high school, out of a class of 747 seniors. Let’s call this person Bob. Bob had close to a 5.0 GPA! However, Bob ended up dropping out in the first semester in undergrad because Bob would skip class almost every day and would spend more time partying than anything else. Bob had dreams of becoming a physicist, but is now working as a waiter at a restaurant. Everyone was shocked when they heard that Bob did this, and Bob was told that he’d be destined for greatness. But because Bob did not have the drive and persistence of working hard to be successful, Bob became a slave to laziness and what did it cost? Bob’s future. Therefore, in order to succeed, we must be driven and we must be persistent in reaching our goals and achieving our dreams.

Obstacles

When you go on your learning journey, you will always encounter obstacles. Obstacles will help us grow, and if you do not encounter any obstacles, you are doing something wrong. If there were no obstacles in life, everyone would be successful. When we see an obstacle, we should say, “I know this is something that I’m struggling with, but I will overcome it and this just means that I am growing”.

The Dip

There will be a time when you will realize that you are not cut out for something. Now hold on. You must be wondering, “Rafay, I thought if we just be driven and be persistent in our goals, we will be successful!?” The dip is when you realize that something is not meant for you, and I can give you an example. Let’s say that I wanted to work hard to get into the NBA and play basketball for a living. Is that possible for me? I am 26 years old now, and most players get drafted from college at 19 or 20 years, and they have been playing since they were kids. And some people are naturally gifted, meaning that genetics can come into play. However, we must take advantage of what WE have, and think about how we can maximize our potential. We can all become geniuses in math, science, engineering, business, the arts, and so on. We just have to be….say it with me….driven and persistent.

Choice Vs. Chore

When we think of doing something that we enjoy, it becomes our choice to do that thing. But when something is a chore, you think about getting done with that task as soon as possible and it is something that is not enjoyable. When we think about learning, we have to think about it as a choice and not as a chore. We should make learning a choice just as we choose to go to the beach or go to Walt Disney World. We want learning to be an enjoyable experience and not something that should be treated as a chore. If it is treated as a chore, then you will not be able to reach your goals in the long run.

Compound Learning

When we try learning something new, we should not try cramming so much information at once. Someone who studied 10 hours for a topic in one day will end up forgetting most of that information in the next couple of days, and someone who studies 20 minutes a day over a particular topic will have more knowledge than the person who studied for 10 hours, because that person’s learning will compound as the brain starts making connections with other concepts that are similar, creating a more intuitive approach to that topic. As time goes on, that 20 minutes of studying a day will become something much greater. This is why cramming for a test the night before is never a good idea because you will not be able to retain all that information and your brain will not be able to make those synaptic connections.

Failures Don’t Count

Think about a time when you failed a test. Now look at yourself today. Does anyone remember the time you got a 40 on a test, or do people see you at where you are today? I can guarantee you that no one will remember what you got on a test that you did years ago, or what obstacles you had to face. They see you at where you are at today. Elon Musk had failed many times to get to where he is today. No one remembers all the failures that he had in the past. They look at his current state. Therefore, that F you got on a test is not the end of the world for you. Learning is a journey, and it will involve all kinds of failures in order to reach that success.

It’s All In the Frame

Remember, when you hit a hard point in your learning journey, do not think “I suck at this”. Instead, say “I know this is hard but that means I am growing and I will be capable of getting this done”. Hence the principle, It’s All In the Frame. We have to frame our mindset right when it comes to learning, and expect that there will be failures along the way, but those failures will help us grow.

Happiness Factors

When we have a happy state of mind, our learning journey becomes so much easier because we know that there are things that will keep us happy no matter what. This can be your family and friends, your hobbies, the freedom to do what you want, etc. It is better to keep a list of your happiness factors and rank them from 1–5 on how happy you feel with each of those factors. For example, if you have a happiness factor of keeping in shape, and you have lost shape, your happiness factor rating may be a 1 or a 2 on keeping in shape, so the goal is to follow an exercise and diet regimen and get yourself back in shape.

Productivity Time

Are you an early bird, or a night owl? Only you will know what your most productive hours are in your day. For me personally, I work better in the mornings than I do at night, so I am an early morning riser. The motivation comes from doing everything during the day so that I can have the rest of the night to spend time with family, friends or even game. When you know the hours that you are most productive, use that time to get the most work done.

Skill Stacking

Skill stacking is a phenomenon where if you learn different skills and combine them together, you can be one-of-a-kind. For example, if you have really good programming skills, a strong business acumen and design skills, you can combine those skills together and build an amazing company. You have different skills that you use together in order to accomplish something.

Pareto Principle

The Pareto Principle states that if we use 20% of our effort, we can get 80% of our results. If we apply this principle, we can get efficient learning done, not by having to spend 10 hours a day studying, but by doing little by little each day and having that learning compound in the future. This is another reason why cramming before an exam is not the most efficient way of learning. This principle can apply to other disciplines as well, such as finance. You can get more by spending less.

The Self-Learning Paradigm

As human beings, our lives are more than just going to school, getting a job, having a family, retiring and then leaving this world. We are meant for so much more, and by becoming a self-learner, you will have the freedom and autonomy to reach your goals in life and be successful. And you can apply this self-learning paradigm to all aspects of life, whether it be cooking, learning how to play a sport, becoming better at coding, and the list just goes on. And when we are stuck somewhere, we should never be afraid to ask for help from people who have mastered what you are trying to learn.

My Thoughts

I wish I knew these principles when I was in high school. After learning about these principles, I realized that many schools definitely need to think about how they can give a better learning experience for students by making learning a lot more fun and efficient. We never had recess and had 18 minute lunches, which would not give us a break to even diffuse our minds from the classroom. I hope that schools one day will take these principles into account, teach students how they can efficiently learn and make learning a fun experience. Check out Andrei Neagoie’s Learning How to Learn course. This has definitely been life-changing for me and I know it will change the way you see learning too! Thanks for reading! And good luck on your learning journey!