Soo, like any other day I was on youtube and stumbled upon a video which said I can teach myself anything. I was like, huh, why not? I saved the video to watch later and continued youtubing.
It’s one of the best things I have come across on a methodology to teach yourself ANYTHING. Well, yes, the title does seem like a clickbait but it was worth the watch. As said in the video, I decided to put the advice into practice. So here we go, this is what I learned.
Where to learn?
Living in the digital age, finding information has become easier than ever. All you want to know is just google search away, but wanting to know something you don’t know is what we call curiosity. Curiosity plays a major role in self-learning. It is said that the best way to learn something is to consume content about it in different formats. So, pick a topic of your choice, look for articles, videos and podcasts and BINGE.
Buuut, how do we know what is right?
Well, the goal when you learn is to move towards the objective truth. This is the part where critical thinking comes in. As we learn, as we stumble across various resources, we compare and contrast and slowly pave the path towards the objective truth. We have to unlearn what we learned and relearn. Scientists do this all the time. The earth was only flat until it wasn’t. And now, it is only a sphere until it isn’t. When there is convincing evidence contradicting what we already know, we must pause, take a step back and reflect and reevaluate our beliefs accordingly. Again, the goal is to find the objective truth but that shouldn’t stop us from applying the truth we already know.
Reflect & Share, Share.
Okay. Say, we were curious about a topic. We gathered information via googling. Now what? Reflect and Share.
Think about you’ve just learned and how it is gonna help you. Try answering this question “How am I gonna apply what I just learnt in my life/work?”. After you reflect, it’s time to share.
I write to find out what I’m thinking — Joan Didion
You don’t know what you don’t know until you articulate what you think you know. So, after you have gathered information, reflected upon it, you articulate in the best way you know-how and put it out there so that what was a concept in your head is now tangible.
Recap
So, the process is as simple as this. Be curious, read/watch/listen, reflect and share.
