When learning gets Difficult

10 things to do when learning gets difficult

1. Stop what you are doing and have a complete break.
   
2. Think back to what you did the last time you got stuck like this.
   
3. Make a map or list in which you outline what your options are.
   
4. Talk to a friend about it to ask them what they would do.
   
5. Use a book to help you find a way through.
   
6. Use the internet to help you discover an answer.
   
7. Take some exercise and see if a solution comes to you.
   
8. Leave it. Go to bed. Tell yourself before you go to sleep that you will find a way through the problem.
   
9. Try doing whatever you are doing in a completely different location.
   
10. Think of as many questions as you can which, if answered, might help you to work things out.
    

 

 

10 things to do when you are really confused

1. Stay calm.
   
2. Be true to yourself and remind yourself of your original objective.
   
3. Think of three different ways of approaching the situation and see if one of them is helpful.
   
4. Imagine what a practical or theoretical person (whichever you are less of) would do in the situation.
   
5. Go and watch carefully while someone else tackles the same issue and learn from them. (Remember, it is not cheating but a sign of intelligence to imitate others.)
   
6. Find out what experts in the field do in this situation by telephoning them, emailing them, or looking it up in a book.
   
7. Ask someone who apparently knows nothing about the details of what you are doing but who may inject some common-sense advice or get you thinking differently.
   
8. Search for guidance on the internet.
   
9. Come back to the problem at a different time of day.
   

Ponder whether it is the right thing to be continuing with your learning: occasionally it will be smarter to reflect on what you have learned and do something else.