How to Learn Anything
Develop a system and create visual mental models
Although your brain looks, feels, and smells like a pile of mush (I’ve seen cadaver brains so I can confirm this), it is actually the most powerful tool you have available to you on a daily basis. Your brain has hundreds of billions of neurons, joined by hundreds of trillions of connections between all of them, so every single day more are being created and some are being removed from service.
Once we realize the sheer volume of capacity our brains have to learn anything under the sun, we can start to get more specific about how we actually learn things so that we can pick them up quicker, and retain them for longer.
I recently read a book called Ultralearning by Scott H Young who is well known for completing and passing MIT’s 4 year computer science course in just under 12 months. Although I was already practicing a few methodologies mentioned in his book, it was nice to learn a few new ones and get a renewed perspective on my current practices. I would like to share a couple of them with you, but also encourage you to go out and get the book and give it a read through.
- Understand the Metadata to build a learning roadmap
Before embarking on any endeavor to learn a new skill, habit etc. it is important to first understand why you are doing what you are doing, so that you can tailor how you approach the new concept in a way that utilizes your underlying drive and strengths/current skills.
Once you establish you why, you need to then start putting together the what and the how. Humans are visual creatures, so this for me was one of the biggest takeaways from the book:
Imagine you have 3 concepts, say networking, math, and programming languages. Now imagine each of those 3 concepts as large skyscrapers, over time they become larger and larger as you layer on new ideas to those concepts. For example in networking maybe the foundation of that skyscraper could be the OSI model, then a little further up you have connectivity methods and models, then on premises systems, then cloud architecture, etc.
Now, imagine between your skyscrapers you have different roads interconnecting them. Each road represents a way that you can connect one concept to another, and you build more roads over time. For example you could have a road running between the math and programming skyscrapers that represents how algorithms can make your code more efficient.
The example here is relatively abstracted, but hopefully you get the underlying idea. Your concepts are pillars to build up as mental models, and the different things you can learn and implement are the roads between them. Remember that when building visual based mental models, the crazier you get with it in your mind the easier it will be to remember and stand out!
2. FOCUS and sharpen your ability to concentrate
Procrastination, distractions, and variety are the key obstacles you will likely encounter when trying to be productive and efficient during a days work. A lot of this can be eliminated by simply changing the environment you work in.
Something else that has tremendously helped me is utilizing the Pomodoro technique, of which there are many different variations. I personally prefer to have a 20 minute work period, followed by a 5 minute break, for 3 cycles, followed by a 15 minute break.
The breaks for me are huge as it gives me permission to unwind a little bit and do some other stuff, as well as reflect on what I learned in the previous work cycle.
3. Be Direct in your approach to learning, and dive in
Anybody can sit around and study, read, or otherwise do some relatively passive activity and call it being productive.
However, if you place yourself in an environment where you actually have to try and use your skills, you can start to develop some of those roads I mentioned earlier to interconnect the concepts you are working on learning.
For example if you are trying to learn cloud computing through a certain provider (AWS, Azure, etc), then after you take some courses on a certain subject, go do a lab or challenge on that subject. By doing this, your brain is forced to actively think about what you are doing and try to figure out a real problem. The brain works better under (controlled) stress, and if you are able to put yourself outside of your comfort zone you will undoubtedly learn and retain more in the long run.
4. Get Feedback, good and bad
In today’s day and age people seem to be so quick to take things personally, both good and bad. However you should try to remain objective when it comes to feedback, and actively seek it out. There are 3 main types of feedback: outcome, informational, and corrective. Each has its own merit in regards to improving your process, but always remember that feedback is somebody else’s opinion. Take it and run with it or move on, but either way you need to learn to set your ego aside and accept that you don’t know everything and be open to getting some.
5. Learn to trust your intuition as you move closer to mastery
Ever have somebody ask you a question so simple and ridiculous it makes you question what you know you know for a fact? It seems like that happens to me quite often…
However, once you spend so much time on a subject and accumulate so much experience with it, you will be able to trust your intuition and not second guess yourself or have to look things up for reference.
This is ultimately where you want to find yourself, because when you are able to correctly relate to concepts, ideas, or questions, then over time people will start to consider you an expert in your field and you can start to reap all the benefits that entails.
I hope this was helpful to you in thinking about how you approach learning new subjects or concepts. Always remember that new things take time, whether it is learning something new or even learning how to learn. Be patient with yourself and don’t miss 2 days in a row when building new habits.
As always best of luck on your continued journey through cloud computing (or your other skill of choice).
