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My Exact 14-Step Guide To Learn Anything Faster — Transcript

by Justin Sung · 5,224 words · 769 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00So, I've been a learning coach now for
0:01almost 15 years teaching people how to
0:04learn more in less time. And although
0:06now I can learn very efficiently, it
0:07wasn't always like that. I distinctly
0:09remember being in school, sitting in
0:11class, studying as hard as I can,
0:13studying with the same methods that
0:15everyone else is using, but needing to
0:17put in double, triple the amount of time
0:19as everyone else. And the reason I'm so
0:20much more efficient now is not because
0:22my brain got faster or smarter in any
0:25way. I just learned better methods. And
0:28it took me years of going through the
0:30research and experimenting to figure out
0:33how to learn as efficiently as I can
0:35now. But I want to make all of that
0:36ridiculously simple for you in this
0:38video. So, I've prepared this flowchart
0:41that we're going to move through in this
0:42video of key decisions and checklists
0:46that you can use to see if you are
0:47learning in a way that is efficient for
0:49you or not. In my personal and
0:51professional experience, when you do not
0:53follow the steps in this list, [music]
0:56that is when you start wasting time or
0:58you feel like your memory is not very
0:59good just relearning things constantly.
1:01[music] There are 14 steps, we're going
1:03to blitz through them starting with
1:04number one. The first thing that you
1:07need to be focusing on if you want to
1:08start learning more efficiently is
1:10asking yourself, "What am I measuring?"
1:13This is the metric you use to judge
1:15whether a learning strategy is working
1:17for you or not. And the reason this is
1:18the one we start with is because what
1:20most people do, and what I used to do,
1:22is I would judge whether a learning
1:23strategy is effective or not based on
1:26speed. Can I cover the same amount of
1:28content in less time? And so, if you try
1:31a learning strategy and you find that it
1:32makes your learning take longer and you
1:35say to yourself, "Therefore, I'm not
1:37going to use this strategy anymore." you
1:39need to stop doing that. And instead of
1:42measuring based on speed, you need to
1:44start measuring based on outcome. How
1:46long it takes to cover something doesn't
1:48matter if you're not able to reach the
1:49right level and the right level of
1:51retention. Often the learning strategies
1:52that are the fastest up front also
1:55create fragile memories that you forget
1:57very quickly and you also can't use that
1:59knowledge very deeply. And when you zoom
2:01out, these things actually slow you down
2:03because you're now wasting extra time
2:05relearning everything that you forgot.
2:07One of the most important changes that I
2:08made to level up my learning efficiency
2:10was to stop worrying about speed and
2:13start thinking about does this method
2:15drive deep knowledge and deep retention.
2:18And even if that method was slow, the
2:19speed eventually comes by just wasting
2:22less time and then eventually getting
2:24faster at that method. The next step, do
2:27you have a clear
2:29purpose and plan? Your brain is actually
2:33great at learning, but it needs to have
2:35focus. If I just throw a textbook at you
2:37and say, "Learn it." your brain doesn't
2:39know why it needs to learn it, how it's
2:41going to use that information, and
2:42there's no frame of context. So, if
2:44you're learning from a formal
2:45curriculum, what this looks like is
2:47going through and actually spending the
2:48time to look through the learning
2:50objectives. Understand the structure of
2:53what you're about to learn. Look through
2:55some past exams to see what style you
2:57need to use this knowledge in. Be really
2:59clear about the goal. Learning is more
3:01efficient when you are goal-directed. If
3:03you're doing unstructured learning like
3:05you're a professional just learning on
3:06the job, you need to do the same thing.
3:08Except the learning objectives aren't
3:10given to you, you need to figure them
3:11out. Spend time writing down a list of
3:14what the learning objectives are and
3:16what success in learning actually means
3:18to you. How do you need to actually
3:19apply and perform using this knowledge?
