How to learn anything you want?
This article is part of my learning during the Writing Workshop series @ Vaksana Farms.
To accomplish any task or goal, all you need is a discipline. Today I am going to talk about 20 ways to to learn anything you want. In this experience, I am going to take writing as an example.
Block Your Calendar
Usually when we have meetings with our vendors/customers, we create a calendar invite so that it is tracked and we get a notification for this. We should similarly try to do this for our writing project as well. Try to allocate a dedicated time everyday and send out calendar invite for the same. In this way, you would be able to spend dedicated time on anything you want to do.
Plan the Previous night
It is always better to prepare earlier than be late. This concept has changed many people’s lives. We always leave it to the last minute, when we actually have time to get it done earlier. There are many advantages of doing things early because we don’t want to miss anything last minute. And the mind also gets enough time to think about things you want to do next morning. For Example: If you are leaving for a vacation next day then pack your bags the previous day/night.
Turn off App Notifications
Now this might be difficult for most of us, as we are extremely attached to our mobile phones. But it is extremely useful as it will help us to get the most out of our work. It will help us in focusing on one thing without getting distracted.
Get off Social Networks
Only when you are doing something important like Writing. I know you might have this feeling of start doing something and then when you are bored during this, you would want to check out Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat. Try to restrict that when you are writing as it will often break your concentration.
Turn Off Wifi
Sounds Crazy. Isn’t? But that's how things works. So the whole idea is to get focussed attention and time so that you can finish your writing.
8 Hours of Zzzz
There are numerous discussions on what is the ideal sleeping hours. But if you ask me, it really depends on people to people. Some people have found 6 hours to be good enough and some found 8 hours to be. But the idea is to get enough sleep so that when you wake up next morning, your mind is completed refreshed and ready to kick start again.
Write First, Edit Later
A lot of people get stuck into this by improving grammar, spelling mistakes when thy write. My suggestion would be to get started with writing and then if you have time, you can come back and make changes. The point is to get started and get into that flow where you write down all important things.
Single Tasking
I know you are a fan of Multi-Tasking. Even I am a big fan of it. But study/research have proven that doing one thing at a time leads to more productivity than doing everything together. While there are people who are good at Multi-tasking also, but for most people, it might be difficult therefore I would suggest to take up one job and get that done, before picking another one.
Finish what you Start
Fairly Simple. If you have started something then make sure to get that completed. This goes hand in hand with “Single Tasking”, as the whole idea is to get one thing completed at a time and then jump to another one. But it is also important to not get distracted or disturbed until you finish that task/goal.
Ambient Sound
Everybody loves music, isn’t it? While you can listen to music for most of the time in your day like during travelling, etc. But it may not be advisable to listen to it during writing. Writing involves a deep concentration and therefore you would have to get more focussed during this period. Sounds like Waterfall, Birds Chirping, etc are some of Ambient Sounds which you can listen to make yourself comfortable during writing.
500 Words before 8AM
Human mind works extremely well and fast during morning. And therefore make the most out of it by doing the most important things during this time. Set a goal that you would have breakfast only if you finish 500 Words writing before 8AM and then see for yourself how it works.
Visualize
OIf you don’t have a picture on what your goal looks like and how are you going to celebrate this then you would find it extremely difficult to get it done. The best way to overcome is Visualize how exactly you would celebrate. List our things you would want to do when you finish the goal. Once you are able to see how it looks like, then that would motivate yourself to get it completed.
Take Support from Family
One cannot achieve bigger things in life if they aren’t shared with family and friends. Share what your goal is all about with your family and friends, and they would certainly help you to achive them.
Phone on Silent and Away
The most way to get distracted in life is keep your phone next to you when you are doing something important. And the best way to get out of this is just by putting in Silent mode. Your messages/calls can wait for sometime :)
Pomodoro Technique
A time management and useful technique to help you break tasks into smaller ones. You work for smaller intervals and then take breaks. For Example: You work for 25 Minutes and then take break for 5 Minutes. You can read more about this in our detailed article.
Golden Hours
There will be few hours in your day to day where your brain will be extremely efficient. Find out that particular hour of the day and allocate that for your writing.
SpeedWriting
Speed Writing simply means write whatever comes on your mind and then rectify that later. It is a very powerful technique to help you write everything in your mind and then visit later for corrections.
Create a Distraction List
Everytime you get distracted by something, make sure to include that into your distraction list. Visit this list everyday and then try to improve on this by not getting distracted by the same things. An easy way to do this is by downloading Forest App.
Enjoy the Process
Whatever you are writing, make sure you enjoy it. There is no point in doing anything which you don’t enjoy because you would fall back later on and leave it.
Remind yourself of the “WHY”
Constantly ask yourself all the time, why am I doing this activity? Why this is important for me? Things like these will help you to drive more attention to your mind and get things faster.
These were some of my learnings during the 100 Days Writing Challenge. Do share your experience on how you tackle and improve your learning discipline.