I believe that learning how to learn new things – to form a framework for learning – is one of the most valuable things that a person can do since everything else in life stems from the quality of one’s thoughts and one’s ability to adapt to new situations. Therefore I am always looking to find new ways to boost my learning – and one of the best ways that I’ve found to boost my learning is by doing daily video logs where I speak about a topic I have been thinking about or writing about during that particular day.
When it comes to learning new things, and memorization in particular, it’s all about doing a lot of repetitions of the information that you have acquired. Most people know that. Some people know that it is very beneficial to do repetitions on multiple levels: reading, writing, and speaking. Few people go beyond the first level.
Use video logs to get an extra repetition. There’s a saying, I think it was Einstein who said it, that if you can explain a thing you have learned in a simple enough manner for a novice to understand, then you probably know the subject well. When you practice doing your video logs, it helps to imagine that you are explaining a thing to someone who doesn’t know. By doing this you will improve your ability to explain things and you will get an extra repetition on the level of speaking.