The first of these factors is the right technique, which requires you to understand how the mind works in general, and more specifically, how your own mind works.
The second is consistency, the road to knowledge is a bumpy one: being able to overcome obstacles and develop a habit of continuous learning is only possible if you don’t give up at the first hurdle. Lack of consistency is, in fact, the main reason for failure, but there is some good news: it does get easier with practice. The most difficult step is to resist the temptation to give it all up the first time things start to get difficult.
The third factor is progress. It would be completely unrealistic to think that you could climb a mountain by only focussing on the end goal. When we believe that any challenge is too much for us, we tend to feel overwhelmed and often give up before we even get started. To deal with this issue, the best thing to do is to proceed one step at a time, splitting the end goal into small steps.
The fourth factor is determined by how specific and tangible our goals are. By definition, an objective is something precise, measurable and tangible. For example, “I want to learn French” is not an objective, but “I want to learn 2000 new French words in three months” is, because it fits the criteria of the definition just given. Moreover, an objective should be something stimulating and achievable, to help encourage the person to pursue it without becoming overly frustrated.
The last factor is psychological. If we want to learn something, we need to be in the right frame of mind to do so. There are some effective exercises that you can do to put you and keep you in the right frame of mind to learn. Making sure you get enough sleep is one of these. Not only is sleep one of the biggest influences on our physical and mental state, but it is also an essential part of the learning process. Eating a balanced diet is also important to make sure you are in good health and in the right mood, as is physical exercise. Multitasking should be avoided because it burns a lot of energy. To help achieve the right mindset, you should also get rid of any distractions in your learning environment, such as smartphones and other digital devices. Finally, you need to understand the learning curve so that you don’t feel defeated when your progress slows down. The learning curve starts with a sense of confusion, then it spikes when you begin to make progress, then new problems arise, and it ends with a slow climb to achieve excellence.
