Getting Smarter at Getting Smarter
We all want to get smarter, to learn faster, and to be more creative. The question isn’t how but if we are willing to put the hard work in to make it happen.
With the onset of the 4th Industrial Revolution, we’ve seen the world change dramatically. We’ve alternated between being thrilled with the technological advancements that come to live daily and equally terrified about what these technologies mean for our mental well-being and sanity.
No longer can we live in the traditional mindset of learn, work, and retire that so many of us are still working towards. Life today is a constant cycle of learning and working that happens in tandem with one another — or at least for those who want to stay relevant in today’s world.
I hear too often from people that they are looking for the easier, faster ways to learn. They are looking to capitalize on the time they have available and in the most effective ways possible. Unfortunately, when I dig deeper what they are really asking is “how do I make learning easier and require less effort?”
At face value, these questions aren’t bad. Learning should be easier to access, intelligent enough to understand what we already know, and able to direct us to those items that we need to know the most. These are also functions that technology can do for us. These questions are also, unfortunately, a reflection of what learning has come to meant to people.
Learning is far more than a google search, a YouTube watch or a memorization of a process. Learning is a much richer process that at its core focuses on building, expanding on or changing what one currently knows in order to be able to apply that information to future problems and experiences. A search for information or a video to show how to go through a set of steps is still just information and like memorizing will often stay only long enough in our brains for immediate application and then is forgotten.
What we should be asking is “how can I work with my brain to be more effective in any task I approach and in ways that will help me lock in what I learn?”
Our brains are excellent storage and analytical systems, but only when we give them the love, care and attention needed. Over the past 15–20 years, the field of neuroscience and related disciplines such as cognitive neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science and others has grown dramatically. We’ve gone from a very basic understanding of our brains derived from the examination of damaged brains to the ability to monitor in real-time what is happening inside the brain.
These insights have shown us that if we want to be better at anything we want to do, we need to:
- Get enough sleep for our brain to process information and do some house cleaning. Failure to get enough sleep causes bad proteins to build up and research is indicating that many of these bad proteins are responsible for illnesses like Dementia and Alzheimer's.
- Get exercise at levels that produce the protein brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) that keeps our brain cells functioning and growing well. If our brain cells aren’t getting what they need, the ability of those cells to functional optimally (or at all) are greatly impaired.
- Expose ourselves to unique situations in order to bypass our brain’s natural tendency to discount and/or ignore information or situations that seem familiar. Our brains didn’t evolve yesterday and as a result, they know how to prioritize way better than we ourselves know how to do.
- Eat like our life depends on it. Our bodies are amazing marvels of evolution that are (unfortunately) really good at adapting to whatever we throw at them. This means that we often don’t immediately see the impacts of our bad habits until much later rather than when it would be most beneficial to us.
- Challenge our brains to remember and apply. Our brains are great at getting rid of the information that hasn’t been “tagged” as important. Information that we don’t use or don’t work to actively recall will be thrown out like last year’s holiday leftovers that are still lurking in the fridge.
- Make connections. Our brains excel at remember items when we can make connections between new information and information that we already know. The more connections we can make the better we will be able to recall what we need when we need it.
- Take time to reflect. In our always on, always doing world we often feel that every moment needs to be scheduled and active. However, it is also important to take time for our thoughts to wander and process the many things that we are being exposed to. While this time may feel at first wasteful, it often is what gives us new insights and those magical aha moments that we are looking for.
- Be social. Learning can only go so far in a vacuum. By seeking out individuals who challenge us, who are smarter than us, or just love a good discussion we are further reinforcing what we do know and bringing to light those things that we are struggling with.
Our journey to get smarter at getting smarter should be a constant evolution where we challenge ourselves to ask (in the words of Marie Forleo), “What can I learn from this?” and “How can I apply this to my life?”
