Learning How To Learn

Trouble with study can cause trouble with learning. It can make you feel like giving up. While studying, you can run into "barriers" that block or stop you from moving ahead.

According to Learning How To Learn, a book which teaches a student how to study, and is based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard:

The First Barrier to Study

The first barrier to study is not having the real thing there that you are studying about. Studying about something without having the actual thing you are studying about can give you trouble; it can make you feel squashed, bent, sort of spinny, sort of lifeless, bored or angry. You can wind up with your stomach feeling funny. You may get headaches, feel dizzy from time to time and very often your eyes will hurt.

The way to stop this from happening is to get the real thing that you are studying about. When this is not possible, a picture or a movie will help.

The Second Barrier to Study

The second barrier to study involves the skipped gradient. A gradient is a way of learning or doing something step by step. If you hit a step that seems too hard to do or you feel you can't understand it, you have skipped a gradient. "Skipped" means left out or missed. If you have skipped a gradient, you may feel a sort of confusion or reeling. "Reeling" means moving or swaying like you might fall. There was too much of a jump because he did not understand what he was doing, and he jumped to the next thing and that step was too steep. The trouble is not with the new step; it is at the end of the step he thought he understood well.

To correct this, find out what you thought you understood well just before you got all confused. Get this step understood well, and he will be able to do the next step.

The Third Barrier to Study

The third and most important barrier to study is the misunderstood word. A misunderstood word is a word, which is not understood, or a word, which is wrongly understood. Going past a word that you do not understand can make you feel blank, tired, or like you are not there. You might also feel worried or upset.

The only reason a person would stop studying or get confused or not be able to learn is because he has passed a word that he did not understand. It can stop you from doing the things you are studying about. It can make you want to stop studying.

The way to handle this barrier is to look earlier in what you were reading for a misunderstood word.

The misunderstood word is the most important of the barriers to study because it is the one that can stop you from learning anything at all.⁷⁷