Limitless Learning: Maximising Your Learning Experience! (Part I)

When I suggested to write a post on how to make your learning experience more effective, I was surprised to see that 100% of you who participated in the poll voted for a YES! I am very honoured to be writing this down, collecting my experience, learnings and beliefs
into a structured elaboration.

Let's get started.

You might have heard about the word learning, but mostly education is what is linked to it if you're a standard school student. But, we need to make a distinction. Successful education cannot truly occur without learning; because education is merely the process that happens through institutions like schools and universities. But, learning is a personal experience that strengthens and expands what is being educated and takes it to the outside world. The world has now changed, and is demanding more than ever that learning takes place every single day, not just in school.

The world's system demands more than ever that you become a life-long learner in order to impact it and find your place. This is because there is new information every day, and you are expected to be able to renew and update what you have learned and apply it without any resistance. 

Many of you reading are still at school or university, and that doesn't mean you can postpone the "life-long learning" part. The process of limitless learning will help you deeply understand what you are studying and even relate it to your life, so that you ensure that all this time you spent at school has not gone to waste and is actually serving you on the long-term.

Life-long and limitless learning takes place when you realise that everything around you is teaching you something. You are not only learning through books and papers but through your senses, emotions, ideas and thoughts. Like any other, learning is a human experience. You need to consider everything that makes you the person you are in order to learn effectively, to make sure that you make connections between your personal life and the world. Do you now understand why the experience of travel or an outing with your friends are richer than the time you spend at school? It's because schools and universities never made you aware that what you are studying can make sense in real life.

That's why this approach to learning is very important. It is called the holistic approach. You don't need to be in a special school to master that approach. It all starts with your intentions.

Now, what are the steps that allow you to make your learning process more personalised and effective? Here are some steps you can take to start your journey!

1. Change Your Mindset

The first step is to change how you think about the learning process. You are not at school or university to study for an exam and get the highest grades. Yes, grades are important, but I assure you that they are worth nothing if you are not able to express what you have learned at school. If you are not able to answer the question "what have I learned today?" after a studying session, then most probably, something needs to be changed.

The society now demands that knowledge is made use of. It is of no value if what you are studying is in your head just to be poured into an examination paper and forgotten afterwards. What you learn is there to be deeply understood so that later in life, you can actually add value with what you are learning. Of course, some subjects will never make sense to you, but be aware that every subject may teach you a skill rather than an idea. Be open-minded and absorb all the knowledge you can for yourself, to understand the world around you more deeply. Even if a topic is hard to grasp and not enjoyable, think about it in a way that you are discovering how humans perceive and construct the reality around them, which is an endless and limitless journey.

Jobs are now changing. The society now is moving towards constant and drastic change and any employee is expected to make a difference. Job interviews are designed to test your openness to learning new things and applying them strategically. You're not at school just for the certificate or the grade.

Say "yes" to learning new things.

2. Visualise and Imagine

In the world of summaries and notes, it's apparent why you find studying boring. Your brain interacts with the world using its five senses and because of pressure, you might constrict this interaction drastically. Reading notes is a visual task, and is not even sufficient to engage the full capacity of vision. That's why it will help you if you choose to use your textbooks and allow more colour and pictures in. Textbooks are only one way, but you would probably enjoy it more if you watch videos, research pictures and read articles on what you are studying. This engages your mind with more stimulation so that you are slowly able to visualise and imagine the information.

To test whether it's working or not, close your eyes and see, hear and sense the concept you are studying. Let me illustrate that in an example to make it clear. Say you are studying organic chemistry. How can you even imagine something you cannot see? Well, the first step is to see the chemical formula in your head and colour each molecule, adding one next to the other until you create a chain. If you're thinking of the decomposition of that chemical, then visualise energy being released out of the bonds and breaking it down, you might even add a sound effect. Attribute things you can feel to everything you are studying.

This won't be easy if you limit your studying to notes and summaries. Use your eyes more. Watch real-life applications through YouTube and research all what cannot be imagined. Most exams (and jobs) now require that you know practical knowledge, and if your school doesn't support experiential learning, then you must make sure you know how those experiments and practical application takes place. You've got the Internet for that!

