How to Optimize Learning

I am interested in how to optimize learning because now that I have passed my sixth decade of life, I realize how much there is to learn given the rapid pace of intellectual advancement. The more I learn, the more I can help others through my work. My ability to help others as a leadership trainer, writer, and professional facilitator is limited only by the quality of my learning. So, to help as many people as I can, I need to optimize my learning.

Learning is needed in the workplace to achieve a stretch goal. I have yet to meet a workplace professional who has plenty of free time for learning. In fact, when I worked in industry over a decade ago, I would engage in learning activities to support my work goals on my own time outside of work. I loved learning so I did not see learning on my own time as an undue burden. But, even a lover of learning will experience stress from too many hours per week spent on work and not enough hours spent on the other things in life that bring joy like family, friends, and creative endeavors. I have found that I need a balance of work activities and non-work activities to find fulfillment in my life. So, learning needed for work needs to be optimized to balance time spent on work versus non-work activities.

Learning has also been my saving grace in times of crushing disappointment, blinding anger, or painful loss. Of course, learning can only happen once strong negative emotion is dissipated. But, I find that exploring what is causing the fear behind the strong negative emotion helps me process what happened and see a path forward. For me, seeing a path forward means I have learned a lesson or something new about myself and I have some work to do on myself or for others.

The path I have found to optimize learning based on my research of and experience with learning consists of three steps. The first step is finding personal motivation for learning. The second step is crystallizing the learning need or want. The third step is customizing the learning process. This post describes the learning science behind these three steps and provides a template with examples on how to do these three steps.

Finding Personal Motivation for Learning

The first step to optimize learning is finding personal motivation for learning which is about tapping into intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is when we find the motivation to learn from within ourselves as opposed to extrinsic motivation which involves external forces. An example of intrinsic motivation is me selecting an art class my freshman year of college as an elective course because I enjoy artistic activities like drawing, painting, and crafts. An example of extrinsic motivation is me taking an economics class I did not enjoy but which was required for me to get the reward of a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering.

The science of motivation shows that intrinsic motivation produces better cognitive effort than extrinsic motivation. For example, intrinsic motivation leads to higher performance of thinking tasks compared to extrinsic motivation (https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_the_puzzle_of_motivation?language=en). Likewise, intrinsic motivation leads to better learning because it fuels the pursuit of meaning and the ability to be resilient in the face of learning challenges (https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/16/09/intrinsically-motivated).

The way I find intrinsic motivation for learning is to answer one or more of the following questions with respect to my learning challenge or topic:

• How could what you need to learn/do benefit others?
• How does what you need to learn/do benefit you?
• How does what you need to learn/do connect to your values?
• How does what you need to learn/do connect to your personal mission – the reason you are here?
• How does what you need to learn/do strengthen one of your strengths or help you master something you are good at?

An example learning topic for me is applying up-to-date and credible findings from cognitive neuroscience to increase effective collaboration in the workplace. This learning desire connects directly to my personal mission statement to catalyze the power of human connection. This learning desire also connects directly to my passions for science, learning, and connecting. As a trained chemical engineer, it is important for me to understand how credible science applies to my collaboration consulting services.

Crystallizing the Learning Need or Want

The second step to optimize learning is crystallizing the learning need or want which is about tapping into your interest. Interest is important to learning because our brain is wired to focus on and remember the things that we find interesting. Ever become obsessed with remembering something you saw in a Facebook advertisement? I do this all the time in the morning when I am lying in bed and surfing Facebook with no pen nor paper to write down the thing I want to learn more about.

The most powerful method I have found to generate interest when crystallizing a learning need or want is to determine what success looks like once the learning is completed. One of Stephen R. Covey’s habits from Seven Habits of Highly Successful People is to begin with the end in mind. Imagine you have completed the learning needed or wanted and you are very pleased with what this enables you to do – what does this look like? This is asking what success looks like at the start of a learning journey and is one way of practicing this habit of beginning with the end in mind.

I use the following three steps to diverge and then converge my thinking to crystallize a learning need or want:

1. Brainstorm responses to: In what ways can tackling this learning challenge lead to success? Think of success in its broadest sense (e.g., success for you, a project or goal, the organization, society, and so on). Jot down all your ideas (tip: use post-it notes, one idea per post-it note, either analog or digital such as in MIRO to help with the next step).
2. Analyze and focus your ideas to determine what success looks like. It can be helpful to first group your ideas from the first step into different categories for success and next prioritize by deciding what is most important to you in defining success for your learning challenge.
3. Write down what success looks like for this learning challenge making sure it is specific enough to be measurable.

I’m going to walk through these three steps to crystallize the learning need or want for my learning topic of applying up-to-date and credible findings from cognitive neuroscience to increase effective collaboration in the workplace. The first step is brainstorming ideas to the following problem (see ideas below): In what ways can applying up-to-date and credible findings from cognitive neuroscience to increase effective collaboration in the workplace lead to success?

