How to Learn New Things

• There are lots of ways to learn! Take a class, find a mentor, or self-teach. Use lots of different learning materials from books to online videos.
• Learn by doing and use experts' work as a guide. Try teaching someone else to hone your understanding of the subject, and give yourself tests.
• Make a practice schedule. Work in short bursts, practice often, and get rid of distractions. Challenge yourself, and reward yourself for progress.

Teach yourself using many sources.

The best learning materials vary based on the skill you want to develop. You're capable of learning new things without paying for a class or tutor! Gather any materials you need and track down a few reliable sources you can use to learn. This includes textbooks, online video tutorials, podcasts, blog posts, and movies. Do an online search for sources and check your local library for helpful books. For example, there are plenty of available resources if you want to master drawing. Find books on drawing techniques at the library, look up video tutorials, and read a variety of how-to blogs online. Any and every new source of information can help! Don't read a single how-to guide; using different learning styles to practice a skill can be even more helpful than using one method. Don't worry about sticking to a particular learning style (visual, auditory, or kinesthetic). Engaging with the information you learn is far more important than studying a particular way.

Learn through practical experience.

The most effective way to learn something is just to do it! Books and tutorials are excellent primers, but try to start performing the new skill as soon as possible. Learn through trial and error rather than spending all your time on theories and memorization. Apply the ideas you learned from lessons and find out what works best for you in practice. Let's say you want to learn a programming language like C#. Try it out rather than spending all your time in a textbook! Learn by coding a small program and working out the bugs yourself.

Take a class or online course.

Classes offer informative, guided instruction on your chosen discipline. Check out the course listings at your local community college or look for class offerings at local churches, free schools, community recreation centers, and cultural centers. Check local magazines and online listings for independent teachers and tutors, too. Platforms like Skillshare and MasterClass are also great resources! If you're already a student enrolled in college, this should be an easy task! Just search your school's course list for a subject that interests you. Ask people you know if they can recommend a teacher or tutor to you. Many colleges and research institutions also have free online courses you can take, called "Massive Open Online Courses" (MOOC). Make incremental goals small and manageable, so they build on each other. When learning to play guitar, start by learning scales and chords and then graduate to a basic song, and reward yourself after each.

Find a mentor.

Mentors offer valuable expertise and perspective that can help you learn. Find an expert in the skill you want to improve among friends, family, and coworkers. If you don't find anyone, try reaching out to others in your community or industry. Be polite when asking someone to be your mentor; describe your existing skills, your goals for the future, and what you hope to learn. For example: “I’m a news journalist with plans to venture into columns and feature writing. I’d love to learn more about your journey pursuing a similar path and hone my proofreading and editing skills with your help.” Reach out to a potential mentor through their contact information or a professional site like LinkedIn. Once they express interest in being your mentor, set up an initial meeting for the two of you to discuss the mentorship further. Meet up in person if you can, or do a video call otherwise. You could also propose a skill exchange! Teach someone in exchange for them teaching you, too. As a result, you'll both benefit and learn something new.

Compare your work with an expert's.

Study experts to help you find and hone areas that need improvement. Find an expert in your chosen discipline and look up examples of their work, then compare it to you own. How does their technique differ from yours? What can you change about your work to better match theirs? Identify successful techniques they use and practice them in your own work. For example, read work from famous poets if you want to write poetry but are unsure how to start. Pick a style of poetry you like, analyze that poet's style, and try replicating it in a work of your own. Eventually, you’ll develop your own style and technique. Until then, borrowing from an expert can help you gain a better understanding of the skill and improve your abilities overall.

Teach someone else.

Teaching a skill enables you to understand it better too. Why? Because by teaching someone else, you first have to think critically about the skill or subject and break it down into easily explainable pieces. Ask a friend or coworker if you can discuss what you've been learning with them. Make an informative presentation about the subject or start a blog about your learning process. Say you’re learning how to decorate cakes. Craft a lesson plan for a friend! What techniques should they learn? In simplest terms, how would you explain working with fondant, or making a frosting flower? However you decide to teach others about your chosen skill, practice explaining each concept with easy-to-follow steps. The better you can explain something, the better you understand it.

Set a study or practice schedule.

A plan will help you stay committed to your new pursuit. When learning a new skill, set a practice schedule and stick to it. Commit to spending at least 20 hours learning the skill; research shows that spending 20 hours on any skill will dramatically improve your understanding and ability. Reserve practice time for days when you have plenty of free time and the time of day you feel most alert. For instance: if you're a morning person, schedule your learning period in the morning. You’ll be more alert and absorb more information that way. Write the schedule in a planner, journal, or calendar. Putting your plan down in writing will help keep you accountable going forward.

