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Accelerated learning is important because the world is changing and evolving rapidly. The best thing you can do to get ahead today is to learn, learn, learn.
Learning is more important than working hard to get an advantage and grow at a much greater and faster rate.
Learning can help you do anything.
Here are the ten most important fundamentals of learning.
1. Direct Experience
Direct experience is experiencing things without the filter of technology, feedback, and other people.
It’s looking at things with fresh eyes.
This is when you go into things blind.
This is when you learn without filters or outside influence.
Examples of this would be:
- Reading a book that you want to read without a recommendation or reading reviews.
- Meeting a new person alone.
- Experiencing nature or travel without any preconceived notions.
There’s no one and nothing telling you or influencing you on what to think. It’s just you and your thoughts.
You are so much more likely to notice things, remember, and have new and unique thoughts and ideas, insights, and experiences.
There is no influence. There is complete freedom and independence in the intake of the knowledge and experiences.
Of course, there will always be to some degree some outside pressure and competition for attention.
So to seek out more direct experience, you want to pursue things where there are less and less outside influences and inputs.
It’s also important to taking more notice and awareness about what forces, groups, and influences impact your decision making.
In this world, there are so many things and people seeking your attention and with specific agendas and purpose.
Yes, having outside guidance can be helpful, but it can also come with high limitations.
Being aimless and purposeless can ironically have its purpose in learning, growing, discovering, and expanding. There is purpose in wandering, traveling, following intuition and impulses.
You are able to form your own opinion and think critically and independently and for yourself more.
When you’re guided, you’re not forced to think or learn a certain way. Decisions are made for you.
This is like relying on Google or Apple Maps and not being able to learn directions and how to get places.
The idea of direct experience comes from Michael Crichton from his book, Travels.
The quote below conveys the idea distinctively:
“Often I feel I go to some distant region of the world to be reminded of who I really am. There is no mystery about why this should be so. Stripped of your ordinary surroundings, your friends, your daily routines, your refrigerator full of your food, your closet full of your clothes — with all this taken away, you are forced into direct experience. Such direct experience inevitably makes you aware of who it is that is having the experience. That’s not always comfortable, but it is always invigorating
I eventually realized that direct experience is the most valuable experience I can have. Western man is so surrounded by ideas, so bombarded with opinions, concepts, and information structures of all sorts, that it becomes difficult to experience anything without the intervening filter of these structures. And the natural world – our traditional source of direct insights – is rapidly disappearing.
Modern city dwellers cannot even see the stars at night. This humbling reminder of man’s place in the greater scheme of things, which human beings formerly saw once every twenty-four hours, is denied them. It’s no wonder that people lose their bearing, that they lose track of who they really are, and what their lives are really about. So travel has helped me to have direct experiences. And to know more about myself.”
― Michael Crichton, Travels
2. Creativity
Creativity is something that cannot be easily defined, explained, or replicated.
The Mission defines creativity as “the use the imagination or original ideas especially in the production of artistic work.”
There are many misconceptions about creativity including that many people believe that creativity is fixed or innate. That it can’t be refined or enhanced. This is simply not true.
You can develop your creativity, just like with any skill. Creativity is a skill.
It’s likely going to be a very important skill in the future which will give a major advantage for career, business and work. The more growth we have in technology, automation and AI, the more valuable, necessary and highly paid and sought out this skill is going to become.
Creativity solves problems and gives you a new way of looking at something that is valuable to you.
There are many researchers that say that creativity is divine and can’t be measured. It’s something that can never be fully explained. It’s so complex and abstract that it can’t be replicated.
It is the one thing that machines cannot do and (arguably) never will.
Creativity is one of the main components in the argument that computers and AI will never replace humans.
Ideas are extremely valuable. They can creative massive change, solutions, wealth, happiness, and health. Ideas alone are worth millions and billions!
Imagine if Elon Musk or Bill Gates or likeminded leaders and entrepreneurs didn’t value their ideas.
Now, imagine a world where everyone, including you, valued and pursued their ideas. Imagine the ideas and advancements we would have in our world today!
If certain people didn’t value their ideas and pursued them, we wouldn’t have the movies, books, websites, tools, technology, and science that we have today.
Creativity is essential to making the world a better place as creativity is about creating value in the world, not just for yourself, but for others as well.
Creativity is not taught in school. It’s not even taught in art class in which the focus is more on artistic techniques and art history.
Creativity makes our lives better, easier and more purposeful.
Believe you can become more creative and value your ideas.
