If you listened to my first podcast episode, you know it was a little rough. The volume of the intro music overpowered my voice, I rambled off topic at times, and I repeated myself more than I would have liked. But I’m still learning – my podcasting skills will get better with research and practice. Below are a few tips that I’m using to learn how as fast as possible about podcasting that can be applied to any skill or knowledge you want to acquire.
1. Ask someone who already knows. Sounds simple, right? But sometimes we can be like an old man lost on the highway – afraid to ask for directions. Finding a formal mentor or coach can help you cut the learning curve at an accelerated rate, but they are not always accessible. Just asking someone you know whose knowledge base exceeds your own can be helpful. I had a few email exchanges with people who have experience podcasting and they were able to answer questions that could have taken me hours to figure out on my own.
2. Find a trailblazer. A trailblazer is someone who has already accomplished what you are trying to learn. A trailblazer is different from a coach or mentor in that you can’t ask them questions, but you can research what they did to accomplish the task. Ideally, the trailblazer you look to will have acquired the knowledge you seek under similar circumstances. So if you are a single mom with two kids working three jobs and you want to figure out how to graduate from college, there are other people you can look to who have graduated college under similar circumstances. I’ve been listening to the audio of successful podcasters, reading their equipment recommendations, and I even pay attention to the way they lay out each of their posts. Even without asking them a single question, I have learned from their example.
3. Know how you prefer to receive information. Some people prefer learning from audio content (which is part of the reason I started the podcast), some prefer video, and some like myself prefer text based information. Understanding your personal learning style will allow you to play to your strengths and learn faster.
4. Clip the deadline. You can increase your rate of learning by giving yourself less time to acquire the knowledge. This is a concept known as Parkinson’s Law which states, “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” So if you have to learn how to use Powerpoint for a presentation that you have to give in one month, set your personal deadline two weeks before the actual presentation. I suppose many of us do this unintentionally through procrastination. For me, I’ve committed to doing the podcast each Friday which gives me just a week between posts to learn as much as I can.
5. Accountability. In the academic learning environment, we are held accountable by grades. If we do not learn the material, we receive an “F” and are not permitted to move to the next level. Public accountability can be a great incentive for learning faster. Whether that’s learning how to dance for your wedding or acquiring healthy eating and exercise habits to lose weight for a beach vacation – people will see what you have learned. And if you want to use the internet for accountability (like posting a weekly podcast) there are forums, blogs, and social media outlets to post your progress updates on a variety of subjects.
6: Fail faster. Nothing beats experience for learning as fast as possible. But the key is to make adjustments after your inevitable mistakes. Practice does not make perfect – perfect practice makes perfect. I could keep doing podcasts each week, but if I don’t adjust the volume levels and start planning each post with an outline, then the end product will not improve and I will not learn how to produce better episodes.
Learning fast is fun – not only do we get excited with rapid progress, but we can eventually move on to the next skill or subject that strikes our interest. When you are looking to cut down the learning curve, keep the above 6 tips in mind.
What tips do you have that help you learn faster? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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I've been helping people lose weight and get fit since 2001. To learn more about my simple approach to health and fitness 
[...] It is the battle scars that serve proof that we have paid the cost and are deserving of the spoils of our efforts. It is not so much the teeth-gritting endurance of pain as much as the acceptance of pain (dare I say the welcoming of pain), that allows admittance to the fast-track of the learning curve. [...]