Blog

How to Learn Anything: 5M Tool

In trying to come up with a template for learning, I pulled together a few concepts and am starting to test this “5M” idea. The 5 Ms are Mindset, Method, Mentors, Materials, and Measure.

Basically, to learn about a topic, or learn a skill, just answer these questions, not necessarily in-order:

Mindset:

  1. What do you want to learn? Use one word or a phrase: “Spanish”, “Photography”, or “how to cook”.
  2. Why? Identify the BIG, HUGE, meaningful value of you learning this. Not just a list of benefits!
  3. Why learn this to get that value, instead of getting them another way?

Method:

“DiSSS CaFE” method (via Tim Ferriss in The Four Hour Chef):

  1. Deconstruct: What are the smallest learnable units, like lego blocks? For a foreign language, it would be phonemes, letters/symbols, words, and grammar. Cooking=tastes, techniques, ingredients, equipment.
    • If applicable: What must you UNlearn (from the way you’ve always done it, or from a competing discipline)?
  2. Select: Which 20% of those units give 80% of desired outcome? For language, it’s the phonemes and 100 most common words. For cooking, it’s tasting, techniques (grill+sautee+braise) and basic knife handling skill, which enables the rest (cut, chop, filet, mince).
  3. Sequence: In what order should I learn the selected units? 
  4. Stakes: How can I automate pain/pleasure to keep me on track? To whom will you commit: mentors, coaches, best friends, worst enemies…
  5. Compress: What should go on a one-pager of principles/practices?
  6. Frequency: How often to practice? What’s the Minimum Effective Dose (MED)?
  7. Encode: What mental tricks like acronyms help to remember the key elements?
  8. Who will you teach while you learn? See–>Do–>Teach. If you set the right path, you only need to stay 1 step ahead of your student.
  9. What equipment/tools/templates do you need to facilitate learning & practice, if any, and why? E.g. Cornell Notes Method. Template here.
  10. What barriers do you anticipate having to overcome?

Mentors & Materials:

  1. Who does this well or has before (prioritize the sequenced units)?
  2. What makes them good?
    1. Ask what they do, not only what they suggest.
  3. How did they learn? 
  4. How would they learn today?
  5. What resources can you study (books, blogs, training)?
  6. What other disciplines can share principles with this one?

Measure:

  1. How will you confirm that the benefit happened?
  2. How will you capture & publish your results?
Tags: