There’s so much to learn , Some of us want to learn a new language, some of us are sometimes bored picking up our books to study for school/ college. There’s so much to do, need time to be connected with my friends on the various social network sites, follow the interesting gossip and watch new movies or maybe if you are a mother : “Handle my 2 year old kid & the normal chores of my home” .How does one squeeze learning something new into one’s already full day?
Here’s 4 ways how to do just that!
1. Break it down – Let’s say if one wanted to learn to sketch people. We first assess how much work is to be covered in what period of time, we then break it down into small task portions and small time bites. Small portions make it easy to drive ourselves to learning those bite size topics like in sketching say: the different features, the proportions of each part to the different parts (eg : the proportion of the size of the eye to the proportion of the face), the different expressions etc . At the end of every week, each portion when accomplished is a motivator in itself. We could tick them off on a sheet as and when they are achieved. If these achievements are visible we go yipee! And they only fire us up further. Even you could display the achievements for all to see on a soft board, when you see other people are as moved by your creations you are moved into ACTION! Magambo Khush hua ! – moment!
2. Think out of the box – use radical methods – Learning gets boring when we go through the usual modes – reading and writing, try something new like recording information that can be listened to while travelling. This process can be used for learning huge data like many places of interest for a tourism course or for learning principles of management definitions, or any other parts of theory. Listening repeatedly helps one memorise just like one remembers the lyrics to a song or an advert on TV. We can listen to it on the car stereo or with earphones in public transport. “Walk and talk “ took on a new twist “walk and learn” it is!
3. Novel Practise methods – Anything that is looked at frequently is lodged in memory longer- like formulas hang them on your cupboard or on the mirror so that you look at them repeatedly.Baar baar dekho, hazaar baar dekho! Regular visual stimulation helps remember complicated equations or information. Also making use of it practically, like when learning vocabulary, using the new words that we learn daily in conversation helps placing it firmly in memory.
4. Fix the time – Somehow when the love of learning is there, we work out new ways to find the time in our busy schedule too! Work around your schedule, try fixing small intervals of time . Fixing time even if it’s just 30 minutes, ensures you attend the task and complete it . When Fixing it, connect it with another piece of your schedule which is already fixed regularly during the day. Let me take an example: After I come back from school I will watch tv or chat with my whatsapp friends till 4:00 pm ,(the time you come back from school does not change and is fixed everyday at 3:30) then we fix the new piece of schedule – 4:00- 4:30 pm is dedicated to math/ drawing/ writing an article. It’s difficult to miss a Fixed piece of schedule like in this instance returning from school , hence the new slot that is fixed is easy to set in & follow too! Chaand ko chuhne ka waqt aah gaya hai!
Jab kuch aapko achha lagne lagta hai, simple ho jata hai. Most of us are motivated and empowered when we learn something new ! More so if it’s something we have a slight flair for or an inclination for, so let’s try and practise these ways to adopt something new or sharpen something we just are meant to master!
