How to Learn Anything Quickly

It’s been three years since I got into strategy and innovation consulting. I’ve spent my time doing 3-to-6-month thinking sprints with stakeholders in several industries — social tech, non-profits, finance, philanthropic foundations, and arts and culture, tackling a range of familiar and unfamiliar challenges.

And the one I have had to learn how to do is — to learn quickly. I’ve followed these simple pointers, and it’s helped immensely.

Become aware of your knowledge, assumptions, and gaps about a topic

We all walk around the world with little knowledge, several assumptions, and gaps about any topic. Before you begin, categorize what you already know into these three buckets. Use questions and observations to validate your assumptions and close gaps. And as you progress in your learning journey, you will likely gather more assumptions and potential gaps. The goal is to keep adding more to the knowledge bucket and build a cohesive and robust perspective on the topic.

Create a learning map

Learning something new can feel overwhelming. The best way to confidently navigate unknown territories is to create a learning map. Let’s say you just started a new job, and your goal is to gain a solid perspective on your industry, company, stakeholders, and role. List topics you want to cover under each stream to structure your learning; this will make your learning well-rounded.