How to Learn Quickly

We often need to get a functional understanding of a topic in a short period of time. This requires us to identify and understand the first principles — the building blocks of that topic. This sketchnote illustrates how to get to that in an efficient way.

I think it is critical to start with a scattershot of the subject — book lists, podcasts, expert chats, articles. This allows us to audit the different perspectives, and quickly decide which path we want to follow. It sounds a lot like entering a rabbit-hole, but it’s not — the key difference is the use of audit vs. plunge.

It’s also quite useful to keep a record of your learning — a place where you can keep adding new bits of knowledge. This can be a PKM tool like Notion or Obsidian, or even a simple journal. I use both extensively.

I can think of at least 5 more ideas to add to my Sketchnote. We are all learners — what would you add to the list?