Do you want to know what is the best way to learn something?

Learning is a necessity in everyone’s lives. We must continually learn in order to adapt ourselves to the ever-changing world. However, not all learning methods are made equal. There are dozens of way one can learn something, but some are better than others.

As growing is part of my journey, I decided to seriously dive into the subject of learning in general, in order for me to better understand my body and use it in the best way possible. As a result of that, I became somewhat knowledgable on that subject. What’s more, I’ve had countless opportunities to make use of my newly-learned techniques. That’s why I’d like to share with you today what I think is the best way to learn anything.

Obviously, there is more than one way to learn something but for the sake of keeping this article short that’s what I’m going to focus on here.

During my researchs, I found tons of different ways to learn, and a lot of them being truly powerful. These will be the subject of other articles, as I’d like to dedicate this one to my favorite method for learning which I view as the best way to learn.

In truth, I’m already applying this technique as I speak to you.

As I’m teaching you, I’m learning. In fact, in the words of Joseph Joubert, ”to teach is to learn twice.”

Teaching Is The Best Way To Learn

Teaching is a great way for reinforcing what you’ve learned since you need to remember the information, and simplify it for others to understand. During this process, your brain will also be learning as it will analyze every word you said.

What I love about this technique is that it’s so easy to use that virtually anyone can do it.

As you’ve probably guessed by now, my main way of teaching what I learn -or should I say ‘my main way of learning a second time- is by writing a blog post. Writing makes me ponder on what an information really means, so that I can simplify it as much as possible for each reader to understand.

It now only allows me to deepen my understanding of the subject, but it also makes my brain reinforcing its nerve pathways, making me remember more easily.

I can’t stress the importance of teaching enough, as it really has helped me retaining what I’ve learned in the previous months.

Now, I’m guessing everybody here doesn’t have a blog. That’s ok.

The primary question you should ask yourself is : ”How can I teach what I’ve just learned ?” It’s really hard to answer this question as it depends on the individual, but I guess this answer will work on most people :

You can start by teaching it to your friends
You can also teach to your family members if you feel like they would benefit from it.
You could even write a Facebook post about it

Anyway, the purpose being that it will help you retain that information, it doesn’t really matter who you’re sharing this information with.

Best Way To Learn: Bonus

Another powerful technique you could use to increase you retention rate is to actually take notes.

Now, I know that’s a well-known technique, but there’s a reason for it, wouldn’t you say ?I find writing down each piece of information that I learn very powerful. The reason is that it makes you an activer learner, instead of you being a passive learner… and it makes a huge difference.

In fact, studies have shown that passive learning – without writing anything down – only allows you to retain 15% of the information you learned 30 days from now. Conversely, being an active learner increases your retaining rate to somewhere between 50 to 55%. Amazing, isn’t it ?

It’s how powerful taking notes are. And it’s not like it’s complicated or anything, you just need to take out a pen and paper.

Now, do you imagine how high your retention rate will go if you took notes before actually teaching ? I always preach that you should not only know, but do, otherwise you’ll forget what you’ve learned. Why not apply it right now ?

Here’s what you can do before you forget these awesome techniques :

Take as many notes as you possibly can based on what I said in this article. The more detailled the better.
Teach what you learned to somebody else.

In fact, you could even teach someone what I just taught you!

There’s no way you won’t be able to remember it, and you’ll be able to learn whathever you want easier ! Keep in mind that it’s not about how much you learn, but how you learn it. You could learn the minimum amount of information, if your technique for learning is horrible, you won’t get anywhere. Trust me on that.