Month: October 2020

5 habits of highly successful learners

ben

We live in the information age. The amount of information available through print, audio, and other mediums boggles the mind.  How to deal with this much information is a perplexing problem. It is especially pronounced for the so-called information worker. Being an information worker myself, I realized many years ago that I won’t ever be able to learn everything that I want to know. This conundrum surfaced when I tried reading one book a month, only to find that I wasn’t retaining the information after I finished reading the book. I found myself wondering, “If I’m not retaining what I am reading, what’s the point in reading the book in the first place?”

This started me on a journey of self-reflection in order to discover how effective learning takes place. Since learning usually takes place unconsciously, I had to think of how the largest lessons were learned and the most impactful moments of change happened in my life.

One such memory comes from when I was 9 years old. I was focused on learning a difficult piano piece. I slowly repeated the finger movements, and this repetition seemed to transfer the song to my memory. This technique resulted in me giving a recital of the entire book of songs from memory. Another example from a US History class came to mind. I read the textbook and wrote down key dates and events in a chronological timeline. When the test came, I could visualize the dates and aced the test. Making a visual representation helped the information to organize itself more clearly in my mind and helped me retain it better.

Entire books have been written addressing learning styles. I have read about learning styles, and even read (and retained) erroneous information regarding them. As I was writing this article, I recalled something written about a “cone of learning”, which had percentages of information retained by the activity involved. The cone showed that when reading you would at most retain 10%, as compared to teaching the information, which resulted in retention of up to 90%. Further reading discredited the “cone of learning”; the percentages are fictitious (1 and 2).

I realized since this cone of learning is fictional, I needed to look for non-fiction examples of habits that when followed led to success in learning. So, of the things I found from my observations of other successful learners as well as lessons from my own experiences, these are 5 habits of highly effective learners:

Be receptive to feedback – how willing am I to listen to others?

At the root of the ability to learn is the question, “How teachable am I?” If you believe yourself to be the brightest person in the world, your field, or your workplace, and that no one can teach you a thing, then you’re right: no one will. However, if you’re willing to set aside your ego and embrace a humbler view of your abilities, you will be open to hear what others have to say, and more apt to learn. For example, in one of my groups at work we were having trouble with two teams not coordinating well. As part of a retrospective on the problems the teams were having, one of the senior engineers on the other team pointed to an example of some language which I was using in our status updates to our director. They included phrases like, “We’re blocked by the team X on functionality Y.” He suggested that the word “blocked” was divisive. He felt that the wording made it feel like I was blaming the other team and I should use more inclusive language, such as “we are working with the other team X to address the issue with functionality Y.” My ego was bruised. I could have easily dismissed this feedback as nit-picky. After all, was this really a problem with me, or with how he chose to take the phrasing? In the end, I chose to change my behavior and learned the importance of the words I used. I concluded that it should be relatively straightforward to use collaborative rather than divisive words to describe the situation. I chose to listen to the feedback, incorporated the feedback in my descriptions, and earned trust with the other team by not dismissing them. A person with a humble attitude seeks to learn from others.

Be focused on the end goal – how will this subject change me?

How many times have you read through some business book and realized as you were reading it that it lacks immediate application? In fact, when you are reading a book, how often do you question what your motivation for reading it is to begin with? It is important to identify your motivation for learning before approaching a new subject. Identifying motives for reading a book on a new subject will give you forward momentum while studying.  When I joined Amazon, I wasn’t able to clearly communicate my thinking in writing. The reading culture at Amazon favors written narratives that are shared (and read), as opposed to other workplaces where verbal communication is key. So, I was able to identify a motivation for improving my writing: understanding the cultural requirements for success at Amazon. My boss worked with me to generate better narratives. He would ask questions about context and details and demand that my written communications be crisp (concise, with proper detailed data). I learned from that experience, and became a better writer. As a counter example, I have desired to start my own business. So, I picked up a book on small business development (“The E Myth Revisited” by Michael E. Gerber for those curious). I tried to read through it once… but could not. My motivation for reading the book was poorly matched to its subject matter. I wanted to know: what do I need to know to start a business? The book was for a person who had already started a business, but was struggling and needed guidance. It wasn’t a good fit for my motivation at the time. So, I put the book down … for now. 

Be disciplined – how do I approach learning?

Novice learners can take an undisciplined approach to learning. Before anyone takes offense, I should make clear that I have frequently approached learning in an undisciplined manner. What do I mean by undisciplined? Here are a few anti-patterns I have experienced:

Not considering deeply what you’re learning: You may learn some things by osmosis, like language, but if you’re trying to learn a new mental paradigm you need different structures. Are you expecting that you will learn? Are you reading the book as you read a novel or watching the video as a movie?  Are you taking notes on what you learn? Are you sharing what you have learned with others?

Not having an immediate application: This relates to the earlier point on motivation, but differs in how you apply what you’re learning. I think about learning as a just-in-time activity, meaning that, when I need to learn a skill, I quickly ramp up on that skill. Likewise, when I have learned a new concept, I need to immediately apply it, or I will often forget. Are you applying what you have learned, and in a timely fashion? (More on this in a minute.)

Trying to learn when you’re tired: I find that there are times where I can apply myself to learning, and other times that trying to learn is, in fact, counter-productive. Are you trying to learn when you’re tired? Have you noticed whether you increase your retention by getting some good sleep after trying to absorb new material?

Be courageous – how willing am I to be bad at something new?

In order to learn, you will fail. There’s no tip-toeing around this fact. If you don’t know how to do something, you don’t know how to do it. It’s as simple as that. When you first attempt to do something, you generally will not be good at it. This is where you need a growth mindset in order to learn and blossom. This isn’t just for learning subjects in which you don’t have any experience: e.g. piano, fencing, or archery. It has to do with subjects where you need a paradigm shift in order to learn a new behavior. Examples include how you coach an employee, how to speak more candidly, how to work independently, how to ask for and receive help from others, how to move from an individual contributor role to being a leader, or how to become a better listener.

I had never taken a tennis lesson in my life… until the first Friday of September this year. I took the opportunity to fill in for my son’s friend, who couldn’t make their shared tennis lesson that day. I had played tennis once or twice a year since I was 16. Of course, “played” is an overstatement, since I am very inconsistent with hitting the ball over the net. Because tennis is one of the few open outdoor activities still available during the pandemic, I started to go more often to the courts with my family. However, my inconsistent technique was making the experience painful. This is why I was so happy to have my first lesson. Throughout the lesson, the instructor showed me the ideal technique, and corrected me when old muscle memory would kick in. She observed and corrected multiple problems I had with my form, such as leaning backwards when I hit and swaying side to side with my swing, rather than moving by body low to high. She also showed the mechanics of a good serve. Did that first lesson solve all of my problems? No, it only exposed them. I needed to be willing to be unskilled for a while as I practiced new techniques and listened to the feedback I was receiving. I went back out the next Friday to practice my serve by myself. I was slowly practicing the technique of the serve which I had learned, over about 45 minutes, but of course making mistakes along the way. My wife told me later that, after I left, she overhead the two other guys on the adjacent court joking about me not being a serious tennis player. I had to chuckle, as this is the exact point of this learning habit: in order to learn you will not immediately be good when you’re learning it.

Be patient – how willing am I to slowly repeat a skill?

Practice is important. How you practice, though, can be just as important as whether you practice to begin with. My mom was a pianist, organist, and a teacher. Later in her teaching career, she began to use the humble snail as a teaching aid to her students. To her, the snail represented a proven technique in practicing a skill: slow repetition. For those of you who aren’t musically inclined, when you face a difficult passage in a piece of music, such as with the piano where your fingers don’t want to move quickly enough or get jumbled when playing the passage, the surest way to improve your performance is by slowing the tempo (speed) down and practicing the section slowly … over and over again. In contrast, if you continue to practice something quickly or sloppily, you will engrain the sloppiness into your playing and you won’t improve. I remember, as a child growing up, hearing my mom practice a section from a piece that was giving her difficulty at 30-50% of the desired speed, sometimes for ten or twenty minutes straight. As a family member, this was quite annoying. I know my own family can’t stand it once I have repeated a section of music 5 times or more in a row. However, this technique of slow repetition, aimed at mastery, is effective. Give yourself latitude as you’re learning and, when needed, go about it slowly. Get in the habit of slowing down, especially when it seems you are struggling with a new concept or way of doing things.

Applying the habits

My point is to share habits which have worked for myself and others. By developing these habits, you can approach new subjects and retain the information. If you approach learning with receptiveness to feedback, are both motivated and have the expectation to learn, are willing to be courageous and fail, and patient with yourself as you do, I guarantee that you will succeed in your learning endeavors.