How to Educate Yourself Like a Genius (without school)

Summary

In this engaging video, Stephen Petro shares his expert knowledge on how to self-educate effectively without the confines of traditional schooling. He introduces a three-step system designed to help anyone teach themselves anything at a rapid pace. This system emphasizes project-based learning, designing a learning path, and targeted individual learning. Stephen explains how creating projects you love necessitates learning new skills, making education more relevant and exciting. He also discusses the value of group study sessions and provides strategies for finding study partners and engaging in meaningful learning discussions. For those unable to join a group, Stephen offers practical tips on targeted individual learning through dual-tasking, annotation, and teaching, turning everyday activities into learning opportunities. This video inspires viewers to take control of their education and transform learning into an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

Highlights

• Discover how to gain an Ivy League-level education for free. 🎓
• Learn the power of project-based learning to fuel your passion for skills. 🔥
• Find out how study groups can turbocharge your learning process. 🏎️
• Explore dual-tasking as a method to learn during 'empty times.' ⏰
• Teaching is not just about giving back; it's a great way to cement knowledge. 📖

Key Takeaways

• You don't need traditional schooling to educate yourself like a genius. 🚀
• Project-based learning is key to staying motivated and retaining knowledge. 📚
• Designing a personalized learning path makes education more structured and effective. 🛤️
• Group study sessions enhance understanding and cultivate curiosity. 👥
• Dual-tasking, annotation, and teaching are invaluable tools for individual learning. 🧠

Overview

Stephen Petro offers viewers a compelling guide to educating themselves without the traditional schooling system. He believes that anyone can learn anything using a systematic approach and without spending a dime. The video kicks off by diving into project-based learning, encouraging viewers to pursue projects that naturally require acquiring new skills, making learning both necessary and exciting.

The video also explores creating your learning path, where Stephen shares the advantages of group study sessions. These gatherings, he explains, cultivate a better understanding through nuanced discussions and constructive criticism from peers. He also provides alternatives for those who cannot form study groups, emphasizing individual learning.

Finally, Stephen introduces his everyday learning habits—dual-tasking, annotation, and self-teaching. These techniques allow him to turn everyday moments into learning opportunities, making education a natural part of life. His relatable storytelling and practical advice empower viewers to embrace self-education and enjoy the journey of lifelong learning.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Three-Step System Overview In the chapter titled 'Introduction and Three-Step System Overview,' the speaker asserts that self-education is accessible to everyone and equates the potential benefits to an Ivy League education, all at no cost. Drawing from over 12 years of experience in education and sales training, the speaker introduces a three-step system designed to accelerate self-learning. This system has been previously taught to hundreds of students, proving its effectiveness. The chapter sets the stage for a detailed explanation of this system, starting with the first step: engagement.
• 00:30 - 02:30: Step 1: Engage in Project-Based Learning The chapter discusses the concept of project-based learning, emphasizing its importance in structuring and making sense of diverse learning interests. It highlights the common scenario where individuals are overwhelmed by the vast amount of knowledge they attempt to absorb, which often leads to confusion. The chapter suggests that project-based learning could be a solution for focusing on and mastering specific skills, rather than getting lost in endless learning resources.
• 02:30 - 07:00: Step 2: Design a Learning Path In this chapter, the author discusses the concept of designing a learning path through project-based learning. They reflect on their personal journey from a dislike for math in high school to an interest in neuroscience during graduate studies, highlighting how practical applications and personal projects can enhance motivation and interest in learning seemingly tedious subjects.
• 07:00 - 09:30: ABC Group Structure for Fast Learning The chapter discusses the compounding effect of interdisciplinary learning through personal experience. The narrator shares how a deep interest in neuroscience necessitated the learning of calculus and statistics, leading them to excel in these subjects due to their newfound relevance. This phenomenon exemplifies how engaging in projects can spur interest and achievement in new and necessary areas of study.
• 09:30 - 11:00: Finding Study Partners The chapter 'Finding Study Partners' focuses on the benefits of pursuing a personal project, particularly the realization of essential skills needed to complete it. It emphasizes that working on a beloved project enhances motivation and learning retention. The chapter also introduces the next logical step after selecting a project, which is designing a learning path, and mentions two possible options for this task.
• 11:00 - 20:00: Step 3: Targeted Individual Learning The chapter discusses targeted individual learning and presents two main options. The first option, although ideal, involves hiring a personal teacher or tutor, providing personalized support and customized learning experiences. However, it's recognized as unrealistic for most people due to costs. The second option is not fully detailed in the transcript provided, but is mentioned as nearly as effective as the first.

