written by BRICE HOGAN | LEARNING, HABITS
One of the best habits we can develop is the habit of learning.
"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimension"
- Oliver Wendell Holmes -
Learning requires two things:
1) Input
2) Outputs
We are really good with inputs. We pick up a book, listen to a podcast, or watch a documentary, and inputs are everywhere. But the information is completely useless if there is no outlet. The information is as good as if we never read it all.
Thus learning requires Output. There are 3 things that are required for effective output.
We are really good with inputs. We pick up a book, listen to a podcast, or watch a documentary, and inputs are everywhere. But the information is completely useless if there is no outlet. The information is as good as if we never read it all.
We need output. In order to achieve learning and eventually mastery, there are three things that need to happen.
1) Reflection
2) Implementation
3) Teach or Share
Notice there is 1 input to 3 outputs. There is a 3:1 ratio of outputs over inputs which means there needs to be more focus on action.
Reflection
Reflection is the ability to take information in, think about it, create new connections between and ideas and synthesize it into new ideas. Reflection activates the areas in our brain to help us create associations and analyze the information before taking the next step of implementing it.
This post is a result of me reflecting on the ideas in Nishant's talk and sharing with you some of the ideas I gained from it.
Implement
As the Greek Philosopher, Aesop said, "Implementation beats oration. We can talk ourselves blue in the face about something but it does not mean anything till we put it into action. This is probably the most important step of the 3 outputs. It's where we internalize the reflection and make it a reality.
Teach/Share
There is a saying "Those who can do; those who can't, teach." I hate that phrase. It's wrong I'm sure there are a few statistical outliers that can prove me wrong. In order to learn it's a combination of all 3 things.
But if you want to remember how to do something it's about recall and repetition. Reflection is passive recall. Implementation is active recall. You have the initial memory of learning (reflection), which you put into action (implementation), and now you are taking the experience of both and passing that along. This has two benefits:
It reinforces the experience in your mind
It passes the idea on to someone else
It's better to take lousy action instead of no action at all. In other words, what we do does not have to be perfect, to begin with, it's a matter of starting, and as we learn we will get better at it.
Here is one big takeaway about learning. Spend twice much time on the outputs as you do on the inputs.