Recently I went through a MOOG course titled ‘Learning How to Learn’ on Coursera. As a life long learner, I got few tips on maximizing memory retention and creativity from going through the course and highly recommend going through the course for everyone. It’s a four week course that can probably be completed in about a week, but if you haven’t got the time for that here’s some of the takeaways I got from it.

Focus Vs Diffuse Learning

Our brains have two modes of learning which are mutually exclusive which are the focus and diffuse learning. Focus learning is when we concentrate on learning something new and trying to make connections and understand concepts. This is might be when you are reading through documentation, going through tutorials, or wrestling with algorithms that melt your brain.

In focused learning, the average brain has four banks of working memory that’s used when trying to wrap around concepts. When focusing, it’s crucial to try to deeply understand the material and also try to put it into context in other to create ‘chunks’ of knowledge. The goal is to recall these chunks of knowledge on demand by strengthening the neuro pathways. In a way we are programming our brains. Neat!

The second mode of learning, as strange as it sounds, occurs away from the material. It turns out our brains really benefit when we break away from focused learning. This gives us the chance to further make sense of the information and in diffuse learning, our brains have a background process going that tries to make further connections in the neuro pathways that may not have been available in focused learning. If you’ve crammed for hours straight and it feels like no new info is getting inside your head, you can appreciate the truth in needing a break.

The Right Kind of Breaks Are Good

For myself, I like to put myself into diffuse learning mode after focused learning by going for a walk, stretching, browsing the internet (nothing too taxing on the mind), taking a shower, washing dishes, etc.

This isn’t the time to go drinking or fire up the Playstation. Small breaks in between focused learning is crucial to learning, but don’t get carried away with the breaks. The goal is to keep learning!

Some Tips On Fighting Procrastination

If you are like me, you fight this demon on a daily basis. There’s something you have to do but internet cats are so much more interesting and working seems like the last thing you want to do. The reason why it’s so easy to fall into procrastination is because the brain actually sees the work you need to do as source of stress, and by doing something more fun releases dopamine and we end up feeling good (although that usually means we’ll pay for it later).

One way to avoid feeling stressed about work is to think in terms of process rather than product. Instead of stressing about how user authentication is hard (product), change your perspective to devoting the next 25 minutes on learning some new techniques (process). One trick is to employ the Pomodoro technique. Set a timer for 25 minutes and start focused learning, and when the timer goes off, take a small break.

Exercise and Practice Is Essential

The brain is pretty terrible at making new neurons in adulthood. It was once believed that all the neurons you’ll have are created at birth, and learning just makes connections to the existing ones. Unless of course you exercise! The process of exercising actually creates new neurons in the brain, so daily exercise is a must! Running, lifting, cycling, just get moving to jump start that neuron factory.

Not only exercise but practicing what you’ve learned is also imperative. Exercising your mind with what you’ve learned a little everyday is what strengthens those neuro pathways and commits them to long term memory.

SLEEP

A good nights rest is also important. The brain actually creates a lot of waste during the day when you are studying and learning. Most of the calories you ingest are going to be burned by the brain. The problem is, sleep is when the brain has the chance to get rid of the waste and keep itself in working order without all the crap gunking it up.

These are just a few tips on learning how to learn. Theres’ more tips covered in the online course and it also delves into the science of learning as well, which is fascinating. I highly recommend you check it out, and keep learning!

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