You Don't Know How to Learn (But It’s Not Your Fault)

I used to think I was studying.

I’d sit in the college library, highlighter pen in hand, dutifully covering words in neon yellow, feeling all rather scholarly, as if bathing my notes in the glow of a nuclear accident would somehow brand the knowledge onto my cerebral cortex.

I’d reread the same passages until my eyes glazed over, then tell myself I was “absorbing” the information.

And then, as sure as the day is long, exam time would come around, and I’d realize that my brain was as useful as a damp sponge.

Turns out, I wasn’t studying at all.

I was performing the act of studying — going through the motions, fooling myself into believing that time spent equals knowledge gained.

If that sounds familiar, congratulations. You’ve been lied to. The education system never actually taught us how to learn. But don’t worry — we’ll have a bash at fix it.

Step One: Accept that you’ve been duped

The first thing you need to come to terms with and bury deep in the ground is this: rereading and highlighting doesn’t work.

This is the central premise of Make It Stick, a book that obliterates the myth that passive review leads to mastery.

It doesn’t. It just feels like learning because the words become familiar. But there’s a massive difference between recognizing something and actually knowing it properly and being able to recall it.

Think of it like this: just because you’ve walked past your local Starbucks a hundred times doesn’t mean you know the barista’s name. Familiarity is not the same as understanding. Actually, while on the point, keep walking past Starbucks, find a local café, keep the boycott going.

The brain, sneaky wee tyke that it is, tricks you into believing you’ve got it down — until it actually matters, and then you realize you’ve been mentally treading water.

You’re probably asking, what does work?

Retrieval practice. Instead of rereading, test yourself. Close the book and try to recall everything. Struggle. Curse. Swear bloody murder and a painful end upon those who wrote the coursebooks. Then check what you missed. That struggle? That’s your brain actually forming connections.
Spaced repetition. Your brain doesn’t prioritize information unless it keeps reappearing over time. Spread your study sessions out. Revisit material days or weeks apart. This forces your brain to tag it as important.

It’s not about grinding and bombarding the inner workings of your noggin. It’s about working with your memory, not against it.

Here’s a video about the main points of the Make It Stick.

From: YouTube.com

Step Two: Stop studying like a Victorian orphan

At this point, you might be thinking, Alright, so I just need to use retrieval and space it out.

Well, that’s some of it, but not all of it. There’s another crucial piece: how you interact with information.

This is where Josh Waitzkin, child chess prodigy turned martial arts world champion, comes in. His book The Art of Learning brilliantly breaks down what separates elite learners from the rest of us.

And it’s not intelligence. It’s just the way that they practice.

Waitzkin didn’t just study chess openings; he studied the principles behind them. He didn’t just memorize moves; he learned how to think about them.

It was the same when he changed to martial arts. He was able to figure out how to thrive under pressure, not just in practice but in the chaos of competition.

For studying, this means:

Focus on deep understanding, not just memorization. If you can’t explain it in your own words, you don’t understand it properly.
Train under pressure. Quiz yourself in uncomfortable conditions. Change locations, mix up the order of information, and force yourself recall things when you least expect it.
Micro-adjustments. Small, steady improvements beat sudden bursts of effort. Trying to cram everything in one go is like trying to get fit by going to the gym for 12 hours straight — it just won’t work.

Mastery isn’t about talent. It’s about how you engage with the material that you’re learning.

Here’s a video about the main points from The Art of Learning.

From: YouTube.com

Step Three: Think like an athlete, not a student

This is where Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code blows things wide open.

It turns out that getting better at anything, from learning calculus to playing the violin, comes down to something physical, and it’s called myelin.

Myelin is the insulation that wraps around your neural pathways.

The more you practice a skill, the thicker the myelin gets and the faster and stronger those pathways fire. This is why top athletes and musicians seem to operate on another level — their neural pathways are quite literally more efficient.

But here’s the lynchpin: myelin only builds when you struggle.

Slow practice beats fast practice. Struggling through something deliberately, making mistakes along the way, and correcting them builds skill faster than mindless repetition.
Interleaving works. Mixing up different subjects or types of problems in a study session forces your brain to work harder, which strengthens those neural pathways.
Effort matters. If studying feels too easy, you’re not learning.

The best way to build skills is by deliberately pushing yourself into discomfort.

Here’s a video about the main points from The Talent Code.

From: YouTube.com

Step Four: Trick yourself into doing the work

Alright, so now you know what works. But what about actually sticking to it?

This is where James Clear’s Atomic Habits comes in. Because let’s be honest, most people don’t really struggle all that much with studying itself. They struggle with getting their finger out and sitting down to do it in the first place.

Clear lays out a dead-simple formula for making habits stick:

Cue: Link studying to a trigger (e.g., right after dinner).
Craving: Pair it with something enjoyable (coffee, music, the satisfaction of crossing it off a list).
Response: Make it stupidly easy to start (have your books out and ready).
Reward: Reinforce it (small treats, checking progress, watching yourself improve).

The key is to lower the barrier to entry. If you have to “get in the mood” to study, you’ve already lost. Set it up so you can’t not do it.

And the most important rule? 1% improvement every day.

You don’t need to overhaul your entire study routine overnight. Just make tiny, steady improvements and trust in the knowledge that the compound effect will take care of the rest.

Here’s a video of James Clear talking about his book, Atomic Habits.

From: YouTube.com

Step Five: Ditch the guilt, study smart

The problem isn’t that you’re lazy.

The problem is that you’ve been taught to study in a way that doesn’t work.

So here’s the new plan:

Stop rereading. Test yourself instead.
Use spaced repetition. Study in intervals, not cramming.
Train under pressure. Make your brain work for it.
Struggle to learn. If it’s too easy, it’s not sticking.
Use habits to make studying automatic. Trick your brain into consistency.

Follow this, and you won’t just pass exams — you’ll actually know things.

And trust me, that’s a much better feeling than highlighting words in a textbook and hoping they sink in.

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Who am I? Hi! I’m Paddy Murphy.

Thanks for reading my article about learning to learn. I’m actually a counselor, teacher, and professional writer with 20+ years of experience.

If you’re ready to deepen your practice or work through challenges, let’s talk. Book a free 30-minute discovery call here.

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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