Ultra Learning

One of the most difficult things to master, when students learn at their own pace, is the failure to set the proper weekly and daily goals, which which can ensure the completion of their course of study in a timely manner. In order to complete your course of study in a reasonable amount of time so you can move on to the next section of your degree program, or your next course, is to set daily, weekly and monthly goals. I tell my students that life is about setting goals – 1 year, 5-year, 10 year and 25-year goals must be made. If you do not know where you are going any road will take you there. You must set concrete goals. Even if older students are 50 he or she still may have 25 years ahead of them. Even a 60-year-old may have that many years of life left. And so, a 25-year plan, even among older folks isn’t far-fetched.

Why are goals essential?
By setting goals, with specific deadlines attached to them, you can actually measure your productivity
and see whether or not you are on target for your completion date. That is another important aspect of goal setting. Every goal must have attached to it a completion date, a deadline, that is feasible but not too lax.

For example: If you have a text book that you need to read for a course (or a number of books for that matter) you must set specific times when you are able to concentrate for that task.  If the book is of a technical nature, math, science, etc, or one that requires deep reading, thinking and notating like philosophical treatises or theological topics, then you cannot skim or “Smart Read”.  You must dig into each paragraph in order to grasp the main points that the author is making. Then you must notate the major points of that portion of the book or chapter. This is the way to learn deeply. This type of learning is called ‘Ultra Learning’. This requires time. Setting a reading/study schedule with a specific deadline is, therefore, essential if you are going to finish your required course work in a reasonable amount of time.

The Daily List for Total Completion

At the beginning of each week write down what you need to accomplish that week to reach your end goal. For instance: If your goal is to finish a book or an assignment in 4 weeks, divide your reading/assignment list into 4 weekly sections. Then divide that into 20 daily sections, presupposing a 5-day study schedule.

For example: If you need to read a total of 40 chapters and complete a total of 100 short answer assignments, divide these into a 4-week block. For this example, you will have to read 10 chapters per week and complete 25 short answer questions. That is further broken down into 5 parts corresponding to your 5-day study week. This means that you will have to read 2 chapters per day and complete 5 study questions per day.

The key to this formula is writing it down.
Writing it down in a calendar, notebook or journal gives you a tangible document you can refer to see if you are keeping up to your intended completion date. Writing it down makes it real.
The successful completion of any task is its own reward. Coram Deo!