- Learn several things at a time - the process is called interleaving: studying related concepts or skills in parallel. Instead of focusing on one subject, one task or one skill during a learning lesson, purposely learn or practice several subjects or skills in succession. A study in the Educational Psychology Review says interleaving improves your brain's ability to differentiate between concepts or skills: when you block practice one skill, you can drill down until muscle memory takes over and the skill becomes more or less automatic. When you learn several skills, no single skill can become mindless, and that's good since you then have to constantly adapt and adjust. You have to see, feel and discriminate between concepts and movements. This process helps you learn what you're working to learn since you'll gain understanding at a deeper, less automatic/muscle-memory level.
- Frequently vary the way you study. According to a study published in John Hopkins Medicine, practicing a slightly modified version of a task you want to master helps you "actually learn more and faster than if you just keep practicing the exact same thing multiple times in a row.". The most likely cause is reconsolidation, a process where existing memories are recalled and modified with new knowledge.
- Here's how to master the process:
- 1. Rehearse the basic skill,
- 2. Wait about 6 hours so your memory can consolidate.
- 3. Practice again but this time go a bit faster, then go a bit slower
- 4. Chunk down the tasks,
- 5. Change the conditions. This will help you prepare for the unexpected.
- Test yourself - a Lot! A study published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest shows that self-testing is an extremely effective way to speed up the learning process.
- Repeat what you want to remember out loud - Mentally rehearsing is good, Rehearsing out loud is better. Research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition found that compared with reading or thinking silently, the act of speech is "quite powerful mechanism for improving memory for selected information".
- Take plenty of breaks - Psychological Science reports a study where "distributed practice" is a much more effective way to learn. Why? Study-phase revival theory says that each time you attempt to retrieve something from memory, and that retrieval is more successful, the memory then becomes harder to forget. Give yourself enough time and space out your learning sessions. You'll learn more efficiently and more effectively.
- Get some sleep. According to a study in 2016 published in Psychological Science, people who studied before bed, then slept and then did a quick review the next morning not only spent less time studying buy also increased their long-term retention by 50 percent. Why? One factor is what psychologists call sleep-dependent memory consolidation. This leads to better, more efficient retention.
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