The R.E.A.D Framework

 Have you ever wanted to read many books, watch videos and actually apply what you learn? Or have you read a lot of books and can't remember what you read? In the past, I used to read a lot of books, watch a lot of videos but if you ask me a week later what I learnt, I couldn't tell you. Over time, I realized I was wasting time and energy consuming information while not extracting the most from it. I decided to develop and use a framework that enables me to learn fast, apply what I learnt and solve a given problem I have at the moment. The framework I developed is called The R.E.A.D Framework (Trademark pending). The framework is broken down into four parts, namely Research, Extract, Apply and Discard.

Research

This is involves sitting down and looking up the information be it in print form, video form or audio. I find it is better to read a hard cover book as it involves the brain more as compared to reading a pdf or listening to audio version. Moreover, when you read a hard cover book, you can stay away from any distractions that come with reading a digital copy or listening to an audio clip. 

Extract

This involves taking notes while you're researching. This is will entail recording what you learnt so far and what you are going to take home with you. I like using Notion to take down notes when learning a new concept. Moreover, when you are taking notes, ask questions in some of the notes. Why did the author say this? Why did A and B mix and not B and C? Asking questions pokes holes at the information you are reading and prompts to see the reasoning behind it.

Apply

This involves applying what you have learnt. This is the most important stage and most people skip this. What you don't want is to go into a useless loop where you are constantly reading and extracting info from books but never applying anything. Over time you will find out that you have read a lot but you have nothing to show for it. The aim of learning is to get information that you can use to solve a given problem / improve your life in a given area. Even better if you can teach it. Once you teach someone, you come to see the knowledge gaps that you have. Over time, you fill those gaps and get a deeper understanding to the point you can explain concepts that a 5 year old can understand. This is what the  Feyman Technique is.

Discard

Lastly, this is the stage where you discard what you don't find useful after applying what you have learnt. This is Wisdom in essence. I talked about it here and why everyone should strive for it. Not everything you learn will be applicable in your life and that's okay. The point is to use what you really need at the moment to solve the problem you have. Once you encounter a new problem, you start the cycle all over again.

Thank you for reading all the way to the end. I hope you will be able to use the framework to learn fast and efficiently. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let me know in the comment section below.

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