How to Educate Yourself Like a Genius (without school) Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 You can teach yourself anything. In fact, you can literally get the equivalent of an Ivy League education and all without spending any money. And I should know, I have over 12 years of combined experience teaching students of all ages and abilities, running a successful academic test prep agency, and training highly profitable sales teams. And in this video, I'm going to teach you a three-step system to teach yourself anything fast. A system I've taught to hundreds of students. And the first step in this system is to engage
• 00:30 - 01:00 in projectbased learning. If you're anything like me, you probably hear about the next new book recommendation or amazing new course and think, "Oh, I need to read that or I need to try that out." You get all excited about the next topic you want to learn about and the next topic and so on, but before you know it, you're buried in a mishmash of information and knowledge you have no idea how to make sense of. Sound familiar? Well, that's me too sometimes. But what if you have the opposite problem? What if you really know you should be learning a specific skill or
• 01:00 - 01:30 topic, but you just don't have the motivation to learn it because it's just so damn boring? Well, we can solve either of these problems through project-based learning. You see, back when I was in high school, I absolutely hated math. I felt like it was not only boring, but also completely pointless. After all, how would I ever use this stuff in the real world, right? But by the time I got to grad school, I started to get super interested in neuroscience and started to do research in this field for a book I was writing. But to really
• 01:30 - 02:00 understand neuroscience, I realized I needed to also learn calculus and statistics. Suddenly these became directly relevant to something I was deeply interested in. And so I suddenly became equally interested in calculus and statistics. So much so that I ended up getting A's in both subjects. Have you ever had an experience like this? Well, the reason this happens is that a project itself, whether that's writing a blog or a book, engineering some hardware or software, or even starting
• 02:00 - 02:30 your own YouTube channel, naturally reveals which skills you actually need in order to complete the project. And because you're in love with the project, you'll now actually love and be motivated to learn those new skills. And a lot of good research has confirmed that this effect leads to better overall retention. So now that you've identified what project you're going to work on, what's next? Well, that brings us to step two. Design a learning path. And there are really two options here
• 02:30 - 03:00 depending on your specific situation. The first option is obviously the most ideal if you have money to do it, and that's to hire a teacher or a tutor. But since this isn't a realistic option for most people, I'm not going to discuss it fully. Just know it's the optimal option if you can do it because you'll get personalized support from someone who knows exactly what you need to learn, when you need to learn it, and can customize the instruction and pace for you. The second option, though, is almost just as good, and that is
• 03:00 - 03:30 identify study partners. But don't worry if this isn't realistic for you. There's a great third option that I use daily that's also completely free. So stick around for that when we get to step three. But let's talk about this second learning path option first. You see, one of my most enjoyable learning experiences was in my undergrad, but not in any classroom, per se. Instead, I was part of a history club and a philosophy club. And each of these groups would meet weekly and simply discuss some new
• 03:30 - 04:00 topic. And looking back, I realized these groups served two extremely important purposes for enhancing my learning ability. One, adding nuance to my understanding, and two, spurring curiosity. You see, back then, when I learned something inside or outside of any of my classes, I felt like I suddenly knew everything about that topic. But then I would get to one of these groups and someone else, sometimes a professor, sometimes another student, would either correct my misunderstanding
• 04:00 - 04:30 or help me shift my perspective on the new information I had learned. For instance, I might have been making a great point about Emmanuel Kant's view of free will, but then very often my friend Matthew would argue against my point by bringing up something about neuroscience that I would know absolutely nothing about. And of course, because I knew nothing about it, I had no way to respond to it. And that irritation ultimately led me to become more curious about other topics and ideas I suddenly realized I needed to learn more about. And these are just
