5 Ways to learn and Remember absolutely anything

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Start too early on the details and you ll miss the context of the whole.

What is learning strategies do "quick learners" follow? originally appeared on Quora: The best answer to any question.

Answer by Alessio Bresciani, strategist with years of experience in digital and mobile, on Quora:

Your question is a great one. And it forced me to reflect about the things I had learned across my interests in business, personal development, and Martial Arts.

Let me tell you, I ' ve seen many slow learners understand subjects in far greater detail than people who can learn at a FAs T pace. If fact, slow learners can bring a deliberateness that sometimes are lacking in fast learners. So this can certainly is an advantage for you also.

Have said that, these is principles I ' ve applied in my own learning that I feel is universal.

1) repetition.

I firmly believe repetition leads to mastery. When learning a new skill, practice that skill often. When learning a new theory, apply it wherever you can.

As Bruce Lee said, "I fear not the the man who had practiced kicks once, but I fear the man who had PR Acticed one kick times. "

Any skill refined through continuous practice over time would become formidable.

2) Focus.

With so many distractions today--social media, multitasking, Open-plan offices--we ' re receiving constant stimuli.

We ' ve lost the ability to focus. Yet focus is a required to truly understand and absorb any subject.

To learn a new skill, I-find time to focus on the it in an environment free from distraction. When I'm reading about it, I'll listen to music without lyrics, so the music does not distract me from the content of what I ' m reading.

Steve Jobs said, "People think focus means saying yes to the thing you ' ve got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there is. You have to pick carefully. "

3) Context and detail.

To understand a specific subject, I-find it useful to look at the big picture first. I like to understand the context of things.

So in a book I'll read the table of contents before I look at the pages. This-I-get-a-sense-for-where the overall context is headed. And when I read the details, I'll understand how one theme relates to another. Detail is important.

Start too early on the details and you ll miss the context of the whole. Miss details altogether, and understanding only stays superficial.

So i-switch between context and detail so I learn the surface and the depth.

4) relationship.

Learning by understanding context and detail (the prior point) gives me a sense of the relationships among information. Very important for retained learning.

This is one of the reasons so, to recall the order of a full deck of cards, many people tell themselves a story involving All the characters in the cards. The story details the relationships of the cards to one another.

Building a meaningful relationship across the themes you ' re studying are one of the best ways to accelerate and retain Lear Ning.

5) Pace.

Pace is a excellent variable to play with.

For example, if you ' re listening to a lecture, you could the pace of the lecture X2 (as have been suggested in Oth Er responses to this question).

Pace also serves another important function. It puts us under different types of pressure, and because of this, we adjust our learning method.

Putting ourselves through this variability builds we capacity, much in the same to that a long-distance runner could do hi ll sprints to work on he or her overall fitness.

In my own case, if I ' m working on a presentation, I'll try to say it at twice the speed on the final practices, to ensure That I can recall all the information I need under pressure.

If I can recall it at double the speed, I know it'll be available to me at normal speed without stress.

This isn ' t just about recall; It's about changing the dynamics of what we learn, to build flexibility into our learning methods.

I hope these is helpful to you. Best of luck with your own personal development.

Alessio Bresciani is a strategist with the years of experience in digital and mobile. He has worked for Coles, ANZ, and GSK and are passionate about innovation and personal development. Follow Alessio on Twitter or visit his blog.

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5 Ways to learn and Remember absolutely anything