Personally, I remember having to answer a one-page question on how to determine the time of death of a human body. How many of us saw the human body decomposing in full detail? I had to spend so much time imagining every single step and phase of decomposition, seeing myself there, watching the different insects, smelling the odours and noticing the changes. I had to use the textbook to gain a full picture and even used videos to gain more insight. This can be applied to anything, even the abstract!

The secret is to see what you are learning in your head so that you are completely aware of it. Learning is a human experience and to create an experience, you need to use your senses.

3. Use Your Emotions

Positive psychology has proved that having positive emotions while learning allows the maximum retention of information. To test this in your life, think of your favourite subject when you were a child. Most probably, it would be a subject in which your teacher made learning it fun and exciting. By emotions, I don't mean being dramatic, but there are certain feelings you can ascribe to your learning process to make it easier.

One feeling is excitement and mystery. Not all classes are thrilling to attend, but you can be responsible of changing that. After changing your mindset about learning, practise the habit of going to class feeling excited that you are going to learn something new and mind-blowing. You are going to get better at a skill; like solving a complicated math problem or even learning a new word you can use in your literature classes. Before going to school, wrap yourself around the notion that a mystery will be uncovered, and with every lesson, you will be more aware of how the world works. I know this is a very idealist situation, but apply it to your favourite subjects at first and watch your mind transform. This excitement will make you eager to participate in class and engage with the information.

Another feeling you'd like to develop is the joy of taking challenges. It's rare to find someone who enjoys studying and doing assignments, right? But there is a fix to that. Make sure you are aware that there are phases in the learning process; the comfort, learning and panic zones.

Most of us feel bored and daunted in the comfort zone, which is when we repeat exercises or solve easy questions. The learning zone is when you are acquiring new knowledge in a structured, incremental way, which is the phase in which you are most probably in class, taking something new in the curriculum. The last phase is the panic zone which is when something is too challenging that you are unable to do to the extent that it makes you give up trying to learn it.

Why am I mentioning this? It's healthy to include 3 phases in your studying. It's very important that you start with things you are comfortable with, move on to what you just recently learned, and then end your studying with something extremely challenging. Most textbooks and assignments are designed to tackle the 3 phases. Make sure you don't dwell in the comfort zone for too long (it makes it too boring), spend considerable time mastering what you have just learned in the learning zone, and include a bit of challenges and bonus questions to enter the panic zone. If you find yourself overwhelmed by the panic zone, go back to your studying material, revise the concepts and try again till you are able to do it.

This ensure that you're always progressing. To make it more joyful, listen to music, design your learning environment with things that make you happy (lights, quotes, pictures, coziness) and even take your learning outside to the balcony or the garden every once in a while.

4. Use The Art of Curiosity!

Curiosity is an art which makes life more interesting. Imagine a life without questions! To practise curiosity in the learning process is a game-changer, as it will train you to become the life-long learner you need to be to add value in the 21st century world. So, how to exactly practise curiosity?

Ask questions.

Most of us just study the material on hand and never think of what's beyond. This is simply limiting you to the amazing additional details that could make what you have learned more personal and meaningful. I mentioned before that learning is an experience, and if you don't personalise the things you are learning, then it will be harder to grasp and make use of. Questions are personal, because they originate from your own thinking patterns and the gaps in the picture you are trying to visualise.

While studying, always find something that is missing. Don't just give up when something doesn't make sense. Write down questions in your textbooks and notes and go to class the next day ready to fire your teachers eagerly with what doesn't make sense. Fight for it. If you think that the learning environment in the classroom doesn't permit too much questioning, then you have the Internet. It won't take you long to research and read one article or watch one video explaining the concept in details, but it will add a new depth to what you are learning.

Fuel your curiosity with more answers. It's okay if you cannot answer all your questions. Honestly, my main problem in physics and math is that I was too curious to know where those equations came from and what actually inspired them, but I couldn't manage my time so well to research about it all. Physics and math never made sense to me at school just because I couldn't fuel my curiosity and there were gaps in the bigger picture I was trying to construct in my head. I am sure that some of you can relate because so many things just don't make sense.

Fix that by trying your best in doing constant research!

That's it for this part. Stay tuned for the next one in the coming weeks. I would love to hear your feedback regarding this post in the comment section or feel free to connect with me on my blog's account. In the end, I hope you found this post insightful to transform your learning process for more achievement, progress and mindful success.

Thank you!