If you do not progress as you should have, there might be obstacles you failed to notice. What kind of obstacles are we talking about and what can be done to remove them?
Not enough training
This should be quite obvious. To see progress one should train and invest effort. I am not talking about simply investing time, I am talking about investing quality time. While we are tired, not focused or in a hurry, our efforts are less effective. Also, some of the efforts need to be spent in a focused way. Five minutes from time to time will not work. It may take five minutes simply to change the context between the activities. Finally, it makes sense to train in a similar environment: this way we focus automatically.
Get some sleep
To move something into long-term memory we need to sleep. I am not just talking about information. Even the muscle memory is also a sort of memory. When we get enough sleep we learn better. I am not entirely sure why the military training is combined with insufficient sleep, but it is not very effective. As far as I am concerned, if you want to learn something new, sleep 20% more than usual.
Focus…
There are many ways focus will not be on the learning itself:
- When we monitor progress too closely, the focus shifts to monitoring.
- If the subject we learn is not interesting, we will have a hard time focusing on it.
- Trying to focus harder is a great way to defocus. The focus should be automatic.
- Doubting ourselves or worrying about something irrelevant will also be an issue,
In the case of defocus, do not try to power through. Try to do one of the following:
- From the title try to imagine what the text will be about until the curiosity becomes overwhelming.
- Read something really engaging without monitoring it, and without rest continue with the boring stuff.
- Ask questions about the text just read and try to answer them. This will make reading more active.
Fake it till you make it
Occasionally it is hard to learn some stuff because we do not things we are good enough or need to face traumas. I have a whole course on Thinkific about dealing with this sort of situation. The easiest solution: imagine you are somebody who can do this stuff easily and try to fake success. If this works -great. Otherwise, try to get the full course…
Don’t be so serious
Another common issue: being too serious about learning. The fun has an interesting effect on how we do things. We are more successful when we have fun, or generate funny ideas. Not really sure why. Most mammals learn as pups while playing and we are also mammals. It’s funny to think that horses learn better with the left eye and are better at avoiding dangers with the right eye. Try to see the funny aspects of the current activity or gamify it in some way.
Try something new
If you try to do something for several weeks with no success, then you probably need to work differently. Maybe you do not understand something or are fighting against something you cannot see. The best way to remove an obstacle is taking another way. Be creative and try things. Maybe you will discover something new and incredibly cool, or maybe by failing differently, you will find the root cause of your difficulties.
This is by far not a full list, but I think it is still helpful.
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