Hacking your education_ seven tricks to focus, learn, and get things done

The 8th of June 2012 I followed the very intersting  keynote at the annual EDEN conference in Porto,  where Dale Stephens had a keynote speach. He sterted his speach by saying that "I have come from the US to Europe, and I can almost be the son of yours, and I am sure you are thinking what can he tell us?"

He contnuned to say that he is just in the middle of editing his book on Hacking education aiming  to give students the knowledge to break out from a broken system, and develop the awareness to make decisions for themselves. His book also serves as a point of discussion: the educational system needs reform and rethinking at every level and almost everything,. He  hopes his book will bring that topic to the mainstream—that’s what UnCollege is about, that’s what his mission is, and he hope to expand on that with Hacking Your Education. The Hackademic Camp give students the knowledge to break out from a broken system, and develop the awareness to make decisions for themselve uncollege.org

 

Dale Stephens stress that living in a democratic society we can´t live with in a hierachical education system, which is the case today.We have to consider the 7 Steps to Learning Efficiently and Effectively.  We all struggle to focus, and now more than ever: it’s easy to spend hours switching between Reddit, Facebook, and StumbleUpon that we forget we have dreams we are pursuing. I thought I’d share seven tricks I use to focus, learn, and get things done.

1. Turn off the Internet

This one is pretty simple: When you don’t need the Internet for work, just turn it off. I know how tempting it is to constantly check email and Facebook and watch TED talks. I have set times when I don’t use the Internet. It’s not allowed. There’s a great program calledSelfControl(free) that allows you to block your server from going tospecific sights until time runs out. You can also block the Internet entirely for a set time with SelfControl. Focus Booster(also free) is another great program that sets a timer to break work into 25-minute cycles with a 5-minute break in between each.

2. Gaps are good things

Learning at all levels—whether learning on a job, studying for a test, or teaching yourself something new—is often condensed into short time segments. The issue is that this form of condensed learning does not lead to long-term retention. Research shows that if you distribute the study of a subject over a period of time, you are more likely to retain the information. Between first learning something, practicing it, and then applying it, you should have equal gaps. Here are some ways you can apply this:

1.     If you have to present material two weeks from now, it is best tolearn it today, and then practice presenting it in one week. When you present the material, you’ll be more likely to remember everything than if you had crammed it in the last few days before the presentation.

2.     If you want to retain material over a long period of time, practice it at regular intervals or else you will forget.

3.     Set deadlines for when you want to learn things by, so that you can put this principle to use.

3. Quiz yourself with open-ended questions

When learning material, most of us study by rereading it. However, research has shown that testing yourself with open-ended questions helps retain information over longer periods of time. Here are a few easy ways to put this into practice:

1.     Make flashcards with keywords and write down everything you remember about the subject. Don’t use your notes; just write down what you remember about each keyword off the top of your head.

2.     Have a friend read the keyword, and verbally explain to her the substance of it.

3.     Make mock-tests with short-answer questions, if possible, with friends, and then give feedback to each other.

This may seem only applicable to students, but think about it in terms of giving a presentation: sitting down and writing out responses toquestions you might be asked is a much better way of solidifying this material than just rehearsing your speech.

4. Figure out how your prefer to learn

There are four typical learning preferences: visual, aural, read/write, and kinesthetic. If you determine how you learn, you will enjoy learning more, and find material more engaging by pursuing it in your preferred way. These are only preferences, and they do not limit you from learning in other ways. However it is easier to engage in your self-directed education if you’re able to understand how you prefer to learn. Check out the “Learn How You Learn”test at Sophia.org.

5. Manage your time effectively

I manage my time by breaking it into chunks. I am usually up at 6:00am every morning, and until 12:00pm, I work. I rarely take calls before noon, and I use this time to work on the most important things I have to get done. After noon I can answer plenty of emails, meet people for coffee, or talk over the phone all I want, but before noon I work. Also, by waking up so early, I’m able to get the majority of my work done before most people go to lunch.

The other important thing I do is use a calendar. Everything—including my morning work routine—goes in my calendar. That way, whenever I’m off track, it is easy to see that, oh, right now I am supposed to beworking on X, or learning Y. The combination of a task manager (I use Things or Asana) and a calendar, when actually used, is the only way I’m able to accomplish my goals.

6. Get an accountability buddy

Getting an accountability buddy will, simply, keep you accountable. Can you think of promises you made to yourself but didn’t keep? That’s where an accountability buddy comes into play: when you share your goals with somebody, you are more likely to accomplish them. To find one, email a friend you trust to keep you accountable, and ask if he or she would like to exchange weekly goals with you (and keep asking people until you find someone). You can be persuasive by letting them know this will not be time-consuming, and they will benefit from it as well. Once a week, email your friend five to ten goals you will accomplish this week. On the same day, meet with your friend or have a phone conversation to share what you did and did not accomplish in the previous week. This is a good way to get feedback, help each other set goals, and share progress. And if you didn’t accomplish one of your goals, it goes back on the list. As a sample list, here are Marlon’s personal goals for this week:

1.     Finish building a personal website

2.     Run for 20 minutes everyday

3.     Write a 5-page short story

4.     Read two books

5.     Spend an hour every day learning Spanish

7. Maintain good sleep hygiene

I know the temptation to go and go and go—not stopping to break, sleep, or eat. There are too many pages to write, there are too many emails to respond to, there is an unending amount of work that needs toget done, and just how can I afford to take a break when all of this work remains unfinished?  But the reality is when you sleep, your work is of a higher quality. I am more focused for the time I actually spend working. Especially us young doers, we need the sleep. Science is constantly showing us how important it is to get enough sleep: it increases focus, memory retention, heals your body, and has countless other benefits (such as not looking like a zombie when giving a talk). It’s easy to keep going and burn the midnight oil, but building a healthy sleep habit—waking up at the same time every morning, getting to bed early enoughto get a full night’s sleep, and taking naps when you haven’t slept enough—will increase the quality of your work, no exceptions.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it to friends and encourage them to join the movement at uncollege.org!

-Dale