Our world brings us more opportunities to learn now than ever before. Books, newspapers, and television brought us a lot back when we were younger, but with the internet there is so much more.
This is old news. Between Wikipedia and Ted, there are very few excuses left for not expanding our horizons every day.
How can you manage in this sea of opportunity? Know whether or not you are learning, and maximize the opportunity.
Let’s look at three learning opportunities.
Moment of insight
What it looks like: Epiphany. Suddenly it all makes sense. It clicks. Eureka! Either you are suddenly comprehending new information and it’s creating a new picture for you, or you are combining ideas in a way that is completely new to you.
Why it happens: This is the moment of true learning. Neurons in your brain have established a new connection. (Perhaps you learned the lesson before and forgot. In that case, the neurons had connected and then later disconnected from lack of use/review. You have had a new insight about the same thing, so the neurons re-connect.) Your brain literally gets a charge from the experience.
The results: The new insight is yours to keep for as long as you will use or review it. However, if you don’t review it, practice it, or use it in some other way, you’ll lose it.
How to maximize the opportunity: When these moments of insight occur, unless you have no need to keep the information in the long term, write it down. If you can’t write it in the moment, develop a practice of writing down your lessons learned every day. Keep a notebook handy so you can keep track of these insights. Don’t worry too much about categorizing them. Write down just enough to remind yourself what it was when you review it.
You understand the information.
What it looks like: It isn’t exciting, but you follow. You comprehend. There’s no tingle, but there’s also no confusion, fear, or withdrawal. You’re there with the information.
Why it happens: This is a review. Synapses have already fired; neurons have already connected.
The results: In this review, your brain is gaining one truly valuable piece of information, which is that the information you learned earlier is still important, so it should be kept. The result is not forgetting.
How to maximize the opportunity: Review those earlier insights. Keep that notebook with you and in moments of opportunity, read back over the exciting ah-ha moments. This will keep you from forgetting them, even though it won’t be as exciting as it was when you learned them. (If you forget them, it will require a new insight. We’ve all been there.)
The information you are receiving is going nowhere.
What it looks like: You read a sentence and have no idea what it means. Or someone speaks to you and you’re completely lost. The graphic you see is meaningless.
The results: You check out. Zone out. Think about something else. Look for something else.
Why it happens: The information you are receiving is new and unfamiliar. You haven’t been introduced to enough about the subject to be able to add onto the subject with this new information. You can’t learn it because your neurons have no connections for it to connect into. Learning has to be sequential. We have to learn the A track before we can learn the B track. You can’t go straight to Z.
Why it’s a danger: In the internet age, we tend to think that we don’t need to learn new facts, because we can just go find them when we need them. But if we don’t know enough of the basic framework into which these facts belong, finding the information doesn’t help us at all. If you don’t know physics, you can’t build a rocket ship. If you don’t know chemistry, you can’t create the cure for cancer even if you stumble upon it.
How to maximize the opportunity: If a subject interests you, do study it. Give yourself as much opportunity to build neurological connections as possible so that you can continue to understand and learn new information.
Should you write down information you don’t understand into your notes? No. It’s a waste of time. Write down only moments of insight. If necessary, write down some information that you know will be review info but only if you know it’s necessary to provide context for what is meant by the insight you wrote down.
Review your insights notebook regularly. At least once a week–probably more. This will help you remember your new insights so you won’t have to re-learn them and have that horrible feeling that, if you’d learned your lesson the last time, you wouldn’t be in this mess now.
