10 Things Quick Learners Do Differently To Pick Up Anything Never before has there been so much information readily available at our fingertips. Never before has there been so many free resources to learn new skills and expand our minds. But with this unprecedented access to knowledge, never before has there been so much confusion about what advice one ought to follow.More often than not, what separates the people who seem to pick things up fast and excel ateverything they try isnt that theyve stumbled on the best insights out there. Rather, its that theyve learned how to learn well.ere are !" things #uick learners do differently to pick up anything.1. Use the 80/20 rule$n !%"& an $talian economist, 'ilfredo (areto, observed that )"* of the land in $taly was owned by +"* of the population. ,aking the observation further he noticed that )"* of the peas in his garden were produced from +"* of the pods. -ears later, economist .oseph M. .uran called this )"/+" rule the (areto principle.(roductivity experts like N-, bestselling author ,im 0erriss have popularised this approach as a means to learning #uickly. 0or instance, when it comes to learning a languagea good #uestion to begin with is1 what are the +"* of the words that are used )"* of the time20ind the )"/+" rule in the sub3ect of your studies. 4hat are the main ideas2 4hat are the most important elements that yield the biggest return on investment2 5tart with these #uestions.2. View failure as feedback4e often try to avoid failure at all costs. 4e typically engage in pastimes we feel competentin and try not to venture out of our comfort pits for fear of looking like a dork. 4e play it safe.,his isnt the way weve always been. 4hen learning how to talk, we would mumble and sing and talk gobbledegook for hours on end to anyone who would listen. 4hen first learning to walk, we would crawl and stand and fall hundreds of times, sometimes hurting ourselves, and try again a few minutes later.,hink about all of the hobbies you had growing up6yo7yo, skateboarding, drawing, instruments, sports6every month there was a new fad every kid had to try. 4e were excited to learn, to improve, whether that meant failing along the way or not.,he greatest minds in history keep this childlike curiosity their entire lives. ,homas 8dison,arguably the greatest creative scientist of all time, was racing to invent the light bulb beforeanyone else. e failed over !",""" times.4hen asked in an interview how he felt about his failures, without a missing a beat he replied19$ have not failed. $ve 3ust found !",""" ways that wont work.:,here can be no learning without failure. 8mbrace it.3. Simplify95implicity is the ultimate sophistication: 6 ;eonardo da 'inci,he idea of the superhuman learner who reads !< books on different sub3ects at once, whilelearning !" different languages and writing = novels, is a myth. Multitasking leads to poor performance.> study conducted by the ?niversity of ;ondon found that people who had their email on while doing work that re#uired concentration lost !" $@ points. $f you havent slept for =& hours, you lose !" $@ points. $f you smoke mari3uana, you lose four $@ points. ,oo many distractions make us dumb.5uper learners, like ;eonardo da 'inci, went through periods of intense immersion. >lthough he is famous for being a scientist and an artist, da 'inci didnt take an interest in maths until he was A". ,hen he spent five years learning everything he could about it.4ith learning, we must simplify. 4e must give all of our attention to one topic at a time. ,aking on too many tasks at once weakens our ability to learn.4. Ask why! fi"e times t# di$ deeper4hen we see someone perform a magic trick, were usually presented with three acts1 the pledge, the turn and the prestige. >n >BB if you like. ,o the magician, however, there are rarely 3ust three acts, but doCens. $n between > and B there is a further >!, >+ and >= which the audience never sees.Dood learners look deeper than what is merely presented on the surface. @uick learners ask why multiple times, even when they think they know the answer. ,hey probe further. Enowing is not enough, we must understand.,he next time you are presented with a sub3ect you want to learn, ask 9why: five times to dig deeper.%. &eep a p#siti"e attitude(ositive psychologist Martin 5eligman has done lots of research on learned optimism. 4hile everyone has a range, everyone can improve their level of optimism. $f you want to be a #uick learner, optimism should be one of the first things you learn.Fptimists dont feel happy all the time. Fptimists feel the same amount of negative emotions as pessimists. ,he difference is that optimists bounce back #uicker. $f youre faced with a setback, a re3ection, or a failure6all of which are inevitable in the learning process6the more likely youll be to interpret it as helpful feedback.4e can learn to become more optimistic by simply challenging our instinctive thought processes. ,he next time we get an 0 on an exam instead of instinctively thinking, 9$m terrible, and will never improve,: we should challenge this assertion1 9Gid $ study as hard as $ could have2 $ll never ever improve2 Not even if $ spend !""" hours more practicing2:'. (ractice what has