I have always been a Learner – I think most of us are. As children, we were naturally curious beings. If you watch a small child, note the wonder in their eyes as they enjoy swinging at the park or splashing through puddles. Remember their joy when you read the same story to them for the fiftieth time and they wanted you to read it again? At what point did learning become a chore?

Can we bring back the fun to learning? What is the secret? Can we make it an enjoyable habit for life?

According to Charles Duhigg and Dr, Oakley, habits have four components: the cue, the response, the reward and the accompanying belief. What reward can we give ourselves to make learning an enjoyable habit again? Do you want to learn a new language? Explore astrophysics? Learn to cha-cha? Finish the degree you started? Train for a 10K?

Since our brain does not come with a user’s manual, we must look to neuroscience to find the answers. There are quite a few resources to help us. Two of my favorites are  http://www.brainrules.org/ and www.brainfacts.org.The phrase sound mind, sound body keeps repeating. I read Brain Rules a few years ago and it fed my interest to know more. That is why I enrolled in the MOOC Learning How to Learn. I wanted to see more of what I had learned and putting all of this together has been affirming.

The best things you can do for yourself and your learning is to exercise and get a good night’s sleep! Aerobic and cardiovascular exercise are key to helping the mind move between focused to diffuse thinking. Per Dr. Terrence Sejnowski, http://www.hhmi.org/news/exercise-improves-learning-and-memory  when we exercise we are building new nerve cells and neural pathways which help us build memory and understand the material. So, if you have been sitting in that desk chair for awhile, you need to get up and move around. Take a walk, go for a run, play fetch with the dog – just get off the couch!  http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/21/health/sitting-will-kill-you.

So, once you review the science, how do you develop the discipline to learn? There is a wonderful MOOC available at https://www.coursera.org/ titled Learning How to Learn.  Dr. Oakley shares techniques both in her MOOC and book A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science. She tackles procrastination using the Pomodoro Technique  http://pomodorotechnique.com/ and focusing on the process rather than the product. An application of the Pomodoro Technique can be found with the Couch to 5K method of training – you don’t start out running a 5K the first day of training but instead alternate between running and walking for 30 minutes. You start your timer and go. To work on the process (form) rather than the product (distance), you deliberately practice running as fast as you can for a shorter distance.  During this practice, you are work on form (process) rather than product (running) to help train yourself to use the proper running  form to protect you from injury rather than endurance.

Although I was never an athlete, I decided that I needed to get out of my comfort zone of the cerebral and reconnect with my physical self. I signed up for a race with a friend and then had to get serious.  I had given her my word, I could not back out now. So, I didn’t want to just jump right in so I did some research. I found a running plan, put an app on my phone and found a good playlist. We completed the 5K and now have to set the next goal for ourselves – we have signed up for another 5K and I have registered for a 10K and joined a training program.  I am now also doing the research on proper nutrition and training and the right equipment and how to prepare for the weather….

Now to make learning a habit…. You must address all four parts of habit. The cue – have you set up a place in your house to study? Do you study at a particular time of day? What triggers your brain that you are about to focus? The next step in the process is routine – this is where you apply the learning techniques from Dr. Oakley. Changing this routine increasing your learning efficiency. Now the reward – have you understood a complex section of text? Learned new vocabulary?  Mastered the dance? This feeling of accomplishment may be all the reward you need or maybe you allow yourself a piece of chocolate or a short visit to a favorite website. The final part of habit is belief. You have to believe in your abilities to learn the material. I did not believe myself to be a runner, but now it is becoming a habit.  I put on my shoes which helps me get out the door. I do a short warm up and then I start running.  I get the reward at the end of the run in my feelings of accomplishment and confidence. I feel my body changing and have more energy. The positive feedback from friends doesn’t hurt either!

And after a full day of learning, make sure to get a good night’s sleep so that you can move the short term memory into long term memory.  Sleep has been shown to help us consolidate our memories http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/learning-memory and solidify our learning.