The Science of Learning to Learn — Part 1
What is the most valuable and important skill in this world?
There are many skills you can learn throughout your life. But the most important skill and which leads to attaining those other skills is learning how to learn. As learning is one of the most important things in our lives, the best thing we could do to ourselves is learning how to learn new things and skills.
Learning provides us the ability to improve ourselves and adapt to this evolving world.
We live in a world where access to information is not an issue. You need to stand out and choose the resources wisely and learn them efficiently.
The reality is that nobody is born smart, we all start from zero. There were times when the people you follow, respect, or the people you want to become, were not even able to count to ten.
If you want to succeed in this constantly evolving and changing world you need to stand out from others. Learning is not just going to school, getting to college, and then getting a job, it’s a lot more than you think.
The quantity and the time spent learning something is not the key to learning, instead, the key is to be efficient, managing your time properly, and to not try to be the hardest worker.
The ability to learn more efficiently than your competitors and colleagues will be a great advantage for your future.
“Staying in your comfort zone is a good way to prepare for today, but it’s a terrible way to prepare for tomorrow.” — David Peterson
With all that in mind let’s dive into the science of learning how to learn.
Focus vs Diffuse Mode
When our brain is totally focused on one thing and does only one task, it is called the focus mode. When we are in the focus mode, the prefrontal cortex of the brain is activated. Think of focus mode as a laser, when we use a laser, it focuses on a particular point, which makes it very powerful. So when we study by focusing on one particular thing, without any distractions, the mind becomes very powerful.
When our brain is thinking of different things, wandering around, and daydreaming, it is called diffuse mode. When we are in the diffuse mode different parts or regions of the brain are active, rather then only one part or region of the brain as in focus mode. Think of diffuse mode as a torch which spreads light in all direction, which makes it weak and diffuse.
Best Mode for Efficient Learning
Now I wanna ask you a question. What do you think is the best mode for learning??
Most of you might’ve thought of focus mode. If yes, then I am sorry to tell you that, it is not the correct answer. So are you ready for the answer?
How well you learn depends on going back and forth between the focus mode and diffuse mode. You need to spend dedicated time in focus mode concentrating on what you want to learn without any distractions. Then after some time when you can’t focus anymore or you are tired, shift to the diffuse mode, you can go out for a walk or let your mind wander around.
When you focus on something to learn, your brain creates new connections and neurons. And when you let your mind rest, those connections become proper and strong. Now I am not creating all this by myself, this all has been proved by scientists.
Myelin Sheath is a layer that forms around neurons which allows electrical impulses(memory) to transfer quickly and efficiently along the neurons. When we use the diffuse mode of thinking, it helps our brain create myelin sheath around the neurons.
The Science of Sleep
Sleeping is an underestimated and an important thing to be an efficient learner. Lack of sleep is definitely a horrible strategy. Research shows that when we sleep, the fluids in our brain clear the toxins present between the brain cells.
Sleep also accounts as a diffused mode of thinking which means when you sleep it helps the connections in the brain become stronger and enables the creation of myelin sheath.
Have you ever been in a situation when you are stuck at a problem, and being tired of the problem you go to sleep. When you wake up, you come up with the solution to the problem. This means sleep allows us to come up with new and creative solutions.
Procrastination
We all have been in the situation when we want to learn something but we end up getting distracted, by some activity which pleasures us. This is because it is easy to do easy things.
Whenever we try to do something hard or something that doesn’t please our minds, we end up getting distracted. This is because when we get a negative feeling from an activity, our brain suddenly diverts us to an activity where we get a positive feeling.
To be honest, there are no easy tricks to avoid procrastination, you need to start doing the task you want to do. But you can always think that you are making a sacrifice of short-term positivity for a temporary negative activity, for long-term positivity.
We will be discussing some techniques, in the techniques section of the blog post to avoid procrastination.
Short and Long Term Memory
Long term memory is stored in different parts or regions of the brain. To create a long-term memory you learn something to make the memory, and you continue to visit it again and again, after some interval to make the connections in the brain strong. Which means long term memory is created by practicing and repeating the memory or skill.
Short-term memory is also known as working memory is involved in the front cortex of the brain. Whenever we learn something it is stored in the short-term memory and to make the memory long-term we use some techniques like repeating the activity, or memory and practicing it again and again.
The short term memory can only store four chunks of data, which leads to the idea of connecting those chunks of data to make concept and sense of it and repeating it to make long term memory.
The Science of Motivation
You need to have the motivation to learn or do something. When it comes to motivation, there are two types of motivation intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation is when it comes from the inside. You are not dependent upon any rewards or something for motivation. You are doing this for your own interest and passion.
Extrinsic motivation is when the source of motivation is external, like rewards, money, etc. When you are not interested to learn this new thing but you have to learn it you create a rewarding system for yourself, eg- “If I learn this topic, I can have a chocolate”.
When it comes to learning, intrinsic motivation is the best for learning. The reason for this is, when you have a reward system, you are not learning something or doing something for your interest or for yourself, you are doing this for the rewards, eg- job(you get money for your work).
Sometimes extrinsic motivation can help you to avoid procrastination, to start doing a task, and then you could stop the extrinsic motivation, as you will be having some kind of intrinsic motivation to do the task.
So this much for this part, we will be discussing some more science of learning to learn in the next part. Please note that these sciences and fundamentals are the base for the techniques we will be learning. When you’ll check the techniques part of learning to learn you will notice these science or ideas being recalled and how those techniques are built upon this science.
