The 20% Rule: How To Become a More Productive Learner

The famous quote, “knowledge is power”, was coined by Francis Bacon in 1597. It’s a great reminder to acquire good knowledge for life.

But it’s the application of power (knowledge) that changes lives.

In the age of knowledge abundance, we waste a lot of time on useless knowledge. It can take twice as long to find exactly what you want to solve your specific problem.

If you add all the time we spend on social media, the hours we devote doom-scrolling quickly adds up, but the bitter truth is, we not learning more.

“In short, we have become less productive learners,” argue Matt Plummer and Jo Wilson of HBR.

Reading, especially skim reading, does not necessarily translate into permanent knowledge.

A false sense of learning can derail your learning goals.

Intentional learning is quickly becoming a lost art.

The ability to find the specific knowledge and apply it to your circumstances is more powerful than consuming random knowledge.

Intellectual curiosity is a good trait for learning new things, but it can also lead you down a rabbit hole with no significant output.

Lifelong learners can quickly develop the habit of finding new things to learn, but they are likely to fail to focus on what is relevant to their goals.

A simple approach that can improve the quality of knowledge you consume is the 20 percent rule: 80 percent of the value from learning is derived from just 20 percent of the sources.

Identifying ‘the vital few’ knowledge sources of a specific topic can save you hundreds of hours of irrelevant learning that have no impact on your life.

In his book, The 80/20 Principle, Richard Koch said, “It is not shortage of time that should worry us, but the tendency for the majority of time to be spent in low-quality ways.”

As you embrace lifelong learning, it’s essential to find the best sources of deep and life-changing knowledge you can rely on to become wiser over time.

Our time is limited and short. As we move up and accelerate our progress, we don’t all have all the time and energy to follow everything worth exploring.

You are better off collecting your body of knowledge that will make the most difference in your life.

A productive learning mindset will save you a lot of time every year. When you focus on finding exactly what you need to feed your intellectual curiosities, you will become wiser in record time.

When you learn something new or dig deeper into anything you want to learn, put more effort into a few quality books, podcasts, newsletters, courses, essays that can help you achieve your learning goals.

Here’s what the top 20% of your learning sources should do for you:

1. Answer your pressing and specific learning questions.
2. Help you take action quickly/apply what you learn.
3. Be capable of changing the trajectory of your life.
4. Improve your mental models for making everyday decisions.
5. Add to your collection of wisdom that can help you navigate the complexities of life.

After every learning session, ask yourself: what are my key takeaways from this chapter, book, essay, podcast, or course?

Use that knowledge or actionable takeaway to make progress.

Ultimately, learning is not a destination, so the 20% content that works for you can help you build a learning system to improve your knowledge in many domains.

Many learning sources demand our attention but end up giving us little in return. Choose your books, newsletters and podcasts carefully.

You have a limited time to become a better version of yourself.

Spend some of that on quality knowledge that can actually change your life or make you a better person.

“The key to success appears to be regulating our knowledge intake, while putting the information we acquire into action,” says Aytekin Tank.

The abundance of knowledge without action is a waste of time. Don’t get overwhelmed — be intentional about your learning.

Control the process and stick to a few intelligent sources. Choose to become a deliberate and productive learner — it’s a better approach to lifelong learning.

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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