3:22If you ignore the step and you just dive
3:24into learning, again like I used to,
3:26without a clear goal and a clear
3:27direction, then it's like sprinting off
3:30to quickly find something, but you don't
3:32even know what you're looking for. So,
3:33if you don't have a purpose and a plan,
3:35get one. If you do, move on to the next
3:38step. Number three, do you have an
3:41actual schedule? You have to put in time
3:44in your schedule where you're blocked
3:46out hours to spend on learning. And
3:49again, do that up front. The reason we
3:51do this up front is because the amount
3:53of time you've got available during the
3:55day actually changes the way that we go
3:57about learning the material. There are
3:59some strategies that are better for when
4:00you've got long sessions, there are some
4:02strategies that are better when you've
4:03got really short blocks of time. But if
4:05you don't know how much time you have
4:06got in the first place, then you can't
4:07make that decision. So, if you don't
4:09actually have a schedule, go and make
4:11one. If you do have a schedule, move on
4:13to step four, which is did you plan for
4:17priming? Priming is basically when you
4:20get your brain ready for more intensive
4:23learning. The best analogy I can give
4:25for this is if I'm going to throw you a
4:27ball, I'm going to say, "Hey, get ready
4:30to catch this. I'm going to aim it at
4:33your chest." That would be me priming
4:35you to catch this ball as opposed to
4:38just being like, "Huh, there. You didn't
4:40catch it." Now, priming has a lot of
4:41benefits for learning, and going into
4:43the details of that is not for this
4:44video. But when you prime correctly, it
4:46massively increases the efficiency at
4:48which your brain can form new memory.
4:50This means that later, when you go to
4:52learn it more intensively, you're
4:53wasting less time, you get less
4:56overwhelmed, and you're able to make
4:57sense of that information more easily.
4:59So, before any dedicated block of
5:02learning that you've scheduled out, you
5:03should have a smaller block of time for
5:06priming. This can be up to a week in
5:09advance or even just a few minutes
5:11before the main session. And so again,
5:13because priming is so impactful for your
5:16later learning efficiency, if you are
5:18not priming, you need to
5:20plan for it. Which probably means
5:23you need to think about it back when
5:25you're building your schedule. Now, if
5:26you did plan for priming, step five,
5:29what are you focusing on in those
5:31priming sessions? I remember in my first
5:33year of university, someone gave me the
5:35advice to pre-study all my material
5:37before the lectures. Pre-study is not
5:39the same thing as priming, because what
5:41I did was wrong. What I focused on
5:44during the pre-study was the details.
5:48I would basically study the material
5:50like I would normally study it but just
5:53before the lecture. But that is not
5:55where the value of priming comes from.
5:57The value of priming comes from when you
5:59focus on the gist of the information.
6:03It's the overall idea, the general
6:06concept. When you go in and start
6:08straight away learning details, your
6:11brain doesn't know what to do with that
6:12information. It doesn't have enough
6:13context to connect it to and make
6:16meaning out of it. And so with priming,
6:17what we want to do is deliberately
6:19create an overall gist understanding.
6:22This gives us memory landmarks and
6:24anchor points so that later when we do
6:27learn the details, we're able to make
6:28sense of it and see how it's relevant
6:30more easily. One of the easiest ways
6:32that you can tell whether you are
6:33focusing on the details too much or the
6:35gist of the information is how long it
6:38takes you to do your priming session.
6:40Priming should ideally take you around 5
6:42to 10 minutes for an hour's worth of
6:45learning. If it takes you longer than
6:47that, it probably means you're getting
6:49sucked into the details. And if that's
6:50you, stop it. And if you're focusing on
6:53the gist, then we can move on to the
6:55next part, which is what you're doing in
6:58your intensive learning sessions. This
7:00is when you're sitting down, you're not
7:02just going over it at a superficial
7:04level, you are really trying to learn
7:07the information. And so the next four
7:09steps of this flowchart are about what
7:12you're doing during those sessions. So
7:14number six, during those sessions,
7:16is your
7:18environment distractible or is it
7:21focused?
7:22And the best way you can tell this is
7:24not just through intuition, but actually
7:26having a distraction sheet next to you.
