Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career

Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career

Scott H. Young

3.95(14372 readers)
Now a Wall Street Journal bestseller.

Learn a new talent, stay relevant, reinvent yourself, and adapt to whatever the workplace throws your way. Ultralearning offers nine principles to master hard skills quickly. This is the essential guide to future-proof your career and maximize your competitive advantage through self-education.

In these tumultuous times of economic and technological change, staying ahead depends on continual self-education—a lifelong mastery of fresh ideas, subjects, and skills. If you want to accomplish more and stand apart from everyone else, you need to become an ultralearner.

The challenge of learning new skills is that you think you already know how best to learn, as you did as a student, so you rerun old routines and old ways of solving problems. To counter that, Ultralearning offers powerful strategies to break you out of those mental ruts and introduces new training methods to help you push through to higher levels of retention.

Scott H. Young incorporates the latest research about the most effective learning methods and the stories of other ultralearners like himself—among them Benjamin Franklin, chess grandmaster Judit Polgár, and Nobel laureate physicist Richard Feynman, as well as a host of others, such as little-known modern polymath Nigel Richards, who won the French World Scrabble Championship—without knowing French.

Young documents the methods he and others have used to acquire knowledge and shows that, far from being an obscure skill limited to aggressive autodidacts, ultralearning is a powerful tool anyone can use to improve their career, studies, and life.

Ultralearning explores this fascinating subculture, shares a proven framework for a successful ultralearning project, and offers insights into how you can organize and exe - cute a plan to learn anything deeply and quickly, without teachers or budget-busting tuition costs.

Whether the goal is to be fluent in a language (or ten languages), earn the equivalent of a college degree in a fraction of the time, or master multiple tools to build a product or business from the ground up, the principles in Ultralearning will guide you to success.

Publisher

Harper Business

Publication Date

8/6/2019

ISBN

9780062852748

Pages

304

Categories

Education

About the Author

Scott H. Young

Scott H. Young

Scott Young is the author of Wall Street Journal and National best selling book: "Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career".

Scott has been a prolific writer on his blog since 2006 where he writes about learning, productivity, career, habits and living well. He is know for documenting learning challenges such as the learning a 4-year MIT computer science degree in one year, learning four langauges in one year and learning to draw portraits in 30 days.

His work has been featured in TEDx, The New York Times, Lifehacker, Popular Mechanics and Business Insider.

Find out more at: ScottHYoung.com

Questions & Answers

Ultralearning is an intensive, focused approach to learning that emphasizes efficiency and effectiveness. It involves deep immersion in a subject, direct application of knowledge, and rigorous practice. Key principles include metalearning (learning how to learn), focus, directness, drilling, retrieval, feedback, retention, intuition, and experimentation.

It differs from traditional learning methods in several ways:

  1. Intensiveness: Ultralearning is more intense and time-efficient, often achieving results in a shorter time frame.
  2. Directness: It emphasizes direct application of knowledge, avoiding abstract or theoretical approaches.
  3. Focus: It requires a high level of focus and concentration, often through time management techniques.
  4. Practice: Ultralearning involves deliberate practice, focusing on weaknesses and using drills to improve skills.
  5. Retrieval: It emphasizes retrieval practice, such as self-testing, to reinforce learning and long-term retention.
  6. Feedback: It utilizes both outcome and informational feedback to guide learning and make improvements.
  7. Retention: It employs various strategies to prevent forgetting and ensure long-term retention of knowledge.

Overall, Ultralearning is a more active, targeted, and self-directed approach to learning compared to traditional methods, which often rely on passive absorption of information.

Metalearning enhances the learning process by focusing on the act of learning itself. It involves understanding how knowledge is structured and acquired within a subject, essentially learning how to learn. This approach provides several benefits:

  1. Mapping the Subject: By understanding the structure of a subject, learners can identify key concepts, facts, and procedures, making it easier to navigate and master the material.
  2. Identifying Bottlenecks: Recognizing the most challenging aspects of a subject allows learners to focus their efforts on overcoming these obstacles, leading to more efficient learning.
  3. Long-term Skills: Metalearning builds a set of general learning skills, such as time management, resource gathering, and motivation management, which are valuable for future learning endeavors.
  4. Deep Understanding: By actively engaging with the material and understanding the underlying principles, learners develop a deeper, more intuitive understanding of the subject, rather than just rote memorization.
  5. Adaptability: Metalearning encourages learners to adapt their strategies based on feedback and experience, allowing them to continuously improve their learning process.

The key principles of Ultralearning are:

  1. Metalearning: Understand the subject or skill, its structure, and how to learn it effectively.
  2. Focus: Prioritize learning and create focused study sessions.
  3. Directness: Learn by doing and applying the skill in real-world contexts.
  4. Drill: Identify and improve on your weakest points through targeted practice.
  5. Retrieval: Test and recall information to reinforce learning.
  6. Feedback: Seek and process feedback to improve learning strategies.
  7. Retention: Use techniques like spaced repetition to retain information.
  8. Intuition: Develop a deeper understanding and make informed decisions.
  9. Experimentation: Try different methods and adapt your approach based on results.

These principles contribute to effective learning by enhancing focus, engagement, and retention. They encourage active learning, problem-solving, and self-assessment, leading to a deeper understanding and mastery of the subject.

Ultralearning can be adapted to various contexts like personal projects, professional development, and formal education through tailored strategies:

Personal Projects:

  1. Metalearning: Define the 'why', 'what', and 'how' of your project. Focus on your motivation and the specific knowledge and skills needed.
  2. Directness: Align learning activities with the real-world application of the skill.
  3. Drill: Identify and focus on the weakest points to improve overall proficiency.
  4. Retrieval: Regularly test and recall information to reinforce learning.
  5. Feedback: Seek constructive feedback to refine your approach.
  6. Retention: Use techniques like spaced repetition and active recall to retain information.

Professional Development:

  1. Benchmarking: Understand industry standards and adapt learning goals accordingly.
  2. Drill: Focus on specific skills that can enhance job performance.
  3. Experimentation: Try different learning methods to find what works best.
  4. Intuition: Develop a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

Formal Education:

  1. Metalearning: Analyze course content and identify the most valuable information.
  2. Directness: Apply learning directly to real-world scenarios.
  3. Drill: Use drills to master complex concepts.
  4. Feedback: Seek feedback from teachers and peers.
  5. Retention: Use effective memory techniques to retain information.

By incorporating these principles, ultralearning can be effectively applied across different learning environments.

Ultralearning presents significant challenges and benefits. Challenges include the intense mental, emotional, and physical demands, the need for significant time investment, and the potential for frustration and procrastination. Benefits include rapid skill acquisition, career acceleration, personal fulfillment, and expanded horizons.

To overcome obstacles, individuals should:

  1. Set Clear Goals: Define the "why," "what," and "how" of their learning project to focus efforts.
  2. Develop Focus: Use techniques like the 10 Percent Rule for research, and strategies like the Direct-Then-Drill Approach for learning.
  3. Implement Effective Learning Strategies: Employ retrieval practice, spaced repetition, and mnemonics to enhance retention.
  4. Seek Feedback: Regularly test knowledge and seek constructive feedback to improve learning.
  5. Maintain Balance: Balance learning with rest and self-care to avoid burnout.
  6. Experiment and Adapt: Be open to trying new methods and adjusting plans as needed.

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