How To Implement Accelerated Learning Techniques

In this new series under the THD Mind banner, I am going to provide you with a toolbox of techniques you can implement and customize in order to boost your brain power.

You are going to boost your brain power through training it.

No, this is not like one of those apps that simply teach you to get better at doing one thing.

In this first article of the series, we are going to look at accelerated learning techniques.

First, have a look at this introductory video.

From a neurological perspective, there are few things that are better for the development of true intelligence than to learn multiple skills and acquire multiple abilities.

This encourages the use of multiple brain areas and by learning lots of different things you can use them together – thereby enhancing the interconnectivity of your brain.

Learning itself triggers the release of dopamine, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and other neurotransmitters that enhance plasticity – meaning that the more we learn, the easier learning becomes.

And having multiple skills means we can thrive in multiple different situations.

This is one benefit of being a lifelong learner – I’ve learned countless skills from how to program websites to how to fix a greasy, smelly kitchen sink without using harmful chemicals!

And if you want to learn more, faster, then you only need apply a range of ‘accelerated learning’ techniques. Here are some of the best…

The Feynman Technique

The Feynman Technique is a mental model named for Richard Feynman. The aim is to learn and to increase your depth of knowledge by making sure you can teach someone else the subject. The idea is that if you can’t explain a subject simply, you don’t fully understand it.

To this end, Feynman suggests the following step-by-step approach.

• Start with the concept and then ‘explain like I’m five’ (ELI5). If you don’t understand, pinpoint the gap in your knowledge.
• Then try using an analogy to explain that (which actually taps into the way we understand the world – using embodied cognition) and then simplify that concept.
• Then repeat the cycle.
• Writing an explanation of the topic you’re trying to learn can often help to this end.

You learn better from watching videos?

Here is one by Sprouts from their YouTube™ channel.

The technique brings to mind an assessment strategy used in teacher training – microteaching.

Teachers preparing for their careers usually have to do a microteaching session as part of an assessment.

In this assessment, they take a topic and have to communicate it effectively within ten minutes.

The DiSSS Method

Tim Ferriss, author of The 4 Hour Workweek has a different method for learning subjects more quickly. He calls this the DiSSS method.

The phrase is of course an acronym, which stands for:

• Deconstructing (what are the minimal learnable units?)
• iNterviewing (asking people who have already mastered the skill)
  • Reversal (looking at the end goal – for instance, Tim recommends learning finishing moves first in chess and then working backwards to learn how to get to that point)
• Selection (which 20% of the minimal blocks should I focus attention on?)
• Sequencing (what is the best order to learn said blocks in?)
• Stakes (how can you set up stakes to motivate yourself to keep learning?)

The First 20 Hours

The First 20 Hours is a book by Josh Kaufman, that explains an alternative accelerated learning method. The central concept is to aim for a ‘target performance level’ or, more specifically, to know what you want to achieve through learning.

Kaufman gave a TEDx Talk some years ago on how to learn anything. Major clue: it doesn’t take 10,000 hours!

For example, if you want to learn to code, then don’t set out to ‘learn to code’ which is much too vague, but instead set out to achieve a specific goal.

Do you want to learn a specific programming language, or a scripting language, or how to design and set up databases?

In other words, you start by breaking apart the main goal of ‘learning to code’.

For me, as a software developer as well as a writer, Kaufman’s research rings closer to the truth of the human experience of learning.

He mentions talks about starting off as being “grossly incompetent”, or knowing you are incompetent.

Tim Buchalka of the Learn Programming Academy, discusses the four stages of becoming a programmer. You could apply this to learning any skill.

Not only is this approach much more intrinsically motivating with more of an emotional drive, but it also gives you much more structure and it shows you precisely which skills you need to develop.

By the way, Kaufman’s medley of pop songs towards the end of his talk is awesome! I was in tears when he finished…

Brian Tracy

You cannot really discuss accelerated learning techniques without including someone I consider to be one of the pioneers in the field, Brian Tracy.

In the following video from Tracy’s YT Channel, he outlines steps to reading through a book, using accelerated learning techniques.

Tony Buzan

I bought Buzan’s Mind Map book in the 1990s as part of my final year exam preparations. I found the mind mapping technique highly useful in approaching exam questions. Drawing mind maps before I wrote a single word was helpful in arranging my thoughts so I could respond in the way the examiner expected.

When I was through with all of my exams, I knew I had passed them all.

Guess what? There is a TEDx Talk, featuring Tony Buzan, along with numerous other presentations on YouTube™.

You can become limitless.

In the next article, we will look at the neuroscience of intelligence and how it works.

To a better, wiser, stronger – YOU.

PS: I chose the image of the children playing the guitar because it reminded me of when I first learnt to play as a young adult. It only took about an hour to learn the basic chords.

Image by Valéria Rodrigues Valéria from Pixabay