If you want to master any skill, whether it’s a sport, musical instrument, or computer programming language, you need to know the proper techniques and strategies.
We will discuss 10 ways that will help you learn anything faster than it would typically take.
Develop a plan for your goal.
Having a detailed plan is very important. Write down the steps you need to take to achieve your goal. This is important for your motivation and progress.
If you don’t set a plan and just start learning, it’s easy to get distracted. You will also be less motivated if you haven’t planned what steps to take to achieve success.
It’s best to write everything that needs to happen before achieving the goal and those actions required after reaching it.
What can give you an even bigger edge than having a detailed plan? Having one written down! It helps keep track of everything so nothing slips through the cracks.
Sticky notes.
A simple way I’ve found is by writing out my goals on sticky notes or using Trello. Then every time I accomplish something along the road to success, I move the sticky note to a different list or board.
You can also use an app called Strides. It’s free and straightforward to use; it’s similar to Trello but has useful features like tracking your daily progress towards reaching your goal, which is great for staying motivated!
There are many apps out there that will help you set and track your goals. Find one that best fits your needs; it will make reaching those milestones easier than ever before!
Break the skill down into smaller parts.
For your plan to be effective, it needs to have small, manageable parts.
It’s easy, for example, to set a goal of learning how to play the guitar in one year, but that is just too big of a task and may discourage you from starting at all. You’ll probably need several months or even years before becoming proficient enough on the instrument to make an album!
Smaller Parts.
Instead, try setting smaller goals like learning the chords to your favorite song or memorizing where each note is on the fretboard.
Smaller goals are easier to accomplish and will keep you motivated until you reach them all! Once you have reached those milestones, then make sure to move on to something else that’s just as challenging but not too overwhelming at first.
By breaking down a skill into smaller parts, it doesn’t feel so daunting anymore. It makes what seems like an impossible task achievable by managing your expectations for success step-by-step instead of looking at everything as one big goal. If there are small tasks involved in reaching a bigger goal, completing them feels like a real accomplishment, which is what we want.
This will give you the momentum and encouragement to keep going until your goal has been reached!
Breaking It Down.
When I was learning how to play guitar, for example, instead of setting out an unrealistic timeline and trying to learn everything at once (which would have failed), I broke it down by teaching myself one chord progression or song per week. By doing this, it became achievable because instead of feeling overwhelmed with all that needed to be learned in such a short amount of time, progress was made every day (and could be celebrated!) This kept me motivated throughout my entire journey towards playing full songs on the instrument confidently!
During each session, practice something different than what you did last time so that you are constantly working on improving lots of different aspects of that skill.
You don’t just want to practice something over and over again because it will get old pretty quickly! You need to keep it fun and exciting.
To do this, practice different parts of the skill, which will make you better at everything related to that subject.
Now go ahead and try breaking any skill into smaller parts; I promise it will work!
Create a schedule and stick to it. Practice the skill every day.
This is one of the most critical steps to mastering any skill quickly.
Scheduling your practice time will ensure that you are always doing something productive, even if it’s only a tiny amount of time every day.
You can’t expect to get better at something if you don’t practice regularly. If you only find time for an hour once a week, it won’t be enough to make any significant progress.
If there is no schedule in place, practicing will become more of a chore and less enjoyable over time which means that eventually, your motivation will dwindle until you stop entirely! That’s why scheduling daily practice sessions is key to mastering anything faster than ever before!
It doesn’t have to take up much time either; even just 15 minutes per day goes a long way when practiced consistently over several months or years. It all depends on what skill we are talking about, but I’ve found this method works well with everything from guitar playing and learning languages to cooking and yoga.
Set a Timer.
One thing that I have found extremely helpful is to set a timer throughout the day.
What this does is force you to practice for short bursts of time, which can be very productive, especially if it’s done every single day without fail!
By doing so, you are training your brain to practice at specific times during the day. You will make sure that even when life gets in the way (and it always does), you’ll still find some free time here and there throughout the week to dedicate to learning something new or improving on an existing skill.
By taking frequent breaks, we train our brains to keep practicing throughout the day, which will lead to more progress in less time!
This is probably one of the hardest things for me to do, but it’s so important!
Realistic Daily Practices.
I always want to spend hours on end working away at something because I know that the more time I spend practicing, the better my results will be.
The problem with this approach is that our minds can’t focus for an extended period and can start resisting after about 30 minutes of activity.
You’ll be amazed at what can happen in less than a year when practicing every single day! Just make sure not to overdo it and keep everything in balance.
This step is all about making sure that everything falls into place once we have our goals set. Nothing will change if no actions are taken, so setting up schedules and daily practices is essential to master any skill quickly.
Identify the best resources to help you achieve that goal.
Once you have a clear picture of what you want to achieve, start looking for the correct type of resources.
