Learn Multiple Skills Quickly By Pairing Related Ones Together

Learn Multiple Skills Quickly By Pairing Related Ones Together

We all have a few skills we want to learn, and teaching ourselves is easy. You can make it even easier by bundling related skills together.

Picture: Till Westermayer/Flickr

If you learn to play an instrument, it becomes much easier to learn a second instrument. The same goes for learning a new language. But Quora user Stan Hayward explains that this is also true of separate, related skills:

If you have learned to play the piano, you will be able to learn touch typing easier. This is because learning touch typing requires a rhythm and hand-and-eye motor skills.

. . .Let’s imagine you want to learn three different subjects of:

Touch Typing
Piano

French

Also assume you were a beginner in each, and had only an hour a day to learn.

  • Typing and piano both require hand practice (the overlapping skill)
  • Touch Typing requires typing out words. You can choose to type out french words from french songs. So words are the common element.
  • Piano requires learning songs. You can choose to learn french songs.

As a result, you get a little extra practice for each skill. When you practise typing, you’re improving your dexterity. It isn’t the same as practising piano, but it does help that skill.

Remember, you’re more capable of learning those desired skills than you think. And if you can work that practice into your other daily pursuits, all the better. Hit the link to read more.

What learning strategies do people who are “quick learners” follow? [Quora]


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