• point to the neuroscience research that supports my existing collaboration tools
• develop new collaboration tools based on neuroscience
• improve my approaches to facilitation based on neuroscience
• write a book on how to apply neuroscience to socialization in the workplace
• write a book on how parents can apply neuroscience to the socialization of children
• write a book on how neuroscience applies to teamwork
• write a book on how neuroscience can solve our biggest societal challenges
• team with one or more neuroscientists to develop an action plan for how society can get serious about addressing climate change
• understand the optimal balance between free will and social conscience for individual and societal well-being
• train politicians on practical tools to assess societal well-being
• train executives on practical tools for responsible business innovation

The second step to crystallize the learning need or want is grouping the ideas from the first step into categories to draw some insights and determine what is most important to define success for your learning challenge. The categories I came up with for the ideas in the first step were as follows:

• scientific basis for existing collaboration tools
• develop new science-based collaboration tools
• author a book(s)
• broaden training offering
• contribute to the field of cognitive neuroscience

The highest priority for me to define success was writing a business book.

The third and final step to crystallize the learning need or want is to articulate what success looks like for the learning challenge in a way that is specific enough to be measurable. For me success looks like writing a book that is compelling enough to attract a literary agent and for that literary agent to get me an advance and a publishing deal.

Customizing the Learning Process

The third and final step to optimize learning is customizing the learning process. Researchers have found that different approaches to learning yield different results. Learning is acquiring knowledge or skills through experience, study, or training. Our brain acquires knowledge or skills by storing the knowledge or skills for recall when needed. Research shows that we remember best in context and tend to forget isolated facts. This makes sense because in caveman times we would need to remember where to find berries for eating or where the sabretooth tigers sleep during the day to insure survival. In the modern workforce, it is helpful to remember things like which behaviors make the boss happy and what triggers a colleague to work against you. An effective learning process must meet the learning need or want and produce retention of the knowledge or skills acquired using techniques like providing context for learning content.

Research on learning shows that the degree of retention depends on the learning process used. The higher the retention, the more effective the learning because the more the knowledge and skills you are exposed to can be applied as needed. The National Training Laboratories in the 1950’s developed a learning retention pyramid or cone of learning (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_z4gdv7t88). The cone of learning shows that at one extreme retention is 90% when you learn by teaching others but at the other extreme is only 5% for learning by a traditional classroom lecture.

The learning retention pyramid is supported by the AGES® model introduced in 2010 by Lila Davachi, Tobias Kiefer, David Rock, and Lisa Rock and refined by the NeuroLeadership Institute in 2014. The AGES® model presents the four principles that embed new learning in the brain based on the big drivers of memory systems during encoding by the brain. A comparison of the AGES® model to the learning retention pyramid shows a simple correlation between the number of AGES® principles engaged and the retention rate of different learning techniques (in parenthesis).

“A” of AGES® is for Attention (learn best with focused attention for no longer than 20 minutes at a time):

• Teaching Others (90%)
• Practicing by Doing (75%)
• Using a Discussion Group (50%)
• Using a Demonstration (30%)
• Audio Visual (20%)
• Reading (10%)
• Lecture (5%)

“G” of AGES® is for Generation (encode best by making connections to what we already know):

• Teaching Others (90%)
• Practicing by Doing (75%)
• Using a Discussion Group (50%)
• Audio Visual (20%)

“E” of AGES® is for Emotion (too little or too much emotion impairs learning)

• Teaching Others (90%)
• Practicing by Doing (75%)
• Using a Discussion Group (50%)
• Audio Visual (20%)

“S” of AGES® is for Spacing (process learning best over several days especially after sleeping)

• Teaching Others (90%)
• Practicing by Doing (75%)

The learning techniques of teaching others and practicing by doing which have retention rates of 90% and 75% respectively tap into all four principles of the AGES® model for making learning stick in adults. In contrast, the learning techniques of reading and lecture which have retention rates of 10% and 5% respectively tap into only one of the four AGES® model principles for making learning stick in adults.
My approach for customizing the learning process consists of three parts that consider how our brain learns best. The three parts are establishing helpful context, generating useful insights, and learning by doing. I will illustrate customizing the learning process for the following learning challenge: writing a book that is compelling enough to attract a literary agent and for that literary agent to get me an advance and a publishing deal.

The first part for customizing the learning process is establishing helpful context using research and analysis as follows:

1. Identify through on-line research analogous success stories for your learning challenge (for example, has this type of success been achieved for the same challenge by other people or in another organization, industry, market, sector, and so on OR has this type of success been achieved for a different challenge by others or in your organization) and research these success stories to determine what was most helpful to their success.
2. Distill the information captured from the analogous success stories into a set of common elements and characteristics important to success.
3. Identify through on-line research the approaches, processes, methods, and tools available for these common elements or characteristics.
4. Prioritize which approaches, processes, methods, and tools you would like to use for your learning challenge.

