This content introduces a five-step framework called "Learn" designed to help individuals effectively teach themselves any subject by addressing common pitfalls like lack of motivation, overwhelm, and poor time management. It emphasizes genuine curiosity, structured planning, resource assembly, active knowledge reinforcement, and habit formation for successful self-education.
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Okay, so if you've ever tried to teach
yourself anything, you've probably
realized that it is incredibly freaking
hard and I understand the struggle as
I've been doing it for years. I dropped
out of university in 2020 and since then
I've taught myself all sorts of things
like everything from YouTube and online
business and now to stuff like
psychology, history, and Spanish. It's
suffice to say I love to learn. But even
though I love learning, I've struggled a
lot with stuff like motivation and
overwhelm and time management, which has
made making progress with my educational
goals difficult sometimes. But after
years and years of trial and error, I've
finally landed on a process that I can
use to help me actually learn the things
I set out to learn without all the pain
and suffering usually involved. It's a
framework I call learn for obvious
reasons and you can use it to teach
yourself anything you want. So yeah with
that let's dive in. Okay so one of the
major reasons so many people end up
giving up when learning things on their
own is because they don't start out in
the right way or with the right
intentions. which is why step one is to
lay out your motivations for whatever
you have in mind that you want to learn.
The thing about learning that you need
to be aware of is that every new subject
or skill will follow a pretty
predictable pattern. First, you'll be in
the honeymoon phase where things are
new, exciting, and progress feels fast.
In language learning, this is when
you're picking up phrases like hello,
how are you, and my name is. But
eventually that phase inevitably ends
and then you hit what Seth Goden calls
the dip, aka the long frustrating slog
between starting something and mastery
where progress slows down, the work
becomes more tedious, and the fun pretty
much disappears. The dip is just a
natural part of the learning process.
But what that means is if your
motivation isn't in the right place,
then once you hit the dip, your life
will be nothing but pain and suffering.
I actually learned this the hard way
when I tried to learn how to code. At
first, printing hello world felt
amazing. But once I started dealing with
APIs and endless error messages, I was
miserable and eventually just quit
learning. But I didn't necessarily give
up because it was too hard. I gave up
because I wasn't genuinely interested in
coding and only started to learn because
I thought I should. And that's the key.
If you want to actually make it through
the dip, then your learning needs to
come from a place of genuine curiosity,
not obligation or social pressure from
friends or family or because you're
attracted to a shiny new object. So
before you start learning, honestly ask
yourself, why do I want to learn this
thing? When you pay attention to how you
start, it will not only determine how
you finish, but determine your enjoyment
along the way. Anyway, once you have
your answer, you can then move on to
step two, establishing a learning road
map. So you can think of a learning road
map as your personal step-by-step guide
that shows you what you'll cover and in
what order. So to start building out
your road map, there's a couple things
you'll first need to do. So the first
thing you'll need to do is decide your
destination, as in the level of depth
you want to achieve. Like do you want
mastery where you'll be able to read
psychology papers? Or do you want to be
well read like finishing all the classic
philosophy books? Or do you just want to
get a solid foundation? Like for me, I
just want to know the basics of subjects
like economics and political science. I
don't care to become an expert in them.
I just don't want to feel dumb whenever
people talk about those subjects and I
want to join in on the conversation. But
anyway, your answer will set the scope
of the road map. So a mastery level road
map might look a lot like a full
university syllabus. Well, a
foundational road map could just be five
or six broad categories. But with that
being said, how do you know what to add
to your road map when you don't know
what you need to know? Well, that is
where MOOs come in. Massive open online
courses. So schools like MIT, Gale and
Harvard and sites like Corsera and Udemy
and Khan Academy all have entire syllabi
and courses online that you can borrow
from or just follow directly like I'm
doing right now with MIT's intro to
psychology course. So these courses give
you structure in a logical order already
laid out for you so you don't have to
worry about it. But just remember,
self-education isn't school and it's not
a prison. You can skip or expand or
reshuffle topics as you like. So, as an
example, if you're learning philosophy,
you don't have to start with Plato. You
could jump straight into whatever
philosopher or school of philosophy you
want. But anyway, after you create the
structure, the next step is to decide
whether you want to add deadlines. Some
people like checkpoints, like finishing
a module each week. Personally, I prefer
a flexible pace where I can either binge
several lessons one week or spend weeks
on one lesson. Just keep in mind your
road map is completely personal and
designed around your goals, your pace,
and your preferences. You can also even
make several road maps at once if you're
studying multiple subjects, but just be
realistic about what you can handle. I
found three at a time, like psychology,
history, and Spanish to be my limit. But
yeah, once you've got your road map
mapped out, you're then ready for step
three of the learn system, assembling
your resources. But before we get into
it, I'd like to mention the sponsor of
this video, Brilliant. So, Brilliant is
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this video. Okay, so step number three,
assembling your resources, does not need
to be over complicated. For this step,
less is more. And all you need to
effectively learn are three things.
First off, a foundational textbook that
is up todate and ideally includes
practice questions after each chapter
that you can go through. I will usually
get a textbook recommended by a muk I'm
following and I'll either buy it used on
Amazon or just find it online for free.