You can do this by going on YouTube and typing in your goal. For example, if you want to learn guitar, then type it into the search bar and check out all of the different channels that show up.
Another way is to look up books and courses that can help you with your specific goal.
Be Selective.
It’s important not to just settle for the first thing that pops up because there are so many resources available which means that you need to be very selective!
If I’m looking for a book, I usually read the reviews and check out what people have said about it on forums. If no one has mentioned anything, then the chances are that it’s not worth checking out or at least isn’t as good as some of the other resources available.
This step is all about ensuring that the right information falls into place by way of books, courses, or online lessons, which will help you achieve your goals faster than ever before!
It’s all about taking action and ensuring that we get the most out of what we have available to us, which can be a lot more than you think.
How to Find High-quality Resources.
The best way to find high-quality resources is from people who have already been through the journey themselves, so make sure to look for videos or articles produced by someone who has mastered what it is that you are trying to achieve.
This will save a lot of time because instead of having to go through a few beginner tutorials which might not be of any use at all, you’ll get straight down to business with some great material!
Make sure everything matches up with your goals exactly. Otherwise, they won’t help much at all!
Learning anything quickly, efficiently, and naturally comes down to finding the right resources and putting them into action.
Try Different Methods.
Try different types of learning styles and techniques until you find the best one for you. For example, some men learn better through reading books or listening to podcasts, while others prefer being shown how to do something step-by-step.
I love using as many senses as I can when learning something new and find that mixing up different learning styles helps me learn a lot faster than just sticking to one.
Try different things and see what works best for you, then go out there and get mastering!
Find a mentor or a teacher.
This is a great way to ensure that you are on the right path and don’t waste any time trying out different things that might not be as good as others.
If someone else has already been where we want to go, they know exactly how much work needs to be done and what kind of steps need to be taken for success to be achieved.
This means that instead of going through many trial-and-error stages, we can get straight to the good stuff and learn from someone who is already where we want to be!
Look for an Authority.
It’s all about getting the best mentors and teachers possible, so check out their reviews, videos, or articles to see if they are worth learning from.
Look for an authority in your field because these people will give you the most valuable insights straight away!
Are there any specific courses that I can take? How long should it take me to achieve this goal? What mindset do I need to be successful at this task?
These questions (and many more) will either be answered by a mentor or teacher, which means that we don’t have to worry anymore; instead, we can focus on putting everything into action now!
Look for Online Mentors.
If it is impossible to find someone local, then the internet makes it possible to learn from someone on the other side of the world! Zoom or Skype lessons are a great way to ensure that we get the best possible results and save time by not having to travel all over the place.
By getting the right help, we can become unstoppable and achieve anything that we set our hearts on!
Get feedback on your progress often.
Getting feedback is a great way to ensure that we constantly improve and do everything as efficiently as possible.
It’s not enough to just set out our plan of action; it also has to be followed through with the correct feedback from someone who knows what they are talking about.
Don’t listen to feedback from just anyone; make sure you find an expert in the field that you want to learn!
We might not get it right the first time, but that’s okay because we’re always learning and improving, which means that by following through with the feedback we get, we will become better and better every single time.
How to React to Feedback.
Remember not to take any negative comments personally, as these people are only trying to help us improve and learn faster.
We all make mistakes; how we react makes the difference between a good or bad learning experience!
Find Online Feedback.
If you can’t find anyone else who is willing to give feedback on your project, then try putting up a poll on a website like Reddit to get some real-time results about other people’s thoughts.
Doing this is an excellent way of ensuring that we aren’t going down the wrong path and saves us from wasting our time trying something that doesn’t work as well as others!
Find some sort of community where people are practicing that skill.
No matter who we are or what our goals might be, there will always be someone else out there doing the same thing as us!
Whether online or in real life, finding a group of like-minded people will help us get better and achieve more than we could imagine.
The internet can provide all sorts of communities that allow you to practice your new skill with other people worldwide; this means that rather than just practicing alone at home, we can put everything into action now by learning things faster through meetings and video calls.
Meetup Groups.
Meetup groups have been growing over recent years, so why not join one today? It only takes a few minutes before starting to meet up with other learners who are doing the same thing as us!
It’s also a great way of making friends, learning new things, and building our confidence before we even start learning.
By being part of a group, we can get feedback from other people, which is incredibly valuable because it helps us improve much faster than we would have done on our own!
We can all learn one another’s strengths and weaknesses to get the best results possible.
Other Communities.
If you can’t find a Meetup group, then don’t worry! There are plenty of other online communities out there that allow us to practice our skills with people from all over the world.
There are plenty of forums, chatrooms, and subreddits full of friendly people looking to help out other members. Google the skill you are trying to learn plus “community,” or look on Reddit for subreddits related to the topic.
Use positive self-talk to motivate yourself and keep you going.