7:29When you get distracted, if you get
7:31distracted, write down what the
7:32distraction was. Ideally, the sheet
7:35should be blank because you didn't get
7:36distracted. But if you find that you are
7:38getting distracted, set up your
7:40environment beforehand to make sure that
7:42it is free from those distractions. And
7:44even if it takes a bit of effort, it's
7:46probably not as much effort as trying to
7:48achieve your goals while constantly
7:50being distracted. So, that's number six,
7:52the environment. Number seven is the
7:54priority. This is a major one.
7:57While you are going through your
7:59learning session, you're reading through
8:01the material, you're watching videos,
8:03whatever you're doing, is your priority,
8:06what you are mainly focused on? Is it to
8:09remember what you're consuming? Is it to
8:12read through the sentence and try to
8:14commit that to memory?
8:16Or is it to understand
8:19what you are consuming, to feel like it
8:21makes sense to you and that you can
8:23explain it again? For most people,
8:25that's where they stop. Both of those
8:28are not very productive things to focus
8:30on. Long story short, your brain needs
8:33to form something called schemas for
8:36information to be consolidated into your
8:38memory. A schema is when one piece of
8:40information is connected to another
8:43piece of information. And then those
8:44connections form a network. What your
8:47intention or your priority is when
8:50you're taking in new information and
8:52thinking about it influences the types
8:54of processes that your brain uses. So,
8:57if your intention is to remember it or
9:00to understand it, it's going to use
9:02fairly superficial processes. And these
9:05processes do not trigger schema building
9:09and connecting. You have to deliberately
9:13be focused on connecting information as
9:17your priority. So, when you're reading
9:18that sentence, think about how it is
9:20similar or different to something else,
9:22another concept on that page, or a
9:24similar related concept that you've
9:26already learned before. Make judgments
9:28on how important and valuable and
9:30purposeful this information is relative
9:34to your purpose, the goal that you set
9:36out for yourself. And when your priority
9:38is to compare ideas and to judge the
9:41importance of what you're learning, your
9:43brain uses much deeper processes and
9:46those forcibly create schemas. You
9:50cannot judge the importance of something
9:52without comparing it to something else
9:54and that process builds a schema and
9:57that schema is what is stored as memory.
10:00So, always remember that trying to
10:02remember is a bad way to remember. Now,
10:04if connecting information is a priority
10:06for you, then what you'll naturally find
10:08is that there are some things that you
10:10just can't connect. It's this random
10:12obscure fact or detail that you just
10:15need to memorize because you need it for
10:17an exam. A lot of professionals never
10:19fall into this situation because you can
10:21just look that stuff up. And in that
10:23situation, the stuff that's left over,
10:25this is what you use flash cards for.
10:28Chuck that detail into a flash card and
10:30learn it through repetition and rote
10:32memorization and spaced retrieval. That
10:34is what that tool is good for. But, make
10:36sure that it is your last resort. Try
10:38and connect it and create relationships
10:41and compare it and judge it first. And
10:43only when you cannot, despite trying
10:45your best, should you say,
10:47"Unfortunately, I need to memorize
10:49that." Memorization is a necessary evil.
10:52Don't be evil as your first resort. Now,
10:54step number eight, note taking. If your
10:57priority is connecting information,
10:59building interconnected schemas, then
11:02you are going to really hate the
11:04experience of linear note taking.
11:08Because if you're truly focused on
11:09connecting it, you want to be able to
11:11see those connections. You want to be
11:13able to map things out and work with
11:16that on paper. And not being able to do
11:18that becomes very frustrating and
11:20overwhelming. And so, naturally, the way
11:22that you write notes should be
11:25relational. And any kind of non-linear
11:27note taking is suitable for this, but
11:29mind mapping is obviously the most
11:30common one. I've got some other videos
11:32where I talk about that as well. But you
11:33may notice that linear note taking here
11:35is yellow rather than red with a cross
11:37next to it. And that's indicate that
11:39sometimes linear note taking is still
11:41useful. And that's specifically when you
11:43are deliberately trying to create notes
11:46for reference. Like these are notes that
11:47you're creating because you need to come
11:49back to this as a learning resource in
11:51the future. Now, I would argue that
11:52these days with AI transcriptions and
11:54summarization apps, you don't really
11:56ever need to create your own linear
11:58notes. I, for example, have not created
12:00any linear notes in probably like eight
12:03or nine years. And what might surprise
12:06you is that when you start doing
12:07relational notes, they become a faster,
12:10more accurate reference source for you
12:12to come back to than linear notes.
