9 Evidence-Based Tips to Learn Anything Faster

TL;DR

Learn faster by sharpening your axe before studying, optimizing focus, seeking immersion, drilling weak spots, testing yourself frequently, getting rapid feedback, understanding deeply, spacing repetitions, and teaching what you learn.

Key Takeaways

1Invest time in preparation and meta-learning before diving into the actual skill—understanding how to learn something is as important as learning it
2Eliminate distractions and use psychological hacks like the five-minute rule to overcome activation energy and maintain focus
3Practice in real-world environments where you'll actually use the skill rather than isolated practice, and seek immersion when possible
4Identify and drill your weaknesses relentlessly instead of repeatedly practicing what you already know well
5Use active recall and self-testing to drive learning—putting information back out is more effective than trying to put it in
6Seek tight feedback loops with coaches or mentors who can provide rapid, constructive criticism to accelerate improvement
7Learn concepts deeply from first principles rather than memorizing surface-level rules, and space your repetitions over time to combat the forgetting curve

Notable Quotes

“if you gave me six hours to chop down a tree i would spend the first four sharpening the axe”
— Abraham Lincoln

“learning is not supposed to be easy it is supposed to be hard and if it's hard then it means we're doing something right”
— Video creator

“i would rather learn from a guide than learn from a guru”
— Video creator

Chapters

1. Tip 1: Sharpen the Axe

Invest in preparation and meta-learning before starting. Research how to learn your target skill by reading books like 'Make It Stick', taking courses, or exploring communities. Small upfront preparation dramatically accelerates your learning process.

2. Tip 2: Use Crutches to Optimize Focus

Eliminate distractions and overcome activation energy with tactics like the five-minute rule (commit to just five minutes, often leading to longer sessions) and removing your phone. Full focus dramatically improves how effectively your brain learns.

3. Tip 3: Find Opportunities for Immersion

Practice in the real environment where you'll use the skill. Learning a language through immersion, practicing magic with real audiences, or performing in actual settings accelerates learning far more than isolated practice.

4. Tip 4: Drill Your Weak Links

Identify areas where you're weakest and concentrate drilling efforts there rather than reviewing familiar material. Ask yourself what you'd be least confident about on an exam, then focus study there to maximize learning efficiency.

5. Tip 5: Test Yourself Regularly

Use active recall and retrieval practice—learning happens when you pull information out of your brain, not when you put it in. Reframe testing as a learning strategy rather than an evaluation, and aim for desirable difficulty.

6. Tip 6: Get Intense Feedback as Quickly as Possible

Establish tight feedback loops with coaches or mentors who provide rapid, constructive criticism. Early in learning, praise encourages continuation; once committed, critical feedback is far more valuable for improvement than positive reinforcement.

7. Tip 7: Over-Learn with First Principles Understanding

Learn more deeply than strictly necessary by asking 'why' repeatedly. Understand the rationale behind rules and techniques rather than just memorizing them, making transfer to new contexts much easier.

8. Tip 8: Use Spaced Repetition

Combat the forgetting curve by repeating material at increasing intervals. Apps like Anki help automate spaced repetition for fact-based learning, ensuring information moves into long-term memory and muscle memory.

9. Tip 9: Teach What You're Learning

Document and teach your learning process, even as a beginner. You don't need to be an expert—guides often teach better than gurus because they're just one step ahead. Teaching solidifies your own understanding and knowledge.

Key People & Entities

Abraham Lincoln: Historical figure attributed with the 'sharpen the axe' quote about preparation
Scott Young: Author of 'Ultra Learning', wrote about learning languages to fluency through immersion in three months
Ebbinghaus: 19th-century psychologist who discovered the forgetting curve
C.S. Lewis: Philosopher and author who introduced the concept of the 'curse of knowledge'
John Mayer: Musician who discusses music theory understanding on Instagram
Roger Federer: Professional tennis player used as example of desirable difficulty opponent
Skillshare: Online learning platform sponsoring the video; creator has multiple classes on studying, Anki, and productivity
Anki: Free spaced repetition software app for memorization (named after Japanese word for 'to memorize')

Glossary

Active Recall: The learning strategy of retrieving information from memory rather than passively reviewing it; shown to be far more effective for retention than re-reading
Desirable Difficulty: The concept that learning happens best at an optimal level of challenge—not too easy to be boring, not so hard it's discouraging, but at a level slightly above current ability
Forgetting Curve: A concept by Ebbinghaus describing how memories decay over time unless actively refreshed through practice or retrieval
Spaced Repetition: A learning technique where material is reviewed at increasing intervals to move knowledge into long-term memory and combat the forgetting curve
Curse of Knowledge: A cognitive bias where experts have difficulty teaching because they've forgotten what it's like to be a beginner; makes intermediate learners better teachers
Meta-Learning: Learning how to learn—understanding the most effective strategies and approaches for acquiring new knowledge or skills in a given domain

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