Hyper-Learning summary

Just as a big ego can get in the way of learning, so can a busy mind. 

Imagine that you’re sitting in a lecture. But rather than hearing the lecturer’s words, you’re thinking about when the lecture will end. And that social media post you read earlier in the morning. And you’re also wondering what the other students think of you. Obviously, you’re not going to be absorbing much of the lecture. To do that, you need an empty, clear, focused mind. 

To become a hyper-learner, it’s likely that you’ll have to adapt your behavior. That might mean learning to become a better, more reflective listener, or improving your focusing skills. But before you change your behavior, you’ll need to change your mindset. Your mindset is something that is deeply ingrained – it determines how you act and think about any number of things. To become a hyper-learner, you’ll need to adopt not one, but two types of mindsets.

The key message is this: There are two key mindsets that are integral to hyper-learning.

After you’ve considered the kind of mindset required to become a hyper-learner, you’ll need to change your behavior. It’s not enough simply to believe that you want to change; you need to demonstrate it, too. That’s how you turn abstract ambition into action – and it encompasses everything from small gestures to the kind of language you use. 

The key message here is: Becoming a hyper-learner is behavioral.

The insurance corporation W. R. Berkley has a long and venerable history. It was founded in 1967 by William R. Berkley when he was a student at Harvard Business School; today, William is the executive chairman, while his son, Rob, is president and CEO. Throughout its existence, the company has prided itself on its people-centric culture, which it believes to be key to its success. 

However, in recent years, leaders at the company realized that in order to stay relevant and flourish in the future, they needed to adopt a hyper-learning mindset. 

It’s simple: businesses that stick to the old way of doing things won’t succeed in the future. Those who foster a culture of individualistic competition, top-down leadership, and fear of failure will just fade into obscurity. 

As well as being unpleasant and soulless places to work, those kinds of organizations just don’t foster learning and innovation. If you’re scared of your boss or of losing your job, you’re never going to take the risks necessary to think outside of the box.

While fads and fashions pass, certain ideas persist. This is what wisdom is – what lasts. Whether it's having a quiet ego or an open mind, many of the ideas relevant to hyper-learning have been a cornerstone to the thinking of many brilliant minds. 

Take Albert Einstein. He believed that imagination was more important than knowing. In other words, to make new discoveries, you can’t rely on what you know already; you have to be imaginative and think outside of the box. You have to keep starting over again. Einstein considered intelligence to be determined by one’s ability to change continually.