12:14Relational notes show you how you are
12:16thinking about the information and how
12:18it's connected much more efficiently.
12:21It's like looking at an image of
12:22something versus a description of an
12:24image of something. The step number nine
12:26after that is the order in which you are
12:28learning things. So, during those
12:30intensive learning sessions, are you
12:32learning things in the default order
12:35that is given to you? So, this would be
12:37starting at chapter one, going through
12:39the first paragraph, moving to the
12:40second paragraph, just going in that
12:42same order or in the lecture or whatever
12:45course that you're taking. Or are you
12:48going in an order that is
12:50individualized?
12:51This is a bit more advanced and this
12:53just single point actually took me years
12:55to figure out. When you go in the order
12:56that is just given to you, that's often
12:58not in the best order for your brain to
13:00learn it. Because your brain finds
13:02different things relevant at different
13:04times. One thing that is easy for
13:06someone to understand may be difficult
13:07for you and vice versa. And generally,
13:09if something is difficult for you to
13:10understand, it means that you don't have
13:12enough context to make meaning out of
13:14it. And so, instead of just trying to
13:15bang your head against the wall until
13:16the wall crumbles or just memorizing it
13:19because you couldn't understand it, it's
13:21actually much more efficient to just go
13:23find the thing that is easy for you to
13:25understand. And you let your brain tell
13:28you what is relevant for you to learn
13:30and what is easy for it to learn so that
13:32over time, you just build up more and
13:35more knowledge. And now when you come
13:36back to this original point, what used
13:39to feel difficult suddenly feels much
13:41easier because you just know more about
13:43the topic. So, that's step nine. We've
13:44got five more steps to go. And at this
13:46point, you may be asking yourself,
13:48"Well, how do I do any of these things?
13:50What are the actual methods and the
13:51strategies and the practical techniques
13:53that I can use?" Well, again, this is
13:55not the video for that. But, I've
13:57created another little flowchart to help
13:59you figure that out. Do you want
14:00something that is more structured and
14:02curated for you? If the answer is no,
14:06you don't need that, then just go watch
14:08some of my other videos. I talk about
14:10this topic all the time. There are so
14:12many strategies that you can learn from
14:13those. If the answer is yes, you want
14:15something that's a bit more structured
14:17and curated, the next question is, do
14:19you want it fast or do you want it for
14:22free? If you want it for free, then the
14:24place that you can look is my free
14:26weekly newsletter. You can almost think
14:28of it like an email course every single
14:30week. I send you an email, takes about 3
14:32to 5 minutes to read, there's a
14:33practical takeaway, and it's this
14:35collection of insights and perspectives
14:37and techniques that I think would help
14:39most people, the types of things that I
14:41wish I knew nearly 15 years ago when I
14:43was first starting this journey. So,
14:44that's free to join and you can
14:45unsubscribe at any time. So, if that's
14:47something that you're interested in,
14:48I'll leave a link in the description for
14:49you. Or alternatively, if you don't want
14:51to wait a week for each newsletter,
14:52you'd rather have something that's
14:54structured and put together and just
14:56there available for you to just dive
14:58into as quickly or as slowly as you
15:00would like, then the place for you to
15:02look would be at icanstudy.com,
15:05which is where I have my paid course.
