Learn How to Learn

Learn How to Learn. 

I've always been intrigued with the art of learning. When I was in high school I was specifically struck with the concept of "learning how to learn". I figured that if I spent a year learning the skill of learning, while someone else learned another skill that year, the next year I could not only learn their skill but a couple of others as well.

I've found that the most effective way to learn is identical to this scripture:

 D&C 38:2 The same which knoweth all things, for all things are present before mine eyes;

As much as is humanly possible, the more one has things present before them the greater their ability to learn new concepts. This leads to an astounding confidence in what one has already learned, as well as a noticeable ease in learning new things. 

Here are some examples:

The Weight of the Unknown

When I was in Junior High I was intrigued with 3D Animation, to the point that I endeavored to teach it to myself. I quickly found that the softwares used in this skill were extremely complex compared to softwares that I was used to. Though I was up to the challenge, the shear volume of tools was absolutely overwhelming. 

When I first started, I followed online and written tutorials and grew confident with a handful of tools. However, remembering where things were in a sea of buttons was tedious, and I was always a little bit nervous that I might accidentally do something that would have irreversible results. I started to notice that I actually felt burdened by always having this sense of pre-caution. I found that the unknown carried a weight, and the more there was unknown, the heavier the weight I felt. 

Finally I was so tired of the nervousness I stopped the project I was working on and did something that changed my ability to learn for ever:

Open all the doors, touch all the buttons. 

I opened a new file and proceeded to click on every single button. I decided that if I happened to click something that broke the software, I would just re-install the whole thing. I opened every single menu, and would follow it to the end of it's options. If terms made sense I would try to remember them, and if not, I would do my best to make sense of them. 

I opened everything.

And the effect was immediate.

What at first seemed like a never ending sea of buttons and options suddenly had a beginning and an end. And what at first seemed scary and possibly threatening to a project was no longer so, I knew it, because I had tested it. 

My ability to work improved dramatically. Without the fear and pre-caution I was able to work faster and confidently. I could remember where tools were because they weren't lost in a sea of other tools.

The technique was so effective that from that day forward anytime I would learn a new software I would immediate open every menu and submenu to get a feel for the software. As a result, people started noticing that I could learn new softwares really quickly. 

I noticed that there were other applications for this technique. Buildings that I would normally get lost in were no longer confusing, and my confidence at social events soared as I learned everyone's name and information about them. When I would move to a new apartment or house, I would enter all of the rooms and open all of the cupboards and closets. I began to refer to the technique as "Open all the doors." 

Later in life I met another person who had a knack for learning. He too had learned the technique but had given it a similar but different name. "Touch all the buttons."

All things present

Though a full omniscience may not be possible in this life, the exponential effect of learning that comes through constantly collecting knowledge into one great presence is a fascinating concept, and is something I definitely think is worth striving for.