Mindless learning often leads to faster learning

Want to learn something fast? Stop learning and start doing.

Stop consuming mindlessly

Of course you have heard this many times that the best way to learn something new is by doing it. It couldn’t be any more true today. There is such an abundance of information around you that you get hooked to consuming, often mindlessly. Question is how much of that do you retain? Then how much of that do you actually use?

There will always be more information

I am a perfectionist. If I learn something I want to learn it well. I recently realized that this attitude was getting in the way. The best value you get from learning is not by learning something well. There will always be more information out there than what you can consume.

Be selective

Instead, be selective about what you read. Scan and learn the most important areas just enough so that you can start executing it. The moment you start executing, a whole new world opens up often without much effort. This prompts questions which you can then go back and review from the original source.

Several learning loops

In practice this may mean many learning loops open in parallel. This is fine. Just make sure to limit these loops to the active projects you are working on.

Mindless doing will open a new world

The bottomline is to start using the ideas as quickly as you can instead of trying to finish a book or a training course. Much of the idea may not make sense at first. If the idea comes from an authentic source, sounds reasonable and it promises a result, then mindlessly start executing. Very soon, you will be enlightened and will know what to do next.