15:07And this is not going to be for
15:08everyone, but if you are interested,
15:09I'll also leave a link for you to learn
15:11more about it to see if it's right for
15:12you in the description below. And
15:14speaking of the description below, I'll
15:15also leave a link to download this
15:18image as a PDF so that if you want, you
15:20can work through it yourself rather than
15:22like pausing and trying to zoom into
15:24this video. But moving on to step number
15:2610,
15:27which is what do you do when you feel
15:30confused? So no matter what you're
15:31learning or where you're learning from,
15:33you're going to come to a point where
15:35you're trying to understand something
15:37and it just doesn't make sense to you
15:38and you're feeling confused. You don't
15:40see how everything fits together. The
15:42way you respond to that confusion is one
15:45of the most important things that you
15:49need to get right. This point again took
15:51me years to figure out. If when you feel
15:53confused, your response is to try and
15:57avoid this confusion. You feel confused,
16:00you feel a little bit overwhelmed and
16:02you think, "Ooh, I don't like this
16:03feeling. I want to escape from this."
16:06And the way you might respond to that
16:08feeling is to
16:10over simplify. You might think, "Well, A
16:13is important and then B is less
16:15important and C is maybe more important
16:18than A and less important than B, but
16:21what about in this context? Maybe it's
16:23different." You see, it starts getting
16:24confusing. It gets overwhelming. And so
16:27over simplifying is saying, "Well,
16:29thinking about all of that is really
16:30confusing, so I'm just going to say A is
16:33more important, B is second most
16:34important, C is third most important.
16:36That's it." Now we have locked in that
16:38conclusion. We have got certainty on it.
16:40Now we don't feel confused anymore. Are
16:42we correct? Probably not. So you can see
16:44how by interpreting confusion as a
16:46negative emotion, we've blocked
16:49ourselves from effective learning. So
16:50that's over simplifying. What some
16:52people do is rather than over simplify
16:54is that they
16:55under question. So is A more important?
16:59Is B more important? Is C more
17:01important? Man, I'm feeling confused.
17:03Ah, I probably don't need to think about
17:04that. Wow, the confusion is gone. We've
17:06eliminated the problem by ignoring the
17:08problem. Over simplifying as a response
17:10to confusion is like your house being on
17:12fire and you feeling like it's really
17:14difficult to put this fire out and
17:16saying, "Ah, I'm sure this bucket of
17:18water is enough." Whereas, under
17:20questioning is just not looking at your
17:22house that's on fire anymore. Now, there
17:24is an alternative, which is that you
17:26don't actually feel confused in the
17:28first place. What do you do when you
17:29feel confused? Well, I can't answer that
17:31question. It's not applicable for me
17:33because I don't feel that confusion. If
17:36you're not feeling confused when you're
17:38learning something new, and if it's even
17:41moderately complex, it means your
17:44priority is not right. If your focus is
17:48on just trying to remember every
17:50sentence or just understand the meaning
17:52of every sentence, you're not going to
17:54be confused because you're not asking
17:56questions. You're not exposing gaps in
17:58your understanding. This is A. This is
18:00B. This is C. Cool, I can remember that.
18:03I understand that. There's nothing
18:05confusing. It's only when we start
18:07prioritizing, judging which one is more
18:10or less important, how are A and B
18:12similar or different, do we start
18:14realizing, "Hmm, I'm not really sure.
18:17Actually, now that I think about it, A
18:18and B seem really similar. What even is
18:21the difference behind this? Now I'm
18:23confused. Now we're learning." So, if
18:26you're not feeling any of this
18:27confusion, then you're probably not
18:29engaging in that deep thinking in the
18:31first place. Ideally, when you feel
18:33confused, your response to that is to
18:37explore
18:39the confusion. And what that means is
18:41that you take that feeling of confusion
18:44and you turn it into a question. I call
18:46this technique the confusion compass.
18:48You're feeling confused? Great, your
18:50brain's trying to figure something out.
18:51Instead of leaving it as this vague
18:53emotion, turn it into an actual
18:56question. Now your brain has something
18:57to focus on, and that's going to help
18:59build that schema and build that
19:00learning. People waste hours of time
19:02while learning something just generally
19:04being confused when they could turn that
19:06confusion into a set of focused
19:09questions in just a couple of minutes.
19:11So, that's step 10. Make sure that you
19:13respond to confusion with exploration.