We are our own worst enemies at times, especially when it comes to learning new things. Every time we fail or make a mistake, the voice in our head makes us feel bad about ourselves and can be demotivating over time.
If this often happens enough, we will eventually become fed up with trying something that doesn’t work for us because there is no end goal in sight!
This means that once again, we’re left feeling relatively low and unmotivated until something switches inside of us where all of a sudden, nothing seems impossible anymore.
It’s vital that whenever this does happen, get rid of those thoughts immediately before they take control over everything else!
Positive Talk.
Instead, tell yourself that it’s okay to make mistakes because we will always learn from them and become better as a result. If you keep telling yourself this whenever you do fail, then eventually, the message will stick!
This means that when something does go wrong in the future, you’ll be able to brush it off quickly and get on with what needs doing next instead of letting negative thoughts hold us back.
Remember: We can’t succeed without failing first! So don’t let failure stop you from trying again until you reach your goals. It may take some practice but once mastered; nothing is preventing us from becoming pros at anything…
Things to Remember.
Remind yourself that you are learning a new skill and that it takes time for anything to sink in properly. Remember that every person out there has had the same problems before when learning new skills – even professionals who have been doing this for years!
As humans, we tend to give up on things much easier than we should, hindering our learning process. This is why we must use positive self-talk whenever possible because this helps us become more confident in ourselves and what we’re trying to achieve.
It doesn’t matter what we say to ourselves as long as it’s encouraging and motivating because this helps us keep going through the tough times that most of us will encounter at some point.
Confidence.
When practicing a new skill, try saying things such as “I can do this” instead of focusing on all the reasons why you might not be able to, which ultimately leads to giving up.
The more confident we are in our abilities then, the easier everything becomes! It also makes us feel better about ourselves and gives off an aura of positivity for anyone who may or may not be watching, so always remember: nothing else matters when we’re learning something new; only how we feel inside does!
Track your progress every day, so you can see what’s working and what isn’t.
One of the best ways to improve our learning is by tracking how far we have come and what results in we are getting.
For example, if you want to learn a new language, then write down your daily progress every single day. This could be the number of words you have learned, how well you can read or even speak it, depending on your goal!
That way, once a week (or whatever interval suits you), take an hour out to go through everything and see if any patterns emerge from doing this over time. By tracking our progress each day, we will begin to notice things like sticking points where learning seems more challenging than usual.
We have either hit a roadblock or are being presented with something new that doesn’t come as easily to us. No matter the case, tracking our progress each day helps us figure out what needs improving so that it becomes easier next time around! So instead of being disheartened by mistakes, we mustn’t give up but keep going until practice makes perfect!
Never underestimate the power of playing games.
At its core, being good at anything comes down to repetition, so we must always practice.
This is why we must constantly challenge ourselves to learn new things because this ultimately helps us become better at what we do.
One of the best ways for anyone interested in learning a skill to practice and improve quickly is by playing games that encourage you to use whatever you’re trying so much.
Scrabble?
For example, if you want to learn a new language, playing games such as scrabble in this language will help considerably because every time we play the game, it’s like having another lesson with an expert!
The same can be said for pretty much any other skill that we might have. For instance:
- If you want to improve your fitness, then playing a game that involves physical exercise is an excellent way of improving on this!
- Do you want to learn a new sport? Playing it with friends or loved ones is the best way to practice and improve quickly.
- If we want to learn to code, then trying to create a simple game or app is an excellent way for us to learn and improve our skills at the same time.
- If we wanted to learn how to fly an airplane, playing games such as Flight Simulator would be highly beneficial.
The more that we play games in this manner, the easier everything will become because we are having fun and learning at the same time!
Remember, there are Plenty of Ways to Learn.
If the only thing that we do is focus on the result, then it’s easy to feel like giving up because there are times when it feels as though nothing will ever come of this.
However, if we push ourselves and remember why we decided to embark on this journey in the first place (i.e., for fun), then everything becomes a lot easier!
So whatever your goal is, always remember that there are plenty of ways out there for you to practice and improve quickly while having fun at the same time!
Conclusion.
Finally, remember that anything worth achieving takes hard work, but if you follow these steps, then I guarantee that your journey will be much easier than most people expect, and you’ll find yourself mastering things far quicker than anyone believed possible!
We hope these tips have been helpful, and we wish you success with mastering anything you set your mind to!
Comment below about which tip has helped you most so far.
Marcella Raskin is a passionate and articulate writer who has dedicated her life to studying human potential. She has studied Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Life Purpose Coaching, Group Life Coaching. She loves helping women (and men) explore themselves through writing, which allows for an exploration into one’s thoughts on entrepreneurship or personal development topics such as mindset-shaping techniques that can positively shape someone’s perspectives about themselves when they don’t think it could ever happen! She practices sports and has studied Exercise Physiology. She is married and the mother of two girls.