bee) lear)edGaniel Boyle, in his book The Talent Code, explains the three essential components of skill ac#uisition as1 passion, deep practice and master coaching.,heory without application is a huge waste of time. Benny ;ewis, author of a popular language learning blog, said that he lived in 5pain for six months and attended 5panish courses, yet still had terrible 5panish. e made the simple decision to start speaking it every day even if he looked like an idiot. $n less than three months he was fluent.4e are physical beings. $n order to internaliCe lessons we have to physically go through the motions. $magine trying to learn how to play piano by reading about musical notation, or entering a boxing match after reading up on how to throw a punch. $t will never work.,heres a reason theres the saying, 9practice makes perfect.: Nobody ever says, 9Reading theory makes perfect.:*. Ask e+perts f#r ad"iceMost of the greatest learners in their field had mentors. $n Robert Dreenes book, Mastery, which is all about #uick learners, he dedicates a third of the book to what he calls 9,he $deal >pprenticeship.: Dreene believes that having experts and mentors is invaluable when it comes to learning19$n the stories of the greatest Masters, past and present, we can inevitably detect a phase in their lives in which all of their future powers were in development, like the chrysalis of a butterfly. ,his part of their lives6a largely self7directed apprenticeship that lasts some five to ten years6receives little attention because it does not contain stories of great achievementor discovery. Fften in their >pprenticeship (hase, these types are not yet much different from anyone else. ?nder the surface, however, their minds are transforming in ways we cannot see but contain all of the seeds of their future success.:,he great thing about living in the information age is that there are plenty of experts to learn from. 4hile having one7to7one tuition from a master is useful, its not essential. 4e can find mentors on -ou,ube, or in books that we can learn from by imitation. >s an aspiring artist $ often copy the works of ;eonardo da 'inci. Dreen sums up the apprenticeship phase as follows1,he principle is simple and must be engraved deeply in your mind1 the goal of an apprenticeship is not money, a good position, a title, or a diploma, but rather the transformation of your mind and character H the first transformation on the way to mastery.8. ,# )#t prete)d t# u)dersta)d whe) y#u d#)-t$ made this mistake when $ went scuba diving in Byprus. $ daydreamed throughout the seminar expecting to learn while $ was in the water. ,hat was a big mistake. 4hen you haveheavy e#uipment on your back, being 3ust a few feet underwater feels like youre on the bottom of the ocean. $t was terrifying.Fn a ship, when an order is given its always repeated back to the captain. ,he captain needs to know that you understood his instruction. ,his rule came about because people were nodding along compliantly without really understanding what the captain wanted them to do. ow many accidents happened because of this24e learn so well as children because we have no self7image. 4ere not trying to be seen as clever. $f a young child doesnt understand something, he will usually ask a million #uestions until he does. By pretending to understand something, youre falling prey to an egotistic need to appear smart. @uick learners appreciate how little they know, then go about learning it... /ala)ce scepticism with #pe) mi)ded)ess;eonardo da 'inci said195tudy the science of art and the art of science.:8instein said19,he most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. $t is the source of all true artand science.:Both of these masters were scientific and creative in e#ual doses. ,hey knew how to be scientific, but they also knew the limits of logic when compared to imagination. ,o be a #uick learner you have to treat every past idea, no matter how it first appears, with a pinch of salt, while at the same time respecting it enough to test it out.$f you dismiss an idea too #uickly, you are being too skeptical. $f you get sucked into an idea too #uickly and let it start dominating your life, youre being too suggestible and open7minded. > #uick learner takes what works, discards what doesnt, and moves on.10. Small rewards0rom the outside video games seem illogical. 4e choose to spend hundreds of hours carrying out tasks that dont need to be done, dont improve our lives outside of the game, and we pay to do it. ,he secret video games have is the balance between reward and challenge. 4hen youre playing a video game you dont need to wait until the end of the month to get your reward. -ou get it immediately. ,heres an ongoing feedback loop throughout the task, sort of like having a mentor offering their feedback as you go.4e need to balance our learning with rewards if were going to stay motivated long enoughto learn what we need to learn. 8veryones reward may be slightly different. 0or some it will be having a cup of coffee after an hour of practice. 0or others it will be showing off what theyve learnt in a performance of some kind.0ind out what your reward might be and implement it into your learning schedule. >ll workand no playI