19:15And the final set is around how you test
19:18your knowledge. Testing knowledge is
19:20what allows you to perform at a high
19:22level with fluency and rapid recall.
19:25Testing yourself also keeps your
19:27knowledge topped up so that you're not
19:29forgetting as much. And so, there are
19:30four major aspects of testing yourself,
19:34and this is the order of priority. The
19:36most important thing about how you test
19:38yourself is the challenge. And that's
19:40number 11. Aim to test your knowledge in
19:43a similar style of challenge. If you
19:46need to present your findings to a group
19:48of people, practice presenting your
19:50finding. It doesn't have to be exactly
19:52the same, but try and match the style to
19:54whatever is reasonable. The next is the
19:56level of challenge. If you need to apply
19:59your knowledge by solving complex
20:01problems and making difficult decisions
20:03and having deep discussions, don't test
20:05your knowledge based on whether you can
20:07recall facts and definitions and explain
20:10individual concepts. Test your knowledge
20:12at the same level of challenge that you
20:13need to perform at. And again, it
20:15doesn't have to be exact, but try and be
20:17at least in that ballpark. And the third
20:19part of challenge is the cue. Are you
20:21having to respond to questions that
20:23someone asks you? Are you responding to
20:25exam questions that you're given? Are
20:27you having to have a discussion, present
20:30things without any cue, completely
20:32freely from just your memory? When you
20:34test your knowledge, try to make the cue
20:36similar to the type of cue that you're
20:38going to get need to perform with this.
20:40If you need to use your knowledge
20:41without any cue, just purely off your
20:44memory, but you're never testing it
20:46purely just off your memory without any
20:48cues or questions or prompts, then
20:50you're going to struggle with that. Or
20:51if you are performing with cues, but the
20:53cues that you're testing yourself with
20:55are completely different to the types of
20:57cues that you're going to get in the
20:58actual thing, then again, that's going
21:00to impair your ability to perform when
21:01it really matters. The next part of
21:03testing yourself is feedback. After
21:05you've tested yourself, of course, it's
21:07always best to give yourself feedback.
21:09But, when you give yourself feedback
21:11really matters. The worst thing that you
21:13can do, which a lot of people do, is
21:15giving yourself feedback before
21:18you even try to test yourself. And this
21:21seems stupid. Why would someone do that?
21:23I used to do this all the time. I would
21:25be lying on the couch with a with a
21:28practice exam, reading a question, and
21:31then I would just immediately look at
21:32the answer, read the answer, and ask
21:34myself, "Do I think this answer makes
21:37sense? Do I feel like that answer is
21:40something that I would say?" And that is
21:42how I would test myself. That is using
21:44recognition-based memory rather than
21:47recall. And the gap between recognition
21:49and recall is enormous. Just because you
21:52can recognize something does not mean in
21:54any way that you can actually recall
21:56that. So, whenever you test yourself,
21:58always go through the effort of actually
22:01trying to do it, to make the decision,
22:04to solve it. Even if you don't know,
22:07even if you're just not sure, even if
22:08you think you're pretty much wrong,
22:10generate the answer first. Do it and
22:13then check yourself. The very act of
22:16trying to generate a response primes
22:19your brain for learning from the
22:21feedback much more effectively than if
22:23you weren't generating it at all. And
22:25you also have to be careful with getting
22:26feedback during. During means that you
22:30are attempting to answer the question,
22:32explain something, to test your
22:34knowledge. And when you get stuck,
22:36you're getting cues. You're getting
22:38direction from someone else to help
22:40trigger that memory. Now, this can be
22:41useful in the very early stages of
22:44testing yourself, or if you know that in
22:46the actual final performance exam,
22:49presentation, whatever it is, you will
22:50also be able to get those cues from
22:53someone else. But, if those conditions
22:55are not met, then getting those cues and
22:57directions and feedback during your
23:00attempt is also not going to help you.
