Techniques that you learnt through school or college might not fit your post-school life. However, you can remember some of these techniques and improve on them towards a more disciplined and improved learning experience.
In this guide, we bring you the top 7 effective techniques to enhance your learning capacity towards increasing your performance either at home, school, or work. For a start, we advise you to:
The tips discussed below might work for you differently from others. That’s because some students learn more easily and quickly than others. However, the suggestions here are a guide with the potential of giving you an enhanced learning experience. Now to the list.
Finding an excellent learning spot is vital. Consider a learning area with little or no distractions. You need an environment that will assist you in concentrating on the task at hand. Usually, the library is the go-to place if you want to do some reading or writing. However, libraries might not always be available or suitable. So you might want to select somewhere else that mirrors the serenity of a library.
Cafeterias, for instance, can make another alternative. Although many cafes are busy, some are sometimes serene enough for some learning or studying while you munch or bite. Then you also have the options of parks and recreational centres. What’s important is getting a place that suits your mental state and learning goals.
Of course, you can create a section in the home for learning. It could be a tiny office space, the patio, or the visitor’s room when no one’s using it. Wherever you want to site your home learning spot, site it away from distractions. Besides silence, lighting is also vital if you’re reading. Getting appropriate lighting will help preserve your eyesight to prevent fatigue or eye strain. That way, you can study for a long time whenever you choose during the day.
Additionally, establish some foundational rules while learning your favourite subject. Some of these rules could mean telling neighbours and housemates you don’t want disturbance. It could also mean avoiding phone calls, texts, and related distractions.
Social media is no doubt one of the biggest sources of distractions today. From flashy Instagram shots to Twitter trolls, WhatsApp buzzes, the news media, and never-ending celebrity gists, it’s easy to leave reasoning and conscious learning till a later date.
By assuming you want to separate 20-30 minutes for social media, you might be signing up for 2-3 hours of vague activities. And it’s obvious why this often happens – notifications. While you might want to avoid notifications and alerts seeping atop your phone’s screen, you’re likely to have a feeling of dissatisfaction until you view the notification.
Guess what? The alert will likely need some response, leading to more social media time than you wanted. The best thing to do when you want to learn or study is to avoid social media. It’s as easy as disconnecting your device’s browsing data services.
While you can avoid social media distraction during learning when you turn off your phone’s Internet connection, your phone might still pose a learning threat. During your learning periods, consider putting off your device or on a do-not-disturb mode that keeps notifications away from your view. Moreover, you can keep the phone away from your sight so you don’t have to resist checking your messages.
Holding onto your phone means you will likely indulge in other activities. For instance, if you enjoy playing casino games, holding onto your phone means you might be tempted to check out the best offers from some of your favourite no wagering casino sites. While it is great to enjoy appealing casino bonuses from the best gambling sites in the UK or elsewhere, doing that while studying could be a massive distraction.
During your learning sessions, it’s always advisable to keep in mind your learning priorities. Why did you choose to learn in the first place? Your friends and neighbours should understand your priorities. Meanwhile, if you insist on having your phone close by, take some study breaks to dedicate some time to only viewing or reading vital notifications and messages. That way, you can keep up with only important alerts while keeping your brain in learning mode.
Learning can be challenging: whether you’re up against college work or learning a new language. One way to ease your learning experience is searching for fellow learners struggling to understand the same concept. Group learning not only aids quick learning, but it’s also comforting and helps you be a little patient with yourself throughout the learning process.
Moreover, learning with others – either in a study group or community – helps to enhance teamwork. You might end up teaching someone else what you know and learning from others difficult aspects of the subject. It’s often about assisting one another to achieve your learning goals.
Here’s where social media and the Internet could come in handy. There are various learning groups online to help you learn communally. If you don’t have a community to learn with others, you can create one yourself, calling for people to learn about a topic as a group.
You might be surprised how many people you can help by sharing what you already know on the subject and how much you can learn by doing so too. Plus, you might be building some credibility as a go-to person in the learning area by the end of the day.
There are various learning styles, and each helps assimilate knowledge differently depending on the person using it. It’s not news that people respond to learning methods based on their pre-set qualities. Here’s a table showing various learning methods and their implications.
| Learning Style | Implication |
| Visual learning | Involves pictures, images, and space |
| Auditory learning | Deals with music, sounds, or a combination of both |
| Logical learning | Involves reasoning, logic, and systems |
| Kinesthetic learning | Uses a more physical learning style that involves the body, hands, or skin |
| Verbal learning | Involves written or spoken words |
| Social learning | Thrives best in the company of others |
| Solitary learning | Learn best when alone |
Consider the best learning style for you. Doing so will assist you in devising your learning plan, location, and what learning aids might best fit you. Remember to select methods to help you avoid distractions during your study.
Taking time for self-care shouldn’t be an optional part of your learning experience. Again, learning can be as tasking as any other job or activity. So taking a break to relax won’t harm you. Avoid overworking yourself without creating time to rest your body and mind.
There are some helpful self-care tips to enhance your learning capacity and experience.
Remember to blink from time to time when working on a computer screen to protect your sight. You can give your eyesight a break by looking through the window into the sunlight. You could also try to focus your eyes on the ceiling or a tree. All these are means of exercising your eyes to keep them healthy.
Sleeping not only helps to exercise your eyes. It also helps to reset the entire body system in preparation for the next working or learning cycle.
You also need to rest your hands. One way to do this is to use the other hand to hold or carry things, such as your computer mouse or learning material. Also, take some time to stretch your fingers and wrists.
Lastly, addressing self-care won’t suffice until we talk about one thing – food. You want to refuel with the right nutrients your body requires to function. Avoid foods that seemingly drain you of mental strength. Steer towards foods that power your imaginative and learning capacity. While you can learn some of these power foods by personal experience, some time-tested power foods to help the brain focus include:
Is studying all the learning materials available in a day quite stressful? Then it’s time to consider doing something else. Your daily routine is often more important than your occasional habits. So you want to create time to study daily, whether or not examinations are forthcoming.
After selecting a study routine, it’s crucial to be consistent. You want to create a routine you can maintain throughout the learning season, session, or academic year. Also, consider weekly and monthly schedules to fit your other commitments. You want to create a schedule that properly ties around your chores, meetings, and work. Once you have a well-suited schedule, it’s time to ensure you’re committed to it.
Moreover, when creating the schedule, place the study sessions during your peak periods to enhance your learning performance. For instance, learning in the morning might suit you best. But for others learning at night or in the evenings might be the thing. If you’re unsure what suits you best, consider learning at various times of the day to know the most suitable period for you.
Regardless of the learning method you choose, always try to learn and not just cram the steps or processes involved. Avoid a fanciful learning process. Maintain a simple study time. If you’re learning with notes, don’t hesitate to mark, bookmark, or highlight important information. Nobody will grade your study notes.
Learning can be fun, regardless of your current learning aptitude. By following the tips we’ve shown here, you can readily enhance your ability to study and learn while improving your all-around performance.
