what if there was a proven way to pick up in demand skills quickly without having to go back to school this is what Scott young talks about in his book ultr learning he argues that traditional educational methods are inefficient and outdated and they don't teach us the most important skill to succeed which is how to become self-reliant to take control of our lives through learning so I'm going to show you how to implement the nine rules of ultr learning and by the end you'll have a step-by-step Playbook to quickly learn high value skills to gain
a competitive advantage and increase your earning potential the first rule comes before learning even begins and it might be the most important one of them all imagine I wanted to learn how to grow an educational YouTube channel from scratch funny enough I would search on YouTube how to start a YouTube channel I'd ask chpt and i' probably do a few Google searches and my goal here is just get a big picture overview of the process and start building a strategy this is rule number one meta learning figuring out the what why and how of what
we're about to learn because if it's not clear it's confusing and the more you can break it down and simplify this the better this is why in school we get a syllabus when we start the year or when you start a new job you get onboarded you have expectations set before you so you know what goals you're working towards so looking at those three things for starting this YouTube channel what are the two to three core learning objectives and then decide when and I would physically block out in your calendar when you're going to do
that what and then finally how what courses what resources what coaching are you going to use to get started you want to have a big picture overview of the exact things you need to learn and in what order get specific here so you know exactly what to do every day but even with meta learning we won't make any progress without rule number two so let's say I've just meta learned how to grow my educational YouTube channel and now I'm at my desk with a hot cup of matcha and I'm ready to learn but right when
I open up notion I get a notification I get text messages now I'm scrolling social media I'm completely distracted from my plan and before I know it 4 hours have passed and not a single thing has been learned all because I'm missing a key ingredient for Ultra learning rule number two is to focus deeply when learning concentrated effort leads to higher quality and more efficient learning I recommend building a deep work routine you know something that you can use and rely on to prepare your mind and your environment for focusing you might decide to spend
2 hours in deep work in the mornings focused on building the channel or if you're more of a night owl maybe you do this in the evening and during this deep work time you enter Do Not Disturb mode you put your phone in another room you close all the other tabs all the programs you don't need and you just hyperfocus on learning if you want to use my protocol I'll leave a link up here it's the exact same one that we teach all of our students in study Quest so stop trying to create more time
for Learning and instead make your time worth more you need to build a habit of focus so that we're ready for the next rule of ultra learning so let's say that I focus deeply for 2 hours every day this week following my meta learning plan I consumed all my resources I've watched through the courses and I've read books on ideation scripting and video editing I did all this but I never actually sat down hit record and filmed a YouTube video this is one of the most common mistakes that hold us back from learning faster rule
number three is directedness being actively engaged in the process that we want to master it's about learning by doing so within our nervous system there are two Pathways for learning the declarative path which involves learning Concepts facts and definitions and then we have the procedural path which involves learning by doing like knowing facts about things doesn't really mean you understand it or truly know it right we need that procedural element the application to actually round out our learning and directedness is about applying what we learned and this is why it's always more effective to build
a project while you're working on a skill because projects force you to apply what you're learning so if my goal is to create better educational YouTube videos I can't just study it all day I actually have to sit down and record educational YouTube videos right so directedness rounds out the procedural pathway and helps us solidify what we're learning but where we direct our Focus plays a huge role in how fast we learn and that's where this next rule comes in so let's say that now I'm publishing YouTube videos the ideas are better the audio sounds
nice and crisp the script is tight and packed with value everything seems great except the thumbnails kind of suck even though the thumbnails are the only thing struggling it's actually the biggest problem holding us back from learning faster Rule Number Four is to drill the skills that need the most Improvement it's natural to avoid working on the things that we suck at or we'll try to compensate by doing everything that we really good at even better but to develop Mastery we have to work on all areas especially the ones that we're bad at because learning
is all interconnected and everything works together and usually by fixing one problem area suddenly it'll multiply right synergistically work together to improve all of our learning but the same is also true in the opposite direction think of this like your great point average your GPA even if you Ace every single single class if you just fail one class that's going to pull the average of your grade point average down a lot you're only as good as your weakest link so if the problem is thumbnails I should spend the most time Drilling and improving thumbnail creation
and in doing so every other area of my videos is going to get better as well right it's going to make the title make more sense it's going to improve the idea of the video the concept overall and it's going to increase the chances that people will actually watch the video and get that juicy value that you're trying to provide but how do we know when our learning sticks so let's say I'm drilling thumbnails hard now whenever I design new thumbnail I pull up all my resources and my notes and I follow along to make
a really good thumbnail but after a few months I still find it hard to remember some of the techniques that I've been practicing this is another common mistake that prevents us from learning faster because if I always rely on my notes and look up the answers then my brain never has to put in any effort to remember how to do it rule number five is to learn using retrieval retrieval is actively recalling the information and the skills that you learned from memory and it's been shown in hundreds of studies as one of the most important
