10 Tips for Better and Faster Learning

Have you ever experienced long and tedious hours of studying? Did it make you think that once you’re done with it, you’d never want to study again?

A major problem with feeling sick and tired of studying is a terrible result it brings – you don’t really remember much once you’re done with your exam.  This all has to do with the quality of your studying regime.  Just like everything else, if you want good results, you have to do it the right way.  Start using the techniques outlined below and you may notice significant differences.

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1.  Visualization

One of the most powerful learning tools you can use is visualization.  This technique virtually engraves pictures of what you are studying into your brain.  Once you do your visualization the right way, it’s not very likely that you’ll easily forget what you learned.  It’s a versatile tool – you can envision any scenario that will in future remind you of the lesson you’ve been learning.

2.  Set goals – determination

If you don’t have a clear goal in your studies, it may be difficult to maintain perseverance.  Whenever you feel tired and demotivated, remember that your endeavors have a purpose.  It might be getting a better job or passing an exam that will bring you closer to your goal; perhaps you are traveling to another country and you want to master the native language.  Or you are just an enthusiast who enjoys learning new stuff every day.  Whatever the reason, recall it when you feel tired.  See it as your motivation to move on and reach your desired goals.

3.  Sing it

If you have some especially boring stuff to learn and there is no way around it, use the old-school method of singing it! Make a tune, think of a verse that makes sense (at least to you, which is the most important thing) and sing it.  It might not be the ‘’understand and learn’’ technique, but it helps in some cases.

4.  Use sticky notes

These little things can be extremely useful.  Want to remember new vocabulary items or lengthy definitions? Write them down on sticky notes and post them everywhere around the house (or your office desk), where you are most likely to see them.  But make sure you don’t forget about them; whenever you see one – read it (out loud, if possible) and think about what you’ve read.

5.  Organize

It’s not as difficult it may sound and it doesn’t mean you should use flashy notebooks and hundreds of different color markers.  Organization means – planning your time.

Set a time of day for studying and make yourself unavailable for anything or anybody else.  Make it your time.  It doesn’t have to be too long – an hour or only 45 minutes would do just right for efficient studying.

It just has to be some quality time spent with the subject that matters.  When you’re done for the day, sleep on it and continue tomorrow so that you would avoid being exhausted and overwhelmed.  Chances are you may at some point start looking forward to that time of day when you are expanding your knowledge!

6.  Include a friend

You probably have a friend or a colleague with whom you share interests.  Talk to them about the course you are learning for.  You might even end up learning together.  A meaningful conversation about a certain topic will make you think about it more profoundly and you will remember and understand it better.

7.  Make it fun

Funny tasks are easier, so make fun as much as you can.  It may seem difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it, you won’t even notice it.  Read your lessons, think about them, talk about them, and compare them to other real-life things that may not even seem related.  Have fun with it, make it interesting, make it useful – own it!

8.  Define your reasons

Similarly to goal setting, you need to know the exact reason for learning a particular lesson that day.  Take your today’s lesson and spend a moment determining why it is important to learn it on that particular day.  It’s a step-by-step approach that makes your endeavor looks smaller and therefore easier to master.

9.  Draw it

Some people remember better if they can draw what they are studying.  Make a chart, a pie, a diagram, or whatever makes you remember it better.  Draw it while you are reading.  This is also a part of visualizing and you are more likely to remember a picture you made than just a line of text.  You can also make a chart of your overall progress.  Be creative!

10.  Don’t stress out, sleep on it

Even if you apply all the methods described above, you might occasionally feel overwhelmed or exhausted.  Don’t beat yourself too much, it’s perfectly normal.  Just leave it, sleep on it and continue your quest for knowledge tomorrow when you rest.

If you are making an effort to learn something new, for whatever reason, you are doing a big thing.  Broadening your knowledge is an admirable quest, and you must never forget that.  Use that fact as your motivation to stay on your course and upgrade yourself in whatever subject you are interested.

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