Power Up Your Mind: Learn faster, work smarter

you need is the ability to divide your learning into manageable,

bite-sized chunks. “Breaking learning down into a series of hows” is

how Peter Honey and I describe this skill.

This involves you in interrogating what it is you want to

learn and breaking it down into appropriate chunks. Different

aspects of it may then need different approaches. As the metaphor

of interrogation suggests, you need to ask yourself some difficult

questions. There are a number of techniques which may be helpful

here.

Zooming in

This is an expression coined by Dr. Javier Bajer, chief executive of

the Talent Foundation. It describes the process of putting learning

under the microscope by progressively increasing the magnification

so that you see more and more of what is involved in the learning.

So, if you are thinking about learning to drive a car, you might start

by seeing a car moving safely down the road with you as its driver.

With a little more magnification, you might see a driving school

and yourself sitting in a car being taught. Then, it might be a pic-

ture of your monthly diary showing your planned lessons and prac-

tice sessions. The next layer might show you in the car practicing

reversing the car into a small parking space, and so on.

Naming the parts

Another technique, widely used in training, involves sticky labels.

Get a large piece of paper of the kind that you have on a flipchart.

Arm yourself with a pile of sticky labels. Think about the learning

in which you are involved. Imagine your learning is a kind of

machine and try and break it down into its constituent parts. Using

the example of the car again, this could mean you writing down on

your labels things like:

Resourcefulness 107

Learning to signal

Learning to park

Overcoming my fear

Using the mirror

Understanding road signs

Moving steadily