My 3 Step Way of Learning Anything

It's my three step approach to learning anything under the sun. I'm a physician by profession yet my content here is isn't about medical stuff. That's because I like am interested in a lot of things and that I just happen to be a physician. It sounds silly while I wrote this because the steps are so simple to do but in execution, I think most people just stop at step 2 and go halfway to step 3.

Looking at memory retention tips and tricks are helpful in the short term but integrating what you learn and make practical use of it is a lifestyle change.

The 3 Steps:

1. Pick a topic you like.
2. Hoard information
3. Apply what you learned in your daily routine.

The steps are self explanatory as it is but if you want to indulge with my reasoning, there's a wall of text below. I know it's an underwhelming recipe for the secret sauce but that's really all there is to it like the cliche practice makes perfect. I'm just saying the post ended here and I'm sharing my life hack on how I can keep my motivation up despite procrastinating and moving at variable pace.

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Pick Topics You can Tie with other Interests.

First, pick something you can foresee yourself actually using in the the future. The more you will find practical use of that knowledge, the more sustainable it is to motivate yourself into learning it. If I can't visualize myself into applying this interest and turning it into something of value, it's a waste of time. It's a screening method to conserve your most precious resource on Earth, and that is time.

You don't need to learn about Space, the nomenclature of bug classification, or Shakespearean English if none of those things can directly influence your daily routine. They are nice to know for the sake of leisure reading but they are unlikely to yield you any practical value unless your occupation is tied to the subject.

I'm interested in the markets, and somewhere down the line topics like investing and financial literacy comes up. Create a concept map of the main subject and arrange it like a spider web. This way, you can appreciate how everything is interrelated to what you want to learn and see the subject be approached from different angles. Money is still an important subject and it rules our lives whether we like it or not, so it is practical to understand the system you are forced to live with from womb to tomb.

If you're stuck reading a subject you once found interesting that eventually becomes boring, you can shift it to another related subject to keep the momentum going. I read and watch topics involving macroeconomics but it's a heavy in the head and eventually gets boring or overwhelming, so I step down to other topics like doing fundamental analysis, cash flow statement reading, or business strategies. You can't learn well if you feel like it's a chore so hack the process by changing the pace while keeping the momentum.

There's no shortage of topics to be interested in but you only have 24 hours per day and some of that time should be used for rest. I usually pick the topics that bring the most value to my life so keeping up with the Kardashians will never be something I'd be looking into.

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Hoard Information

If you got a subject you want to learn can't see yourself putting in the work immediately, you could always bookmark the materials you find useful and come back to it when you're ready. I seek out content creators that promote the topic and these content creators will lead me to other creators or topics that expand my library.

The point is building a digital filing cabinet on you can get back to when you're interested again. Sometimes it can take me months to years before I open the file again but it makes everything convenient if you made copies in the past. There are times when the videos got taken down, the website stopped running or file becomes unavailable so bookmarking isn't enough.

I occasionally drop links to study materials on some discord servers or file things under the information I may need in the future cabinet. The files stack up and you will eventually get a content list to learn from whenever you're in the mood to kill time and be productive at it.

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Ground What You Learn to Daily Life

It's nice to learn something about the celestials or classical history but if it's knowledge you can't practically apply to your daily routine, a lot of that knowledge acquired will eventually fade. Has anybody remembered how to do quadratic equations? I don't but my former elementary grade self spent considerable time studying. Math teachers will remember it because they get to apply it daily with their line of work.

The point is we're saturated with a lot of information from just browsing in the internet that have no practical value in our lives. So wouldn't it be better to direct some of that energy into learning something productive and be reinforced into your daily routine? I like to watch the charts from local stocks to crypto, but it doesn't mean I'm planning to trade during the day. I just look because it became a habit and an avenue for applying what I learned.

This is when I started to follow accounts on social media that share content about topics I'm interested but don't want to commit hours into studying just yet. The Philippine stock market requires me to consider about the country's macroeconomic events, the company's specific standing, the business cycle, the charts and overall trend and you know what? none of that shit can be done within 24 hours. It would only give me less time to do other things I want.

But you still need to learn this stuff if you want to get anywhere on the subject so I instead followed official government accounts on twitter for market updates and other financial content. While the algorithm may not let me see most of the content shared, at least this method lets me get occasional news on my feed than 0. I browse twitter to chill sometimes but if by chance that something from these accounts share something I find interesting, at least there's a chance to trigger more exploration on the subject again.

This is incorporating your productive interests in your daily routine without making it feel like a chore. I could always scroll past the market news if no interest was generated and this is better than having no visual reminders.

All that knowledge doesn't count for shit if there's no application. The fun fact might offer some good trivia or conversation starter but eventually fade into obscurity if there's a lack of application. This makes me consider whether learning the subject was even worth the time to begin with. So as much as possible, I'd seek out opportunities where I could use that I learned from theory because this is how expertise is developed. You keep going at it for experimentation and it brings out some confidence whenever the subject gets pulled up during conversations.

Thanks for your time.