How to become a Self-Learner

If someone were to ask me: 'What advice do you have to help me become a self-learner?', my answer would be simple. I'd say: 'the only advice I can truly offer is either what I've learnt from my own experience, or what I've learned from the advice of experienced people'.

In this article, I'll discuss both.

But first, why become a self-learner? What's the point?

With vast numbers of students and adults despising the current education system for its failure to meet their specific intellectual needs, more and more people are turning towards the possibility of teaching themselves whatever they're interested in learning. Structured exactly the way they want it. Tailored for their definite needs. This doesn't mean that a conventional education is "bad"- not at all. But the possibility of being able to learn anything while only relying on yourself, is empowering, especially for anyone who's had a hard time in the education system.

HOW CAN YOU BECOME A SELF-LEARNER?

This section is structured in three sub-sections: effort/action, drive, and belief. They represent steps and values that I consider extremely important to succeed in any project, not just self-learning ones, as well as any goal you might have, of any type. By reflecting on successful people's advice and performance, as well as my own attempts to learn independently, I observed that these three were traits found in the journey of every success. I hope that they will become part of your success too.

The following few points are lessons I've drawn directly from my experience as a self-learner, together with further advice from self-learning pioneers with much more expertise and wisdom than myself. 

EFFORT/ACTION

Your first self-learning project may feel almost impossible to accomplish. Which is why it's important to start small. There's no use in trying to teach yourself something that feels beyond you.

Take it in steps and plan each one. Extend your plan to see how all these mini goals fit into the bigger picture. If your goal is to learn a language to speak it fluently, you could try splitting it into smaller goals, such as having a 15-minute conversation about a topic, like food or history, in this language. Try setting a new mini-goal every month - the time-limit will help you maintain focus and enthusiasm, as each month you have attained a brand-new level of knowledge. Tick them off your list. Make yourself proud.

The key is to make it difficult enough that it feels like a challenge but easy enough that it is still attainable.

You will also need to dedicate time for your self-learning goal, which may not be easy. You could identify the single most time-saving effort you are able to make (whether it's cutting back on something, like watching less TV, or adding something, like a morning/evening writing session at the weekend). But you must use this time wisely, since there isn't a lot of it in a busy life.

So, employ the most effective learning strategies for each learning session, to maximise your efficiency, effectiveness, and as a result, your outcome. I recommend Scott H. Young's bestselling book - Ultralearning (which is also my favourite book about learning- you can find a link at the end of this article), if you're looking to take your learning strategies to the next level. The idea of this is to use the least amount of time to produce the best results.

This links to learning from examples. There are people out there who have achieved incredible feats all thanks to the success of their self-learning journeys. Take Vincent van Gogh, for example, one of the greatest artists of all time. Not many people know this, but he was entirely self-taught - he was not interested in learning in the classroom. Similarly, Srinivasa Ramanujan, an Indian mathematical genius whose work is considered incredibly complex by experts, did not even have a university degree by the time he published his first mathematical paper. And there are many more. These examples may be seen as 'extreme', but they just show how powerful self-learning can be -it has led to some of the most notorious geniuses in human history.

You could use examples such as these to inspire your own journey. What have people like van Gogh or Ramanujan, or Bill Gates, Louis Armstrong, Michael Faraday, and so many others, done to improve their skills, that you could do? How can you learn from their mistakes?

Of course, it is wise to not only learn from other people's mistakes but from your own. Which is why it's crucial to reflect on your experience. Keep a journal, or if that's too old-fashioned for you, just use a note-taking app on your phone to record your thoughts regarding the whole process of self-learning: ideas, structure, resources etc. Then, whenever you have a question, look back, see if there's anything from your own journey to help you find the answer. If not, once you do find a solution, record it. You might need it later.

DRIVE

Motivation is an abstract notion. Which is why I like to refer to the idea of drive instead. I think of drive as not just the willingness, but the determination to make the effort to achieve your goals, even when you don't feel like it. Why? Because you believe in your goal and would do anything to achieve it. It's part of who you are.