strategies for strengthening and cementing what we've learned into our long-term memory but most Learners avoid it because it's uncomfortable it requires a lot of effort right think about how much more challenging it would be to give a presentation without speaker notes if you always use speaker notes the first few times you're going to struggle a lot but over time with enough repetitions it's going to become easier and easier to do I think teaching is a super powerful way to use retrieval by teaching something you get to learn it twice that's assuming that you're not looking
at your notes so if I could teach the process of Designing a fire thumbnail and someone follows only my instructions and also creates a fire thumbnail that's a learning win retrieval is one of the best learning methods but if we combine it with this next rule you'll become Unstoppable so let's say that I've nailed the process of Designing thumbnails and I can crank them out now for memory but for some reason the views on the channel aren't flooding in and after sleepless nights and frustration I finally decide to ask people what they thought about the
content little did I know that by doing that I was implementing the rule that has the biggest potential to improve our learning rule number six is to receive and implement frequent feedback feedback helps you see what you can't see yourself to be more specific here Scott young states that the least valuable form of feedback is something called ego feedback or praise that just makes you feel good but it doesn't identify any area of improvement like if the feedback I get is that this mustache is sexy that I'm perfect and that the algorithm is rigged and
it's pulling my channel down I don't really know what to change the best form of feedback is constructive and corrective so as I'm growing my channel I should be looking at the comments I should be looking at the analytics I should be asking people to roast my content figure out what they like and what they don't like I should be sending out surveys and doing things to seek that constructive corrective criticism to learn faster so with these six rules so far you should be Speed Learning right devouring this knowledge like Oreos but how do we
make sure we don't forget it or Worse have to relearn it well that's what these last few rules are all about so now let's say the YouTube channel is growing nicely and we're starting to get people asking us if we have a coaching program or service that we can help them with along the way so I spend the next 6 months building a coaching program to help them solve the problems but when I return to making YouTube videos my skills are kind of rusty The Meta has changed and my content strategy is so 2023 and
it feels like I'm starting from scratch again I could have avoided all of this if I implemented rule number seven of ultr learning which is retention retention means regular practice with your Knowledge and Skills to stay sharp because if you don't use it you lose it this is why only 20% of Americans are bilingual even though everyone has to take like 3 or 4 years of a second language going through school if we don't practice we don't main so try to set up systems and revisit what you've learned a really powerful strategy is to repackage
what you've learned into a different use case so for example if I was growing an educational YouTube channel I probably got pretty good at making educational videos right to teach people so as I'm building my coaching program I would consider making videos to complement it right like a self-paced course that you can do along the side this is exactly what we did when we built study quests it was an easy way to practice scripting filming and editing videos just use for a different context it's not just about revisiting your notes or looking at flashcards to
surface ideas it's actively seeking opportunities to apply and implement the skills that you've learned but what does it mean to be a master of your craft because the smartest thinkers think on a completely different level and that's where this next rule comes in as I continue to use these rules over time I start to develop a kind of six sense for educational YouTube videos I begin to question my mentors I'm starting to doubt some of the resources and the knowledge out there in the world about making YouTube videos because once you get to a certain
level of Mastery you start to develop a different type of mindset rule number eight is Intuition or the gut feeling that just comes with experience right when you know it you just know it you know this is why surgeons who've performed thousands of surgeries on a particular organ they don't even blink an eye when something unexpected happens they just know exactly what they're supposed to do they're so familiar with how to adapt and Implement those skills that it just becomes play so immerse yourself in what you learn you know eat sleep breathe dream about that
stuff and over time your mindset will change and you'll develop a deep intuition so for the YouTube stuff I might start to notice nuances in details and structure I might notice that some of the words I say resonate with some people I might notice that some of the b-roll changes some of the transitions that I make are more effective than the other ones intuition is a sign of deep expertise and that's what we should be seeking with learning so at this point I'm extremely confident with growing the channel and we're starting to get a lot
more views but 3 years later the views start to drop growth plateaus and the content starts to feel a little stale and on top of that I'm also starting to feel a little bored with making videos and to reignite the passion and desire to continue learning we decide to Rebrand the channel and spice up the content rule number nine is experimentation trying new approaches to refine and optimize your process not only does it make learning more fun but it actually dramatically improves our learning to learn is to create the reason why innovators love learning so
much is because it's enjoyable and as a byproduct of figuring out how things work they create products right these are solutions and services that impact society and help us live better lives so once you get really really good at what you do it's experimentation that brings your learning to The Cutting Edge come up with new formats or styles of teaching in videos that no one else has ever seen or remix your ideas in such a unique way that people can't help but watch there are endless ways to get creative with educational content there is short
form long form podcasts challenges case studies listicles this is where learning becomes play and it's through experimentation that you also maintain High curiosity and interest for what you're learning to continue getting better at your craft so follow these nine rules for Ultra learning to acquire skills quickly and increase your earning potential so the next question becomes what skills should you Ultra learn and what kind of system will help you stay organized well I answer all of those questions in this video here
