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If only I had known a little bit more about accelerated and effective learning when I was still a student myself! That would have saved
me a lot of frustration and, most of all, precious time.
Fortunately, learning and learning to learn well, will always be one of the most valuable skills in your personal and professional life. My point is to start building these skills as soon as possible, preferably when you are still a student.
Fast and effective learning is a skill for life and I could talk about it for days. However, to get you started I will give you 5 powerful tips on how to learn more, how to learn well and how to learn effectively.
1. The foundation: a productivity system
Let’s face it, without a solid foundation there is no way you can expect to build new skills and form new habits. My first tip therefore is to adopt a productivity system (like GTD). You need to develop the habit of consistent and effective note-taking, you need to have a clean, uncluttered desk to study at, you need a system for storing reference material and tracking your (learning) projects. I strongly suggest following this important tip, because it will make everything else (including learning) more efficient and effective. Speaking from my own experience: GTD by David Allen has provided this much needed foundation in my life. Read more here: 10 Simple Tips to Start Getting Things Done.
2. Speedreading
You probably need or want to read a lot of offline and online material as well. But you only have so much time to do it. This is where my second tip comes in. Practice speedreading to read smarter and faster, while improving your comprehension! I have written about speedreading extensively but it boils down to: get to “know” the material you’re about to read, decide which parts of it you are going to read, and when you are actually reading: keep your eyes moving at a steady, perhaps increasing, pace without stopping at every word and definitely without ever rereading a single phrase. These tricks alone should double your reading speed very soon.
3. Think and work on paper
There is no question that pen and paper are the most underrated productivity and learning tools around. My advice is to always think and work on paper. It will get things off your mind and make room for more creative thinking. Use your own shorthand and notational system to highlight important facts and actions in the material you’re learning. Condense, memorize and review the material you’ve learned by creating mindmaps. Forget about trusting your mind or your computer, think and work on paper to learn better and effectively.
4. Use multisensory techniques
This tip is all about discovering your preferred learning style and leveraging it to make learning more fun and more effective. You have to figure out for yourself if you are more of a visual learner, an auditory learner or a kinesthetic/tactile learner. Information will be absorbed by your brain much quicker and much more effective if you use your preferred learning style. To enhance your learning experience even further, combine your preferred learning style with the other ones. For instance, writing things down combines the visual and tactile learning styles. Reading things aloud to yourself combines the visual and auditory learning styles.
5. Allow your brain to absorb new stuff
Everybody has a certain learning rhythm. Some learn best in the early hours of the morning, others learn best late at night. Figure out which rhythm and time frame suits you best and use this to maximize your learning ability. However, you must frequently give your brain time to absorb the new stuff that you are learning. The best way is to “sleep on it” and the second best way is to take frequent breaks and do something completely different.
如果在我还是学生时就多知道一点有关高效学习的知识，那将会使我减少很多挫折，最重要的是，节约很多宝贵的时间。
幸运的是，学习和学会更好的学习，将永远是你个人和职业生活中最宝贵的技能之一。我的观点是，尽可能早地开始建立这些技能，最好是从学生时代开始。
快速而有效地学习对生活来说是一种技能，我可以好几天都讲这一件事。不过，为了让你开始，我会给你5个非常有效的技巧，让你学得更多、更好、更有效率。
1、基础：一套有效的系统
我们得明白，如果没有一个固定的基础，你根本别指望能建立新的技巧，形成新的习惯。因此，我的第一个小窍门是，让自己适应一套有效的系统（比如GTD）。你需要养成不断并高效地做记录的习惯，你需要一个干净整洁的桌子学习，你需要一套储存相关材料和检验你学习效果的系统。我强烈建议你跟随这个重要的窍门，因为它能使其它的每一件事（包括学习）更有效。以我自己的经历来说：戴维.阿兰的GTD给我的生活提供了这个非常有必要的基础。想了解更多与此有关的内容，请参阅：10个简单的窍门开始完成每一件事。
2、速读
你可能需要或想要离线和在线阅读很多资料，但你没那么多的时间。这就有了我的第二个小窍门。练习速读，从而能读得更聪明更快速，同时提高你的理解力。我已经写过大量和快速阅读有关的文章，归根结底就是：“知道”你将要阅读的材料，决定你将会阅读哪个部分，当你实际阅读时，保持你眼睛移动的速度，或者逐渐加快，不要在每个字上停留，绝对不要重复任何一个单独的短语。只是这些招数就能很快让你的阅读速度提高一倍。
3、把所想所做的写下来
毋庸置疑，纸和笔是在我们身边最被低估的生产和学习工具。我的建议是，无论何时都把你想到做到的写下来。这样做能使你将一些事情从脑子里移出来，从而为更具创造性的思考腾出空间。运用你的速写和笔记系统突出显示你所学材料中的重要事实和行动。忘记相信你的大脑或电脑，把你所想所做的写下来，你就能学得更好更有效率。
4、运用多种技术
这个窍门帮你发现自己偏爱的学习方式和工具，从而使学习变得更有趣和有效。你得清楚自己到底是属于视觉学习者，听觉学习者，还是触觉学习者。如果你运用自己偏好的学习方式，大脑就能更有效地接收信息。为了进一步加深你的学习经历，你可以将自己所偏好的学习方式与其它方法结合起来。比如，运用视觉和听觉学习方式的同时，把事情写下来；或者，结合视觉和触觉学习方式，大声地读出所写的事情。
5、让你的大脑接收新知识
每个人都有自己独特的学习节率。有些人在清晨时学习最有效率，有些人则在深夜学习最有效率。明白自己最适合的学习节率和时间框架，借此来最大化你的学习能力。不过，你必须经常让你的大脑有时间去接收所学的新知识。最好的方法就是“带着刚学的知识睡觉”，第二好的方法就是经常休息去做一些完全不同的事情。
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