Learning to learn is a subject that doesn’t get enough emphasis from success writers. I’ll admit, I read and listen to a lot of material that could be useful in my life, but very little of it actually sticks.

There are many reasons to learn new skills.

David Moldawer over at lifeclever.com suggested that everybody Learn a New Skill This Holiday. It may be too late now for the holidays, but learning a new skill can breathe energy into a life gone boring. David makes a compelling reason to spend the time learning something fun.

And face it, TV doesn’t “recharge your batteries,” it leaves you feeling more drained than ever.

-David Moldawer

David also gives 7 steps to new skill adoption, which are great tips for learning fun new things. They include: Choose what�s fun over what�s impressive, Start big, Set a goal, Join a group, Eyes off the prize, Go ahead, look silly, & Stop thinking.

Wordpress user jfree suggested that learning a new skill is a good way to keep your mind thinking better.

Learning a new skill works multiple areas of the brain. Your memory
comes into play, you learn new movements and you associate things
differently. Reading Shakespeare, learning to cook and building an
airplane out of tooth picks all will challenge your brain and give you
something to think about.

It’s odd how learning a totally unrelated skill can boost your other skills as well.

Deepak from deepakr.wordpress.com listed 5 Tips For Fast and Effective Learning on his blog. My favorite tip is #3 Think and work on paper. Scratching down notes and brainstorming on paper works much better for me than doing the same things on o computer. I remember it better, and my head puts new concepts together better. So as you’re learning a new skill, writing down notes on it is something worth trying.

Several success giants have left tips that can be helpful to us as well.

For example, Dale Carnegie wrote a book called Public Speaking and Influencing Men in Business, which his wife Dorothy later updated and called The Quick & Easy Way to Effective Speaking.

The book teaches public speaking skills, but there are steps given at the beginning can be useful for learning any skill. He does a similar thing at the beginning of “How to Win Friends And Influence People,” too, where he teaches how to study. (see Studying the Masters if you are interested)

The steps he gives to learning a new skill are these:

1. Take heart from the experience of others
2. Keep your goal before you
3. Predetermine your mind to success
4. Seize every opportunity to practice

Let’s just take a quick look at those steps.

1. Take heart from the experience of others - I think this is important for two reasons. One, It is always helpful to know that people dumber, uglier, and less fun to be around than you have already mastered whatever skill it is you want to learn. Hey, if they can do it, so can you. Two, The fact that you are paying attention to other people’s experiences means you are learning from them.

2. Keep your goal before you - Remembering what you are trying to learn will keep you on track, remembering why will keep you going. Setting and reviewing your goals will remind you.

3. Predetermine your mind to success - Assume that you can learn your new skill, and be determined to do it.

4. Seize every opportunity to practice - This is probably the most important step to learning any skill. Practice is the proof of your desire to learn the new skill. It is also the only way you really get better.

Now go out there and learn a new skill.