GA 091 | How to Become a Better Learner in 2016 with Ron Pereira

You're listening to episode 91 with Ron Pereira.

Welcome to the Gemba Academy Podcast, the show that's focused on helping individuals and companies achieve breakthrough results using the same continuous improvement principles leveraged by companies such as Toyota Del Monte and the U.S. department of Defense. And now, here's your host, Ron Pereira.

Hey there. This is Ron Pereira with Gemba Academy and I'd like to welcome you to another edition of the Gemba Academy podcast. As always, thank you so much for taking time out of your day and your to listen to the show and for watching our Lean In Six Sigma training videos over at GembaCademy.com, we definitely appreciate each and every one of you. Now then, we're releasing this episode on December 31, 2015. So on behalf of everyone here at Gemba Academy, I'd like to wish you all a very safe, efficient and prosperous New Year. Now, we've had an amazing year on this podcast and at Gemba Academy, and I'd definitely like to thank everybody, everyone that's ever listened to the show. And I also obviously want to send my deepest thanks to each and every guest that's taken time to visit with us and share their thoughts with our listeners. So with the new year here, it's most definitely time to create those New Year's resolutions. Now, for me, I've committed to improving my health and I'm happy to say I'm well on my way. In fact, I've really cleaned up my diet and have started a consistent exercise plan and I feel feel fantastic. I've been going strong for around a month and I've most definitely planned to keep this up throughout 2016 and beyond. Additionally, one of my goals for 2016 is to improve my ability to learn faster and more efficiently. Now I hope to learn how to read faster since I feel like it takes me far too long to get through a good book. And I also want to improve my memory. Now, I'm terrible with names and many other memory based activities, so I definitely want to sharpen this aspect of my life as such. A person that I've been reading and learning from is a man called Jim Kwik. Kwik is spelled K W I K and he swears that's his real name. Now, Mr. Kwik is an expert in teaching people about speed reading, memory improvement, brain performance and accelerated learning. Some of his clients include Elon Musk, Sir Richard Branson, Will Smith, and the entire X Men staff. Now, he has pictures and testimonials from all these people, so he's most definitely legit. Anyhow, I recently listened to a podcast where Mr. Quick shared some basic information on how to learn better. Now, to be sure, he offers much more in depth learning and courses, which I personally plan to consume in 2016 at a much deeper level. But what he shared in his podcast lays an excellent foundation for any sort of learning. And since Gemba Academy is a learning organization, I immediately knew I wanted to share what I learned from him with all of you. In fact, I'm thinking we may turn this into a new video since again, these principles apply to any sort of learning you hope to explore. So a technique Mr. Quick seems to like to use is acronyms. Now in the acronym I want to focus on today is F A S T fast. Now each of the four letters contains some basic information for how to become a better learner. Now the first letter F stands for forget, which seems a bit odd since we're trying to learn. So what does forgetting have to do with anything? Well, as it turns out, it has a lot to do with learning. First, we must forget about the things we already know. In other words, we must open our mind and be willing to accept knowledge. Now I see many people struggle with this for some reason. It's as if pride gets in the way of people learning new things. Additionally, if you're an experienced lean thinker, like many of you likely are, it can be hard to humble yourself you in such a way as to learn new things. Heck, I personally struggle with this and now I realize I need to remove this way of thinking from my mindset when attempting to learn. Next, we must forget about any perceived limitations we place on ourselves. Now, did you struggle in school? Perhaps you feel unworthy to learn since you didn't attend MIT or even a community college? Well, in order to become a better learner, we must forget these perceived limitations. I think Henry Ford summed this up best when he famously said, whether you think you can or you can't, you're right. So we gotta stop telling yourself that you can't do something. Tony Horton, the founder of the famous P90X workout program, coined one of my all time favorite quotes. He said to remove the word can't from your vocabulary and replace it with the phrase I presently struggle with. So for example, when someone says they can't do pull ups, he encourages them to say I presently struggle doing pull ups. Now in our world, an example may be that you don't feel like you're good at math or statistics, so you automatically hate anything to do with six Sigma or other statistically based tools. Now, this is nonsense and you should definitely remove this negative mindset from your way of thinking. Lastly, we must forget about everything else going on situationally. For example, you're listening to this podcast right now, and the only way to ensure you're going to get maximum benefit from what you're learning is to forget about the meeting you have later this week or the plans you have this evening. Put another way, you need to focus on what you're learning. You need to completely be present and focused at the task at hand. Now, this is obviously easier said than done in this chaotic world of ours, but it's crucial if you want to become a better learner. So, to summarize, the F in FAST means to forget. We need to forget the things we already know while being totally open to new knowledge. We need to forget about any perceived limitations we place on ourselves, and we need to forget about any and all distractions that attempt to steal our focus away from from the learning experience at hand. Next, the A in FAST stands for active. Now, one of the things we're most passionate about at Gemba Academy is taking actions with the things you learn. Now, it breaks our hearts when we hear stories of how some Gemba Academy students are simply required to watch a certain set of videos, but aren't asked to do something with what they're learning. Now, I'll stop short of saying this is a complete waste of time since learning anything is better than nothing. But if these same people would simply watch one of our videos while then taking immediate action with what they've learned, they would be so much better off. Additionally, when we learn new things, we should be active note takers. Now, Jim Kwik proposes an interesting approach. He encourages his students to take out a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. Then, on the left side, you take your normal notes. For example, you'd note what each letter FAST stands for. Then on the right side you'd make notes. In other words, you'd comment on what things like forgetting about limitations means in your life. Do any examples immediately come to mind? If so, you jot those thoughts down on the right side of the page. So again, the A in FAST stands for active. We need to take action with the things we're learning while also being active during the learning process by doing things like taking excellent notes and and getting any questions you have answered. Next, the S in FAST stands for state. Simply put, all learning is state dependent. In other words, your learning experience depends on your attitude, your mood, and how good your body feels. Now, if you choose to be in a terrible mood or you haven't had a good night's sleep, or your diet has primarily consisted of junk food, chances are very good you're not going to retain much of what you hope to learn. Now, the good news is we normally are in complete control of our state. We can control our emotions. We can control how much sleep we get. Well, let me preface that by saying a newborn baby or young children can put a monkey wrench in how much sleep you get. So do the best you can in those situations. Definitely take naps when possible, and realize that the things you may need to focus on learning during this state of life is how to take the best care of that new kiddo. But newborn babies aside, getting adequate sleep and taking care of your body plays an incredibly important part in how effective a learner you'll be. And finally, the T in FAST stands for teach. Now, it goes without saying that teaching others things you just learned is an incredibly powerful way to retain this knowledge. Heck, I'm the perfect case study for this. You see, I've recorded more than 700 teaching videos, and I've done close to 100 podcasts. This has required me to understand what it is I was about to teach, and then when I actually taught it, my ability to retain this information shot through the roof. Now, you may not be making any videos this year or produce any podcasts, but you can easily tell others what you learned in this podcast, or that book you're reading, or that workshop you plan to attend. Simply put, helping others learn the things you're learning just may be the most important learning tool available today. And that's the FAST model. Forget about limitations. Act on the things you learn, control your personal state, and teach others. Finally, the only other thing that I might add to this model is to never give up. It's so easy to get frustrated when you don't immediately learn something, and when this frustration sets in, we may want to quit and move on to something else. No one likes to feel like a failure, but here's the thing. If you persevere and fight through those initial challenges, the incredible dopamine hit you'll eventually experience once you do finally get it will feel better than you can ever imagine. So if you take nothing else from this podcast, I'd encourage you to dream big in 2016. Make a plan, and then attack that plan with relentless effort. And no matter what happens, don't ever quit attacking that goal or resolution. Since the old only true failure in life occurs when we quit trying. Again, thank you so much for listening and supporting this podcast. Now if you found value in this or any of your previous episodes, please do me a favor and tell at least one other person about the show. Our primary mission at Gemba Academy is to remove the struggle associated with continuous improvement. We also hope to reach as many people in the world as possible. But to accomplish this we desperately need the help of people like you. So please send people to GembaPodcast.com for the podcast and GembaCademy.com to access our online learning system. Again, on behalf of everyone here at Gemba Academy, I'd like to wish you a very safe, happy and successful New Year.

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