Practice the hardest things first.

By improving weaknesses, you'll get more skilled overall. Practice makes perfect; the best way to learn new things is to practice regularly until you've mastered the discipline. Challenge yourself and prioritize anything you find particularly difficult, spending extra time correcting and improving your weaknesses. It's hard to get better at something if you ignore the parts you don't understand. For example, if you’re learning to play the violin and understand major scales but struggle with minor scales, focus on learning a new minor scale with each practice instead of sticking solely to major scales. Work on going out of your comfort zone and trying new things, even if they're difficult initially. You'll better understand the discipline by focusing on the most difficult concepts. You might be confused and uncomfortable when practicing something unfamiliar. You might even fail at first. That's okay! Embrace each failure as a learning experience that teaches you what not to do in the future.

Get rid of distractions.

Removing any temptations makes you less likely to get sidetracked. Everyone knows the feeling of sitting down to work and being distracted by something else. It's totally normal, and thankfully, it's also avoidable. Before you do your learning for the day, find a place free of distractions, including phones, games, and TVs, and stay off of social media and email. Avoid multitasking too, which makes you less productive overall. Dedicate all of your focus to learning that skill or concept for the entire study period.

Work in short bursts and take breaks.

Breaks improve focus because they give your mind a chance to rest. While it's tempting to keep working for hours until you see results, that's not an effective way to learn. Instead, give your brain frequent rests to process what it just learned. Use the Pomodoro technique: work on a project for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break. After doing that 4 times, take a bigger 30-minute break. Mental fatigue can make it more difficult to absorb information and stick with a new skill. By taking frequent breaks, you're improving your productivity and preserving your motivation to learn.

Test yourself.

A test will show you how much of the material you remember. Quizzes aren't the most fun part of learning, but sometimes they're exactly what you need. Set up a test for yourself when you learn a new skill or concept. Find a practice exam online or draw up your own test and a rubric you can use to grade yourself. Testing shows you how well you've mastered the material thus far and what you might still need to work on. You can also test skills that wouldn’t require a traditional exam, like skateboarding or drawing. Each time you learn a concept—like a skateboarding trick or a drawing technique—try it and then grade your performance. Say you learned about the drawing technique cross hatching. Test yourself by creating a work of art shaded only with cross hatching. Then, evaluate the finished product. What did you do well? What could be improved? The goal of testing is never to criticize yourself or your abilities—it’s to figure out where you can make progress and become the best that you can be.

Reward yourself at important milestones.

You'll gain more motivation if you reward yourself for progress. Set learning goals that you can reasonably accomplish, and then reward yourself when you accomplish each goal. Ensure your goals are incremental and allow small rewards along the way rather than waiting for one big prize at the end. When there's a concrete reason to pursue a goal, you're more likely to stick with it for the long haul! For instance, you might aim to learn a new Mandarin character every day for a month. Celebrate at the end of the month by getting a treat from your favorite bakery or buying that game you want.

Master a skill you’re passionate about.

You’re more likely to keep learning when you truly enjoy the subject. Why not learn something that fascinates you, or chase a long-help passion? Think about the skills that have always interested you or made you think, "I wish I could do that!" Learning a new skill improves your mental well-being; it doesn’t have to be about career advancement. You can learn things purely for the joy of it. For example, you might be hesitant to study guitar because you don't plan to be a musician, but that's no reason not to learn! Music is a great creative outlet and source of fun, no matter what. There are lots of other fun skills you could learn. Consider drawing, learning a new language, singing, or dancing. You could also learn practical skills that can help you with everyday life, like organization techniques, basic car repair, or making a budget.

Improve job-related skills to give yourself an edge.

Learning skills relevant to your job can help you excel in your career. Ask yourself what would make you a better candidate for a promotion. Coding ability? Writing skills? Foreign language fluency? Management training? Look for classes you can take or books you can read that'll give you a better understanding of your field. Ask your boss about what training the company offers and explain your goals to them. Other skills that could make you an even more desirable employee include proficiency in search engine optimization, Photoshop, Microsoft Excel, and even typing. Your company may even have funding available for certain skills you want to learn—then you can hone your abilities courtesy of your employer! You could also learn a skill that allows you to start a side business. Many artists and creators take commissions while working other jobs; one day, you could even transition to being self-employed full-time.