Have you ever asked yourself, “How do I learn?” Most would answer I do not know, I just do. For a lot of people, learning new skills comes as second nature. They see it, do it, end of story. Then there is the rest of us. We have our specific ways in which we learn, such as visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. As a visual learner, you use objects that are visually appealing to better retain information. Auditory learners tend to retain information better through hearing or speaking it. Kinesthetic learners like to use the hands-on approach when presented with new materials. If you are struggling or just generally want to know how you can improve your learning habits, take a look below, and learn how! Here are 4 tips to becoming a quick learner.
Analyze Your Learning Methods
When it comes to leaning, most people probably do not have much of a choice on how to learn something. If you are in school you listen to the professor. If you are at work you probably listen to your boss, ask other people how they would do it, and then model your style off that. In analyzing your learning methods, you need to look at yourself and ask how you would want to learn a particular thing. Take cooking for example: a visual person would best learn that recipe from watching someone make it, an auditory learner could listen to someone explain a recipe and be able to create it, and a hands-on person would learn best by going step-by-step and creating the recipe while the teacher is instructing. You have to take the situation and mold it to your style.
Use the Right Tools
If you are a visual learner, a textbook full of words is going to do you no good. You must identify and use the tools that will best complement your learning style. For example, if you are a visual learner and have a class on how to replace an air filter in a 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix, but all the instructor gives you is a manual to read from with no pictures, you can go online and there is a vast amount of resources with videos instructing on how to do just that! Some other online apps that could come in handy include StudyBlue (creates flashcards), PapersGear (helps with brainstorming), SelfControl (helps eliminate distractions), along with many others that can be found simply by surfing the web.
Map Your Mind
Mind maps can be literal or figurative. If you create something on paper that your mind can easily picture and make the connections, you create a pretty effective learning tool! Audio learners would use this by making up a rhyme to sing yourself to remember the steps in a process. Visual learners could make a physical board with connecting lines, colors, number, etc. so they can picture it and connect the dots. Hands-on types would walk themselves through the process once and be able to remember each step the next time they pick up the first piece.
Study Every Day
Being Able to study effectively is a great skill. Once you know your learning style, you can put it into place and that makes studying easier and it also makes you retain information quicker. Most college kids will wait all semester and cram right before the big final, but studying is much more effective when you take little bits at a time and apply it every day. That way you are building on what you know through a long period of time, rather than cramming for one big test and then losing all the new information because you do not use it again.
As long as you can effectively identify your learning style, use the right tools, map out the process in your mind, and study that process every day you will be on your way to life full of learning!
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