So, ask yourself where your motivation comes from. Is it a passing thing, which comes and goes, making all your actions dependable on it, or is it more like a drive, always there to remind you- I believe in this, because this is part of who I am.

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU JUST DON'T FEEL LIKE IT? 

You know it's important. You know that you have to do the work. You want to achieve your goal, but it's just not the day to act. Fair enough. We all have those days. They may come more or less often, but they shouldn't stop you from achieving your goals. Something that has helped me on the days when the drive to do anything eludes me, is to build up rewards. The idea of rewards isn't a new one, it dates as far back as behaviourism in psychology (early 1900s). But the key idea is the way you think about rewards. When you're conscious of the rewards you might receive if you do something, you're more willing to do it (for me it's mainly that feeling when you've finished the work, and can fully relax, knowing there's nothing else to do that day). Here's a bit more context: it's exam week, and you're just sick of revising - that's what you've done all day, every day this week (apart from taking the exams of course). You have two options: (1) give up. Relax, risking a lower score on your next exam, but at least you don't have to revise. Or (2) think how you will feel when you've finished your exams. You worked hard every single day, you felt confident with your knowledge, and the exams are done. Feels good, doesn't it? So, you generate a plan of action- you're tired, therefore you must take a restful break. And when you do return to your notes, folders, and practice exam papers, you use your most effective and efficient strategies to revise, because you want to do well.

This example was illustrated using the situation of exams, but it's malleable to the idea of self-learning too.

Using rewards that you look forward to in order to increase your motivation, or drive, to put an effort into something is a powerful way to build lasting habits that will benefit you in the future.

Moreover, it's important to see your project as something that you want to do rather than something you have to do. This kind of attitude is the foundation beneath the idea of drive. When you have to do something, it's tiring and annoying, but when you want to do it, it becomes an exciting project, calling you to use your talents and potential to create something greater. It becomes something close to an adventure.

BELIEF

Finally, we come to perhaps the most important part of all: belief. Without it, action and drive may turn out to be useless, especially when undertaking more challenging tasks and projects. Belief in yourself - your abilities, your potential; belief in the purpose of your actions; belief in those who are helping you. They are all key to succeeding, because they empower you to go on, even when you think you might fail. Think about it, all people who are now well known for achieving an impressive feat had, too, experienced an overwhelming fear of failure- but they still succeeded. It's only now, when they've already done it, that it seems possible. Yet we tend to forget how impossible it all must have seemed before it was done.

So, take this chance to really think about your own projects. Maybe you're well ahead of the game and are just looking around for inspiration; maybe you're finally starting a self-learning project that's been looming around your head for years. No matter your situation, I hope that these ideas are applicable advice that you can use to kickstart your own learning journey. Good luck! 😊

SUMMARY

Effort/action:

• Start small, and plan well
• Dedicate time, and use it wisely
• Learn from examples
• Reflect on your own experience

Drive:

• Where does your motivation come from?
• What to do when you 'don't feel like it'?
• Attitudes

Belief:

• mindset for succeeding
• cannot have action and drive without belief.

LINKS

'Ultralearning' by Scott H. Young (paperback)

NOTE FROM THE WRITER

Note: You might wonder what I use self-learning for, and my answer is - a lot of things. I'm currently teaching myself guitar (lessons are expensive!), a bit of Maths because I miss it, and occasionally read quantum physics books after realising I've got a substantial interest in it while doing an EPQ centred around the physics of the Big Bang. During the last four years I've been improving my English, although this wasn't exactly self-learning because I live in an English-speaking country and so speaking it daily has meant that I haven't had to sit down and study it ever since I moved here.

These are some of the things I like to spend my free time on at the moment, however I'm excited to start teaching myself a more advanced level of maths, and more languages, in the future. I'm looking forward to documenting the whole journey.