Edgar Mitchell once said, “Our ignorance…is based on the egos we have. It is the unwillingness to go beyond ego.” Ultimately, what Mitchell is getting at is that thinking you know everything is the greatest hurdle to knowledge. Much has been written about (and shared on this blog) about the correlation between leadership and the love of learning. Studies show the two often go hand in hand, and stiving to learn more only makes leaders better at their jobs. A recent article from the folks at the Farnum Street blog, has some very interesting insights on how to maximize the ways and speeds at which we learn, and one of the very first steps is to learning to recognize our own ignorance and being open to new ideas.
It turns out that some of us are just plain bad at learning. Just as in many areas of our lives, we tend to bring a lot of baggage with us. Holding on to assumptions keeps us locked into a certain mindset, so the author recommends letting the mind wander in order to stretch and grow mentally. In this way, we are able to learn from both our own experiences and those of others. The article then goes on to discuss two proven methods of learning: The Feynman Technique and Spaced Repetition. The former takes the view of learning something new from the standpoint of trying to teach the concept to someone else. Write down the explanation as if teaching to a child, then fill in gaps in the understanding. Spaced repetition is just what it sounds like - revisiting the same information at increasing intervals. This way, the brain avoids simple memorization and actually retains the information on a long-term basis. Give the full article a read here for further information, plus a comprehensive list of articles and books that will help accelerate your learning journey.