5 Tips to become an effective self-learner

In this ever-changing era, the dynamic information flow and market responses encourage corporates to recruit agile and fast-adaptive employees. Employers seek employees who are curious and keen-to-learn – hungry for acquiring different skills and knowledge.

Here are the five tips of being an effective self-learner:

1. Set clear SMART learning goals and objective. Know where you are heading to.

According to Harvard Business Review*, people’s intrinsic motivation rooted strongly with their purpose. It is one of the utmost priority to understand the “WHY” in learning, as it is the key source to motivate and sustain your learning journey.

By marrying your personal interests/ curiosity with spotting trends that impact your organisation’s future, you will shape your specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely (SMART) goals and set you on a learning plan.

2. Understand your unique learning style to maximize your learning potential

Everyone is born different. One may find one mode of learning more effective than the others. You may be more prone to visual, auditory or tactile-kinesthetic stimulants by nature. If you are a auditory-proned, you may retain what you have learnt through podcasts than videos, or vice versa for visual oriented person. Knowing your unique learning modes and applying them will help you make learning more enjoyable and effective.

3. Practise active reading by recalling the main ideas of what you have read

Regardless of the different modes of learning, reading is still currently one of the most common methods to learn. By practising active reading can strengthen your memories on what you have learnt. There are a few tips on active learning. First, skim through the content and title of the chapter to gain a brief picture of the content. Second, recall the main ideas at the end of each sub-session. Third, rephrase the content when you jot notes. This can foster your memory on processing what you have read to your learning.

4. Use the 50/10 Rule: 50 minutes of work, 10 minutes of pause

It is shows that human brain can be concentrated in a maximum of 50 minutes. Instead of forcing yourself to work for 5 hours straight, having a 10-minute break in between each 50 minutes work interval can help you to recharge your brain and learn more efficiently for your next 50 minutes.

5. Find a learning buddy or form a community of self-learning

According to The Lean Pyramid Model, , people retain 90% of what they learnt by teaching others or practising it immediately. With a learning buddy or even a community, you can develop your network and support each other throughout your learning journey. A peer-to-peer system can be built to further consolidate your learnings with others.

“Stay hungry, Stay foolish.” Unlock your self-learn potential and keep your career competency afresh!

*Francesca Gino, “The Business Case for Curiosity” from Harvard Business Review, Link to access: https://hbr.org/2018/09/curiosity