23:01It's going to give you a false sense of
23:03confidence. Again, just because you can
23:05recall something when someone cues you
23:07on it does not mean that you can recall
23:09that without the cue. That is a separate
23:12thing that you have to practice. And so,
23:14the ideal in most situations is to get
23:16feedback after you have done a full
23:19proper attempt, even if your attempt,
23:21you know, means that you're going to be
23:22wrong. And number 13, the one that
23:24everyone overhypes, which is the
23:27frequency of testing yourself. Overall,
23:30the frequency at which you test yourself
23:32doesn't matter so much if you've been
23:35following everything else here. Now, if
23:37you weren't following this and your only
23:39method of learning is just to smash
23:42material into flash cards and do it over
23:44and over again, you need to have your
23:46frequency dialed in perfectly because
23:49that is the only mechanism through which
23:51you are learning. It's just repetition.
23:53That is an extremely inefficient way of
23:55learning. But, if you're doing
23:56everything else right, then your
23:58knowledge will naturally be more
24:00resilient. Your memory is more durable,
24:02so you just forget things more slowly.
24:05And as a result, you have much more room
24:07for error. And so, all you need to
24:09decide is whether you are testing
24:11yourself too early, too late, or if it's
24:13just right. Too early is before you've
24:16had a chance to forget anything. You
24:18actually do want to let yourself forget
24:20a little bit and then test yourself
24:22because that process of forgetting and
24:24then correcting yourself reinforces that
24:27memory to be even stronger than it was
24:29originally. But, if you wait too long
24:31and you forget too much of what you've
24:33learned before, then that testing
24:34session and the the time it takes to
24:36relearn it is going to take too long.
24:38And so, that would be too late. Just
24:40right is testing yourself when you've
24:42forgotten about 20 to 30% of what you
24:46first learned, which, if you've done
24:48everything else correctly, should be
24:50about 1 week to 1 month, depending on
24:53the complexity of the information, after
24:55you did your intensive initial learning
24:58session. And the final step, number 14,
25:00is your testing conditions. There used
25:02to be this advice I heard all the time
25:04going through university that you should
25:06learn material and test yourself in the
25:08same conditions as when you're actually
25:10performing. So, people would actually go
25:12and study in the lecture hall where the
25:15exam is being held. And while it is true
25:18that the conditions of encoding do
25:20affect your ability to recall that
25:22information, in reality what the
25:24research shows is that it's just not
25:26practical to recreate the conditions
25:29accurately enough for it to make a
25:31difference in real-world settings. In
25:33order for it to make a difference with a
25:35very controllable example, like an exam,
25:38you would need to learn the information
25:40and test yourself at a similar time of
25:42the day after having eaten similar foods
25:45with similar amount of sleep, feeling
25:47similar emotions and levels of stress.
25:50There were studies that show that your
25:51level of caffeination is also a
25:53condition that you might need to match
25:55for. And even when you match for all of
25:57those things, how much of a difference
25:58does it really make? Not much. And so,
26:01what I say is try and give yourself the
26:03chance to test yourself in similar
26:06enough conditions, especially when it
26:08comes to intensity, nervousness, and
26:12time. If you're going to be performing
26:13under pressure and scrutiny, under
26:16strict time pressures, then practice
26:18testing your knowledge with similar
26:21conditions. That is where it is
26:23worthwhile trying to match those
26:24conditions, and everything else doesn't
26:26really matter. So, try to be relatively
26:29similar, whereas being too different
26:32might mean you're sitting a time-strict
26:34test, but you've never tested yourself
26:36under time pressure. That would be bad.
26:38And so, these are 14 of what I think are
26:40the most important things that you need
26:42to have locked down if you want to learn
26:43more efficiently. If you skip even one
26:45of these steps, it will have a
26:47measurable difference on your ability to
26:49learn. Either your level of retention,
26:51your level of depth, or the time it
26:52takes. And just like that, I saved you
26:5410,000 hours. Now, if you want me to go
26:56into this in a little bit more detail
26:58and how you can [clears throat] build an
26:59entire system that follows these
27:01principles, then you might want to check
27:02out this video here where I go through
27:04my process of how I think about building
27:06a learning system. Otherwise, thanks so
27:08much for watching and I'll see you in
27:09the next one.

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