And secondly, a series of lectures to
supplement your textbook, which you can
either find again on MOOs or just on
YouTube. The main thing here is to just
find a series of lectures where you
actually like the professor and find
them engaging. And the third thing is a
reading list. So most subjects will have
foundational texts that you'll want to
look into and consider reading, like
Plato for philosophy or the man who
mistook his wife for a hat for
psychology. You can find required or
suggested readings on MOOs or just by
searching for reading lists on Google.
Beyond the classics though, I also
recommend adding curiosity books to your
reading list, aka books you enjoy that
are relevant to what you're learning.
For example, when I study psychology,
I'll pair my textbook with pop science
books like Behave. And when I study a
subject like history, I'll add
biographies or historical fiction to my
list. These books give my brain a break
from more dense material and also just
keep me curious about what I'm learning.
Now, beyond those core resources, one
thing I also like to have is a community
that I can be a part of that's related
to what I'm learning, either online or
in person. Learning on your own can be a
pretty lonely process. So having people
you can discuss topics with on Reddit or
Discord or a Meetup group can help you
combat the isolation that comes with
self-education while also keeping you
motivated to continue learning. And
yeah, with these resources in place, you
can start learning and moving down your
road map. But once you actually start
learning, you have to be careful of a
very common trap. Non-stop consumption.
The thing is, if you only take in
information, you won't actually memorize
or truly understand the material you're
learning. Which brings us into the next
step, reinforcing your knowledge. So,
when it comes to learning, you should
think of it as a cycle with three
stages. The first stage is acquiring,
which is taking in new information by
reading or watching lectures. The second
stage is reviewing, which is studying
that material over and over so it
actually sticks in your long-term
memory. And the third stage is creating,
which is turning what you've learned
into a project of some sorts. Most
self-arners get stuck in stage one. They
just keep consuming information but skip
the harder parts like reviewing and
creating. I am guilty of doing the same
and it's why I struggle to make
significant progress for a very long
time. But the truth is reviewing and
creating aren't optional. They are
essential parts of the learning process
if you want to truly remember and
understand what you learn. So let's talk
about review. When it comes to
reviewing, two tools make all the
difference. Active recall and space
repetition. Active recall just means
testing yourself and actively recalling
the information you're learning. So
instead of just rereading your notes
over and over, actually close your book
and try explaining what you learned in
your own words. You can use stuff like
flashcards or make your own quizzes or
just do free recall where you write down
everything you can remember. These study
techniques require a lot of mental
effort and that's exactly what makes
them so effective. Now, space repetition
on the other hand is what will make
those memories actually last over time.
So instead of cramming the same material
over and over in one sitting, you can
review it at increasing intervals like 1
day later, then 3 days later, then a
week later, and then a month later. Each
time you revisit the material just
before forgetting, you reinforce the
memory. And I personally recommend apps
like Ani or Quizlet since they automate
this entire process for you. Anyway,
after reviewing comes creating. So,
while memorizing is great and all, true
understanding comes from using what you
learn. That's why teachers assign stuff
like essays and assignments and research
papers. They force you to explain ideas
and reveal gaps in your knowledge. As a
self-arner, you have to give yourself
those assignments. So, after finishing a
chapter or topic, create a project like
write a short essay or create a
presentation or even just teach a
friend. You can even use online practice
exams or tests to apply what you've
learned. Personally, I like to spend
about 30 minutes acquiring and 30
minutes reviewing during my learning
sessions. And then once I finish a topic
or chapter, I'll just focus all of my
time on completing a project before I
move on to the next topic. How you
balance all three is ultimately up to
you. But just make sure all parts are
included as you study. And that now
brings us to the final step of the learn
system, nurturing success habits. So
step five is about habits. Because even
with the best plan and resources in
place, nothing happens if you don't
actually sit your ass down and study
consistently. If you want to actually
follow through with your learning goals,
then you need to make studying a habit,
something you can do every single day on
autopilot. And to do that, you need to
answer three questions. First, when will
you study? In the morning, on your lunch
break, or before bed. You want to be
very specific here. Ideally, you'd pick
the time when your energy and willpower
are at its highest because learning is
hard. But if you can't do that, just
choose any pocket of time you can stick
with and then stick with it religiously.
And second, where will you study? This
part is super important. James Clear,
the author of Atomic Habits, says
motivation is overrated and your
environment actually matters more, which
is why this part is so important. The
thing is, if you want to maximize your
odds of success, then you need to shape
your surroundings so they help you
instead of sabotage you. You need to get
rid of the stuff that hinders your
focus, like your phone or distracting
music or your family or whatever else.
It also means adding things to your
environment that will help you focus,
like a comfy chair, a nice cup of tea, a
pile of books to remind you to study or
whatever else. Everyone's ideal setup
looks different. What matters is that
your space makes it easy to focus and
show up every day. And third, how long
will you study? This doesn't have to be
5 hours per day. Even 15 minutes of
focused study time will compound into
huge progress if you just stay
consistent. So be realistic with how
much you can devote each day. And then
stick with that goal. And yeah, once
you've answered those three questions,
the when, the where, and the how long,
you remove friction. Studying becomes
automatic and not something you need
willpower to do. And that's how you can
teach yourself anything you want. And
that's it from me. I hope you enjoyed
this video. Let me know in the comments
what you're learning or what you would
like to learn. I would love to know. And
yeah, I will see you in the next video. Bye-bye.
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