On-line research for writing a book that is compelling enough to attract a literary agent and for that literary agent to get me an advance and a publishing deal revealed some helpful resources. For example, I found a successful business book writer, Brian Tracey, that offers an on-line course on how to write and publish a business book based on his personal experience. I also found compelling testimonies about how Brian Tracey’s program helped others to be successful. Further, I found a webinar by Joshua Milburne on how to improve your writing. I distilled my on-line research to the conclusion that learning from someone else who has published a successful business book is a smart way to begin the process of writing my non-fiction book. Based on this conclusion, I decided to explore the free webinar by Joshua Milburn on how to write better (http://www.theminimalists.com/workshop/) and the virtual course by Brian Tracey on how to write a book and become a published author (http://www.briantracy.com/catalog/how-to-write-a-book-and-become-a-published-author).

The second part for customizing the learning process is generating useful insights from the lessons that practitioners have learned. My approach for generating useful insights from practitioners is as follows:

For your learning challenge, identify those in your network that are practitioners. If there is no-one in your network, then use on-line search and social media like LinkedIn to identify practitioners.

1. Interview the practitioners in your network to determine what they did, how they did it, what worked, what didn’t work, and why.
2. For practitioners not in your network, find interviews, blog posts, papers, videos, or books about their experience relevant to your learning challenge.
3. Distill the information collected from practitioners into the key insights and questions of how you can achieve success for your challenge. Assess if the approaches and tools of high priority selected in the establishing helpful context step can address the insights and questions or modify as needed.

I identified two people in my network who are successful non-fiction writers. I set up Zoom calls with them to determine what they did, how they did it, what worked, what didn’t work, and why for writing and publishing a business book. I surmised that the virtual course by Brian Tracey will provide a helpful template to understand the publishing industry and an approach to write a compelling book. I also concluded that Brian Tracey’s course would pair well with the live webinar by Joshua Milburn which would afford me the ability to ask questions once I learned more about publishing and writing a book.

The third and final part for customizing the learning process is learning by doing or engaging in an identified learning technique. Once you start your learning journey, you will build the understanding needed to achieve desired results through a process of learning, inquiry, and reflection. I decided to start by taking Brian Tracey’s virtual course. After taking the virtual course, I will inquire and reflect as follows:

• Capture useful insights from the learning technique. For each insight, brainstorm answers to the following: In what ways might your desired result be achieved if this insight is accurate or correct?
• Based on the answers to this question, create an action plan.
• Determine how to measure how well the action plan is leading to the desired result. Keep in mind that more than one metric may be needed to assess progress towards the desired result.
• Launch the action plan while measuring progress towards the desired result.
• Reflect on what is working and not working and generate new actions for better results including new learning techniques as needed.

I have since retained a literary agent and she got me a contract with a publisher including an advance so I could publish my first business book (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1632651823). I also completed a proposal for a second book that my literary agent is presenting to publishers. Finally, I created a free book club kit for my first book (https://s83ebe.a2cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/When-Bad-Teams-Happen-to-Good-People-Book-Club-Kit-10Oct2023.pdf) because a book is a powerful way to learn when you involve others in the learning process.

Summary of How to Optimize Learning

Learning is needed in the workplace to achieve a stretch goal, recover from adversity, and keep pace with the rapid rate of intellectual advancement yet it is hard to find free time for learning. A 2017 study found that 70% of Americans are unhappy with their career choices so not only is learning needed to achieve goals, recover from adversity, and stay ahead of advancements but learning is also needed to change careers in pursuit of career fulfillment (https://www.mhanational.org/sites/default/files/Mind%20the%20Workplace%20-%20MHA%20Workplace%20Health%20Survey%202017%20FINAL.PDF). You can feel good about setting aside time for learning by using the formula I have found to optimize learning based on research and my experience as a lover of learning. First you want to articulate your personal motivation for learning because intrinsic motivation produces better cognitive effort and learning than extrinsic motivation. Second you want to crystallize your learning need or want by determining what success looks like once the learning is completed because this will pique your interest which is also needed for effective learning. And third, you want to customize your learning process according to how neuroscience understands the brain learns best. My approach to customize learning that leverages neuroscience is to establish helpful context, generate useful insights, and learn by doing. This post provides a step-by-step template with examples to help you optimize your learning.

An important source of learning is a non-fiction book which provide a treasure-trove of practitioner-based insights. You need to combine reading a non-fiction book with discussing that book with others such as through a book club in order to tap into all four neuroscience principles for learning to stick (check out my free book club kit for When Bad Teams Happen to Good People: Your Complete Repair Guide for Successful Teamwork here: https://s83ebe.a2cdn1.secureserver.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/When-Bad-Teams-Happen-to-Good-People-Book-Club-Kit-10Oct2023.pdf).