3. Travel, exploration & adventure
Many people travel, but few people explore and experience adventure.
This is not to be confused with relaxing vacation time and all-inclusive trips and cruises.
And this doesn’t have to be high-cost, luxury. Getting out in nature and seeking adventure and immersing yourself into new and different cultures can be very affordable and low-cost, regardless of income level.
These things are out there. They are very accessible and are possible if you make a conscious and intentional effort toward. The goals can be made and the research can be done.
When you’re seeing new things, new places, meeting new people, having new thoughts and new experiences, your brain is being stimulated.
This ties into the two previous points made above in which you seek direct experience and are more likely to be more creative due to these adventures and stimulations.
We are hardwired as an evolutionary species to learn this way.
You’re intentionally putting yourself out of your comfort zone and putting yourself in with nature and culture.
Studies also show that having an enriched environment filled with people and scenery and changes helps you learn better than having an isolating and impoverished environment.
Traveling teaches you so much by expands your mind and worldview.
Travel allows you to consider new possibilities and opportunities such as living in a different country and changing the way you live and think.
It forces you to be present and live in the moment and absorb everything around you.
It also allows you to take a technology detox.
Traveling allows you to learn about or deepen relationships, not just about other cultures and people, but with yourself and the people you are traveling with. Even (and especially) if things go wrong or don’t go as planned, travel can be the biggest test and lesson for your relationships.
You learn more about other people and culture. This in turn allows you to learn and discover more about yourself and your role in the world as a human being like everyone else.
“Good teachers are hard to find. But travels are always ready to teach.”
4. Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is not just about starting a business. It’s about creating value in exchange for money. It’s about doing more with less resources.
Tying into the creativity point, entrepreneurship is what brings creativity to life, front and center out into the world, spoken to other people.
Entrepreneurship is testing out your ideas and creating something concrete that will bring value to yourself and others.
Entrepreneurship means taking risks which has the potential for loss for the possibility of high reward and high value.
It’s about someone bringing new into this world
You can have entrepreneurship and be entrepreneurial as an employee. It’s not about a title or a hierarchy or managing other people.
There are employees that can create way more value than the people at the top with new ideas, new inventions, new creations, new patents.
Rather than limitingly looking at looking at titles in companies, it’s useful to look at everyone as potential collaborators.
Everyone is a potential entrepreneur. You are what you consider yourself to be.
If you are not focused on creating, you’re not learning enough.
You have to output just as much as you input. Write just as much as you read. Teach just as much as you learn. Do just as much as you say.
This is the difference between active learning and passive consumption.
If you are not bringing something out and sharing with the world, you are not truly learning, as embarrassingly small as it may be.
“By learning you will teach. By teaching you will learn.”
Life is so much more fun, rewarding, and purposeful when you are creating value.
5. Meaning, Mission & Purpose
Meaning allows us to figure out and discovery ourselves and humanity.
When there is purpose-backed learning, what we learn becomes much more powerful and is more likely to stick with us.
Most of us grew up with meaningless and purposeless learning. We went to school and read books because that’s what we were told to do. Not because we truly wanted to for a higher purpose in our lives.
Meaning and purpose is what drives and pushes and motivates us to learn.
We are more likely to seek out direct experience when we seek and have meaning.
Meaning can help us learn what we want for ourselves and what we can provide and how we give value to others.
Meaning and purpose enrichens our lives, our relationships and our work.
Why do we learn? We learn to improve our lives and life around us, even with things completely unrelated to our lives.
It allows us to be a part of something larger than ourselves and pushes us outside of our own little bubble and comfort zone.
Meaning creates change and growth in our lives and the world.
Everyone could use more meaning and it’s what lights us up and keeps us going.
6. Skills
Skills are compounded stacks of knowledge which makes us become better and more equipped at solving problems and achieving goals.
Neuroscientifically speaking, skills are made from chunks. Creating chunks is how we learn and create skills and are able to perform these skills automatically or from “muscle memory. Chunks are pieces of information bound together through meaning or use.
Skills make life easier without sacrificing quality and level of life and growth.
“Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom.” – Jim Rohn
Skills can be applied to learn other skills. They are like building blocks that allow you to climb the ladder of knowledge and skills.
Many people focus on specialization over having a rich and varied skillset. Meaning they only focus on one skill. This is limiting.
I consider someone rich or having a rich life by what they are able to do and how well-rounded they are in their skills.
This is true when you think of wealthy families who enroll their children and themselves into different curriculums, education, sports, classes, hobbies. All throughout history, this has always been a trait of the rich and wealthy ― being highly educated in many different areas.
This is also true if you look at someone at the top of the company who built it from the ground up or who started from the bottom. These individuals are highly skilled with all the mechanisms of the business. They likely know how to do everything themselves – the marketing, the accounting, the trade skill, training someone, managing others, etc.
There is richness in life when you are able to do many different skills. You become resourceful with yourself and your learning.
Skill acquisition and building is essential to success, learning, growth, and overall wellbeing and happiness.
7. Habits
Habits can automate learning and make it consistent.
“If you are persistent, you will achieve it. If you are consistent, you will keep it.”
Habits are what can compound your learning to create massive life changes and growth.
Learning is like going to the gym. Having a habit to go to the gym will create results. Having habits that enable you to learn more and better will create learning results.
Some great habits that will help you learn better are:
- Exercise
- Reading
- Writing
- Speaking
Bad habits can disinhibit and limit your learning such as getting poor sleep or aimlessly spending time.
Having useful habits can also free your mind from decision fatigue to give you more focus and mental energy toward taking things in and learning.
You have less distractions and more intention with disciplined habits.
8. Secrets
Secrets are personalized and incredibly useful knowledge, answers and solutions for your efforts, goals, plans, etc. that are out there, but are rare and hard to find or not appropriately valued.
They are basically “breakthrough knowledge.”
These secrets still exist.
There are breakthroughs still waiting out there.
We think that everything that there is to be discovered already has been discovered.
But the reality is that there is so much out there waiting to be discovered and learned.
You don’t know what you don’t know.
The thing is that what makes it hard to find secrets and easy to think there aren’t any out there is because it’s so much easier to have input from popular sources.
Especially with the internet where most of us get our knowledge, information and education from. The problem with the internet and social media is that it filters and sorts information by most recent and most popular which makes it harder to come across secrets and rare skills and knowledge.
Even if we’re not talking about insane discoveries that will change the world, there are books, paragraphs, ideas, concepts out there right now that will completely change your life forever and have the ability to drastically speed up your progress to reach your goals.
There are especially things that can completely change the way you look at the world, life, yourself and everything around you.
We’ve all experienced this. We’ve all learned something that stuck with, shook us to our core, and completely changed everything.
So it’s important for our learning and growth to keep an open mind and go out there and seek to discover secrets.
Secrets are waiting for you to discover them and they are not likely to be on the front page of Google.
9. News That Matters
When many people think of news, they think of the kind of news that is most prevalent: fear-based news.
There is news out there that actually matters, that is incredibly helpful and impactful for your daily life.
Seeking news that matters for learning means being open to new information, knowledge and staying informed with threats and opportunities.
It’s very easy to learn something and think that’s that. But it’s another to push it and be able to learn and unlearn. To be able to be wrong and change your mind.
Research shows that about half of what we learn today will be completely proven false or improved upon in the future. Knowledge is constantly changing and evolving. It’s important to stay up to date to changing facts.
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. ” – Alvin Toffler
Make sure you’re intentional about the news you seek, be skeptical about what you already know, do your own research, fact-check, use different sources, and check your sources.
Fun fact!: To cure yourself of fear-based news, start reading the news from a year back. You will find that most of what was written to cause fear and doubt is no longer relevant or important at all.
10. Fellowship
This is something you don’t hear often, but it’s probably the most important fundamental of all.
This is a step above friendship and goes above and beyond.
Fellowship is helping others succeed and succeeding together.
The idea about fellowship is about choosing collaboration over competition.
It’s about building a healthy and trusting relationship with others.
We can practice fellowship by sharing ideas and thoughts with others. We can also have fellowship by teaching others.
Fellowship focuses on communication. Getting your ideas out clearly is critical.
Fellowship is also about sharing the best of ourselves, what we’ve done, and what we’ve learned with others.
Seeking knowledge, feedback and advice from others is just as important.
Fellowship forces you to learn, improve yourself and make any necessary adjustments.
It’s also highly rewarding when others acknowledge your ideas and achievements and you help others realize and strengthen their skills.
Related: How to Find Your People With These Simple Steps
Related: The Power of Community: 10 Benefits
When you seek fellowship, you are working with others and only competing with who you were yesterday. That’s what makes all the difference.
Working with others in harmony gives you a major advantage in all areas of life.
Final Note
These ten principles will make a massive difference to your learning and growth.
Which principle stood out to you the most?
Which one do you resonate with?
And finally, which one are you most looking forward to applying to your learning today?
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