Learn Anything Faster by Asking 4 Simple Questions.
Marketing is changing faster than ever before. Keeping on top of industry tech and trends in addition to developments among your own products, services and corporate culture can seem overwhelming. That's Lot of knowledge coming at you.
Despite what old adages might say, knowledge is not power. Knowledge is potential. It doesn’t become power until acted upon. Knowing this, the goal should be to learn what you need as quickly and efficiently as possible so you can get to the work of DOING. Here we’re going to learn how to (a) reduce the time it takes to learn something new, (b) quickly and efficiently understand and fully comprehend the new information and (c) figure out what we do and don’t understand, and what to do about it.
The best part: it starts with just four questions. In this article, I’m going to give you the four questions. Then I’m going to explain why these four questions are important and how and why they work. Then, at the end, I’m going to tell you how each of the questions opens a door into a much deeper understanding of the subject you’re exploring, and give you tips for expanding on each question to do just that.
The Four Questions
1. What is this?
2. How is it like/different from something you already understand?
3. What if this were the sole artifact an alien archeologist a million years in the future had to base an understanding of human civilization on?
4. If this is true, what else must be true? If it’s not true, what does that mean?
These questions might not look like much, but the impact of simply asking them any time you encounter new information is huge. First off, actively engaging with any information you’re trying to learn is more productive than simply passively reading or listening. But why these four questions specifically? Because each one embodies the fundamental truth of a specific critical thinking skill: analysis, critique, creativity and logic, respectively.
Everyone today decries the lack of critical thinking in today’s society. I totally agree. But the conversation gets a bit uncomfortable when I ask two questions:
- That’s great. What is critical thinking, specifically?
- Tell me the process you intentionally use to apply critical thinking to new information.
Unfortunately, when most people complain about other people’s lack of critical thinking skills, what they really mean is “that idiot doesn’t agree with me. What’s wrong with them?”
These four questions provide you with a framework for quick applying actual critical thinking to any and all new material that crosses your path. Let’s get deeper into those skills.
Analysis
Analysis is quantitative, concrete and deconstructive. Here you are only interested in facts. What are its weights and measurements? What does it do? How does it work? What are its parts? What do they do? This is literally the who, what, where, when and why of an object or idea.
When you ask, “what is this,” you begin the process of analysis.
Critique
Critique is abstract, qualitative and deconstructive. Critique deals with how the object or idea fits into the context of a larger world and draws comparisons and contrasts with things similar and dissimilar. When you ask “how is this like something I already understand? How is it different?” you begin creating an analogy. You are trying to understand something new in terms of something you already grasp.
Push the analogy until it begins to break down, and then ask why it breaks down at that point.
Creativity
Creativity is abstract, qualitative and constructive. You are taking two unrelated ideas and smashing them together to see what happens. Creativity actually begins at “what if…?” The alien archeologist is just one specific example that forces you to remove the context from the new information that often leads to assumptions. But anything could follow “what if…” What if this were created by a dog? Alexander the Great? Leonardo DaVinci? What if you had to replace this with a pinecone, or a Tesla Model X, or a cheeseburger?
The less sense this question makes on the surface, the more unexpected your creative results will be.
Logic
Logic is Concrete, Quantitative and Constructive. Here you are assuming a precept to be true and seeing where it leads. If “X,” then “Y.”
“If this is true, what else must be true,” is the most fundamental logic question there is. This line of reasoning eventually led Descartes to his famous “I think, therefore I am.” The original question: how can I be certain I even exist?
The Neurological Benefit of the Four Questions
Asking the questions and trying to answer them doesn’t just consciously foster understanding. When you ask these questions, each one activates a different part of the brain. Analysis, Critique, Creativity and Logic each sit in a different functional center of the brain.
The brain is a computer designed to provide answers. It tends to portion out resources based on evolutionary survival-based judgements. Will this keep me safe? Can I eat it? Can it eat me? Will it help me procreate? These are the brain’s default channels.
When you consciously focus more resources on something, it signals the brain that this is important, too. By engaging different neural centers of the brain with the new information, the brain sees that this is a new priority and will in essence, keep a tab open for it.
These connections between the new info and these neural centers also act to hold the information in your mind more effectively.
Applying the Four Questions
You don’t have to let critical thinking overwhelm or interfere with your life. In fact, the best approach is to ask and quickly try to generate a clear, succinct answer. If you can answer a question, then you know it (it’s still a good idea to double check and verify your answer is correct). If you can’t answer it clearly and succinctly, that’s also a good thing. Now you know where your understanding falls short and where to focus your time to improve your comprehension.
If the information is not something that is going to be critical (as defined by you… could be critical to work, your personal life or a hobby), then simply asking and trying to answer can be enough. You’re thinking about it, and you have an idea of what you do and don’t understand about it. You’re already ahead of the crowd.
If the information is going to be critical, then formalizing your process a bit will go a long way in helping you master it.
1. As with any information, simply ask and try to answer the questions for the subject or concept as a whole. Verify the answers you have, and do research to find the answers you don’t.
2. Break it down into its major individual parts. Ask the four questions about each. Verify and research accordingly.
3. Go beyond the original four questions and dive deeper in to each skill. Once you’ve asked, what is this, get more specific. What is its _____? Create multiple analogies. Compare and contrast it with different things. What is it bigger than? Smaller? Is it good or evil? What is it better/worse than? Explore different aspects of creativity. Play with multiple different endings to “what if…?” Write a song or poem about it. Draw a picture of it. Make a game out of it. If there was a movie about it, who are the main characters and who would you cast? Expound on your logical conclusions. If this is true and that other thing is true, what does that mean? Is that in fact the case? If this didn’t exist, how would we achieve the same results?
You can take this as deep as you like. The deeper you dive in each of these skills, the deeper your understanding will be. And THAT is the key: that you internalize the information and begin to merge it with your own ideas and passions.
There’s a difference between learning and understanding. If you read or hear something and then pass a test, then you have learned something someone else has taught you. When you really force your mind to play with the information, to explore it, to manipulate it and observe the results… then you truly know it.
And then you’re ready to begin doing. At this point, knowledge has truly become power.
