Ultralearning: A strategy for acquiring skills and knowledge that is both self directed and intense.
I found this little book quite inspirational and a very fast read. Full disclosure–I am definitely a life long learner and have found that I do many-perhaps all of the techniques, processes, and procedures outlined in the book. But perhaps not with the rigorous structure that the author describes.
So what is it about? It’s a self-help book about how to learn new things. Perhaps learn about a new subject. Perhaps to go deeper into a subject that you are already familiar with. The author gives many examples of ultralearner case studies to help you understand and appreciate how much is possible–even given time constraints. Could you learn enough about building codes in a short period of time to help give you a huge advantage when looking for an architecture job? Could you learn multiple languages in a few weeks to help you in a multinational trip?
Of course you could. It takes a methodology and some focus.
The author gives a 9 step process. I’ll summarize it below.
- Metalearning (A roadmap of your journey). This is the research stage of your project. What do you want to learn? How will you go about it? This should take about 10 % of the total project time.
- Focus (sharpen your knife). To me, this is really about self monitoring to ensure that you stay “on task”. Manage your distractions to help you be successful.
- Directness (go straight ahead). This concept is pretty powerful. To learn about whatever you are learning, you must do it directly. A great example is learning conversational Spanish for an upcoming trip. Directness in this case means conversing. Not studying grammar in a book, not playing with an app–but conversing with real people.
- Drill (Attack your weakest point). In the course of your learning, you will undoubtedly encounter something that is extremely difficult. You’ll need to focus some effort here before integrating that idea back into your overall learning. When practicing music, for example, we are told “practice what you suck at”. That’s the idea.
- Retrieval (Test to learn). Find ways to test your knowledge, skills, and abilities. If weaknesses are uncovered, use techniques such as “directness” or “drill” to improve them. A great way to test yourself is to explain your learnings to others.
- Feedback (Don’t dodge the punches). The most useful feedback is called corrective feedback and can often come from a mentor or teacher. The main idea here is “what are you doing wrong, and how can you fix it”.
- Retention (Don’t fill a leaky bucket). The author gives a lot of information on psychological principles to explain why we forget, and how to not forget–but for me–it means simply “find ways to practice” and “find ways to overlearn”-by building a higher base–even if you forget- you’ll retain the knowledge and skills that you need.
- Intuition (Dig Deep Before Building Up). The author gives several techniques to help improve your intuitive prowess but to me it illustrates that the broader and deeper that you understand something-the better intuition you will have about that subject.
- Experimentation (Explore Outside your Comfort Zone). At some point you’ll exhaust the knowledge that you can–or want to–accept from others. By experimenting–you’ll actually be teaching yourself at a deeper level than you could get to otherwise.
I could give many examples from my own life to illustrate me using these techniques. But I won’t. Instead, I’ll close with a few of my favorite quotes from the book.
Passive learning creates knowledge. Active learning creates skill.
Research can be a way of procrastinating.
Directly learning the thing we want to learn can feel too uncomfortable, boring, or frustrating.
It’s actually while doing the thing you want to get good at when much of the learning takes place.
Intuition sounds magical, but the reality may be more banal-the product of a large volume of organized experience dealing with the problem.
Explore the extremes