Most of us usually listen, or read and either agree or disagree. If we find something valuable, we make a vague mental note to use it later in life. Most of these notes are usually forgotten or lost along the way of life. The point is, unless what we learn is applied in the real world, it cannot be remembered or incorporated into who we are as individuals.
But how do you implement the long-term strategies you read about entrepreneurship or finance in the next 5 seconds? How do you train teen parents when your child is a toddler? In this case, how do you teach a new type of surgery in the classroom when your residence is far away Choosing what you learn
If you are reading or watching videos or listening to podcasts to teach or teach yourself, your point of view should be interactive and less passive. Stop reading or listening to any material that comes in front of you. Decide in advance whether it will make a difference in your life. Given today’s information overload, it is important that there are many courses and programs out there, with many of these overlapping materials you have to go through them all.
What you are doing effectively is responding to the idea that you will do it in a real world scenario. In the real world, lumbering elephants are exposed by the aggression of speeding midgets. You become aware of all the flaws in your knowledge that make you “street smart”. You will form an opinion, and fully or partially agree or disagree with the author.
It’s okay to be a little eccentric and crazy because you learn where the real creativity lies. Become a child with what you learn. The less you get caught up in the right and wrong ways of learning, the more effective you will be at learning. Don’t judge yourself or the way your mind learns. Don’t be influenced by the opinions of others about the right and wrong ways of learning, choose what works for you, even if no one in the world follows that way of learning.
Note that as you go through the above process. Why? You don’t want to read it, just remember 60-100 pages to see what it was all about. It is very likely that you will forget what you read, and also forget why you made connections and links after reading all this material. Remember, the purpose of your notes is not to summarize what you read, but to summarize the decisions and opinions you made after reading and why you made these contacts and decisions. Basically, you use notes to summarize your thoughts, not the author’s.