4 mistakes that hinder your self-learning
Miscellaneous / / April 20, 2023
Not all acquired knowledge turns into real skills. And that's why.
1. Devote all your free time to learning
In order for our brain to have time to digest useful information and put everything on the shelves, it is necessary to give it a rest. And since in addition to learning in our lives there are also work and personal affairs, it is quite difficult to do this.
And yet, it is not worth devoting all your free time to self-education. Otherwise, you can drive yourself into a mode of constant time pressure, when you do not have time for anything and are in endless stress. Prolonged exposure to this state can lead to burnout and a complete loss of interest in both work and self-education.
To avoid these problems, make a study plan that fits into your current schedule: think about when and what you will study, in what format you will do it and how much time you will spend. A clear system will allow you to keep yourself within certain limits and leave time for rest and reboot.
2. Use only one learning format
If you limit yourself to just reading books or watching educational videos on the Internet, then sooner or later these activities can turn into a routine and get bored. Alternating formats helps to switch and form the most complete picture of the topic. Here's where you can get information:
- books;
- articles;
- webinars and educational videos;
- refresher courses and professional retraining;
- professional communities;
- conferences and forums.
Combine these sources and pause if you feel tired of any of them. Learning should be as interesting and comfortable as possible for you. For example, you can refer to different formats according to the following schedule:
- set aside time each day for Reading books and articles;
- watch training videos or webinars three times a week;
- attend professional events, conferences, forums once a month;
- once every 3 months to study at short-term courses - lasting from 1 to 5 days;
- take refresher courses once a year.
In this way, you will integrate the concept of lifelong learning into your life and develop the habit of constantly learning new things, receiving information from different sources.
3. Not putting into practice what you have learned
The main mistake that prevents turning knowledge into sustainable skills is the lack of practice. Theory is very important, but without real application and repeated repetition, everything learned will quickly be forgotten and will not bring any benefit.
Therefore, after reading each book, watching a video or passing course you should do the following:
- fix key points;
- to consider the possibilities of their application in practice;
- draw up a specific plan - what exactly, in what area and in what form you can use;
- implement this plan in practice;
- analyze the results and, if necessary, adjust further actions.
For example, you studied the topic of time management and became interested in the Pomodoro method. Determine in which cases it will be convenient to apply it. Perhaps you have been planning to write a large article or book for a long time, but you are constantly distracted by something else and cannot find time for this? Use this method to solve this problem. And if it doesn’t help, try other tools that you learned about while studying the topic.
In addition, it is useful to keep an “idea book” and record in it interesting tools, cases or thoughts that you come across during training. You can return to these entries from time to time when you need fresh ideas for solving work or personal problems.
The main thing is not to enter them randomly, but to come up with a convenient rubricator that will help you find the information you need even a few months after studying the topic.
For example, it can be a spreadsheet with thematic tabs and columns broken down by topics (marketing, productivity, management), formats (ideas, presentations, expert articles, cases, videos) or areas of application (home, work, business, hobby).
Or you can simply collect all the most important things in the cloud storage and create your own knowledge base by structuring and organizing all the useful materials that you have into folders.
4. Don't allow yourself to make mistakes
The application of new knowledge most often occurs by trial and error. And the latter can hurt the self-esteem of perfectionists and those who have a hard time with criticism.
Therefore, at the very beginning, it is important to set yourself up for the implementation of real changes: think about what you want change at the end of the training, when you start using knowledge in practice and how you analyze possible misses. Accept the fact that making mistakes is inevitable.
Don't worry about failuresand learn how to benefit from them:
- record both positive and negative results;
- determine the reason for the failure;
- think about how to avoid similar problems in the future;
- develop a plan for further actions based on the analysis;
- put the new plan into practice.
For example, the Pomodoro method did not help you make significant progress in writing an article or book. Why did this happen? It may be difficult for you to solve this problem in such a rhythm. Then you need to choose another tool that is more suitable.
For example, it could be the "Eat the Elephant" method. He suggests dividing the task into parts and doing it gradually, starting every day with a certain small action.
Be prepared for the fact that error handling will require several iterations, as new problems may appear in the process. But as a result, this will only benefit: you will have a stable skill in the right area and practice working with various problem situations.
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