In the process of learning, we are all bound to make mistakes and feel embarrassed about them. Many would not take ownership for their mistakes or admit that they don’t know something. The ego that we have stops us from acquiring knowledge; the only way to learn something new is by acknowledging the gaps in our knowledge.
Here are some ways to gain knowledge effectively with the right attitude and mindset
The Love For Learning
Firstly, you must develop the desire for knowledge. Even though the mode of education has changed (online tuition and online learning has become the new norm) We all have heard people saying ‘I wish I could do that’ or ‘if only I could do that’ but they do not put in any effort to actually achieve what they want. Before even deciding what to learn or starting to follow the other tips in the article, it is important to have the desire for learning.
Without this desire the process will become a lot less efficient and time consuming. Your rate of learning will be a lot slower than if you actually wanted to acquire more knowledge.
Search For Answers
Secondly, research thoroughly online. The internet has a vast number of resources where anyone can learn anything they wish. Unlimited knowledge just a search away sounds too good to be true and it is. Although the internet can teach you anything you want to learn, it does not do a good job at filtering out the necessary information.
Moreover, it does not take into account the skill level of the user searching up the topic. Thus, you need to put in effort to filter what you need and what is unnecessary. This can be done by knowing exactly how deep you want to dive into the topic you are searching and stopping when you think it is getting too complicated. By limiting yourself to the knowledge you need, you conserve a lot of time and make learning much more effective.
Keep Reading
Unlike information online, books make it much clearer on what topics and what skill level they are about. However, this comes at the cost of the time required to find the book you are looking for.
However, once you invest the time to find the correct book, it will make gaining knowledge much more convenient and easier. Reading can be done anywhere even without the internet and can also be done anytime. Not only is it a good source of knowledge, it is also a fun pastime that stimulates the brain.
Test Yourself
Constantly test yourself on the knowledge you already have acquired. We do not have a perfect memory and thus even if we may have previously known something, we will easily forget it unless we revise and recap that previous knowledge. Moreover, when revising a topic already known, we may end up learning new details or understand it at an even deeper level. Many think that studying what you already know is a waste of time but the amount you learn will be surprisingly high.
Similarly, we must learn from our previous mistakes instead of just pushing them aside as silly errors. The more we focus on our previous knowledge, the more skilled we will be in the things we are already familiar with. Being the jack of all trades but master of none is not useful in the long run.
Experimentation
Fifthly, experiment with it yourself. Compared to reading it online or in a book, doing it in real life provides a deeper and different plane of understanding. Although this cannot be applied to everything, many things can be tried out in real life to understand how a certain result is achieved.
Learning how changing something by a certain amount can change the result drastically allows you to understand the what, how and the why. This method is especially useful for experiments that do not take a long time. Experimenting also does not always need to relate to science. You can experiment with theorems in Mathematics, an experiment in art with different styles, experiment with different progressions in Music and so on. Experimentation also makes learning much more fun as you have full control over what is going on.