• 04:30 - 05:00 some of the many benefits of learning with a group that it's difficult to achieve by yourself. But you might be wondering where you would find these study partners in the first place. But hold that thought. We'll address it in a bit. This all begs the question, though. How do we actually structure our group study sessions? Do we just show up and talk to each other? Sure, you can do that. But there's another method that will 10x your learning speed and retention if you use it. You see, back when I was training sales teams, we had
• 05:00 - 05:30 what we called ABC groups. And this structure was extremely effective at teaching people new skills fast. How it went was basically as follows. A new trainee would attend a small group session similar to what I've been describing. At that training, a more experienced salesperson would teach a topic in front of the room. At the end of their presentation, each attendee would give feedback to the presenter on what they did well and what they could improve. This was crucial, but why? Well, how many times have you sat in a
• 05:30 - 06:00 class with someone lecturing and you completely tuned out or started looking at your phone or whatever? Come on, we're human. It happens to all of us. But what providing feedback to the speaker like this achieves is exactly what happened to me in those history and philosophy clubs I previously discussed. One, it helped the attendees stay engaged and actively learn. And two, it helped the speaker identify knowledge gaps or misunderstandings they had. And can you see how this system can be extremely effective at training people
• 06:00 - 06:30 fast? Well, that was just the beginning. At the end of each session, the new person was assigned a topic to present for the following week. This really pushed that new person out of their comfort zone. Realizing they knew nothing about the topic, but had to present on that topic only a week from then push them to seek out resources, do research, and ask questions they wouldn't ordinarily ask. And a lot of great research has shown that teaching a topic is one of the best ways to actually learn it. So then what exact
• 06:30 - 07:00 steps should you follow to make this ABC group structure successful? One, have each study participant research a topic in a simple study plan you all lay out together. Two, have each study participant present what they learned. Three, have each study group participant provide constructive feedback to each other after each presentation to further refine each other's knowledge. and four, assign topics to each study group member to cover for the next session. That's
• 07:00 - 07:30 literally it. But I can already hear a lot of you out there saying, "Well, where the heck do I find good study partners?" It's a good question, but guess what? It's simpler than you think. Nowadays, whether you go on Reddit or Facebook or pretty much any social media platform, you'll find people who are looking to work on some skill or knowledge you're looking to work on. Be the brave one. Put yourself out there and simply let people know you're looking for study partners. Commit to hopping on a Zoom call at the same time every week. And over time, you won't
• 07:30 - 08:00 just have study partners, you'll make some great new friends in the process. And the result, learning will actually become fun. Okay. Okay. But what if you really can't make it work with a study group? What if it's absolutely not an option for you? Well, in that case, we'll use the third step in this system, which can be called targeted individual learning. We should actually be using this method whether or not we've found a study group to work with. In fact, you know, those topics we mentioned that you should be assigning to each other in
• 08:00 - 08:30 your study group every single week. Targeted individual learning is one great component of how to actually go about researching and learning about that topic. And I use this method pretty much every day of the week and I make it work on top of a very busy schedule. It consists of three daily habits that have been clinically shown to improve learning and retention. And these daily habits are one dual tasking, two annotation, and three teaching. Let's look at number one here first. Every morning I go to the gym. I prioritize my
• 08:30 - 09:00 health. And so making separate time for learning isn't always possible on a daily basis. And so I dual task, meaning that during my workout, I'm always listening to some audio book relevant to my current learning goal or I'm reading some ebook. Especially when I'm doing cardio such as the stair climb or treadmill. This is very different from multitasking in which you're using your brain for conflicting tasks. And multitasking is notoriously ineffective. Instead, dual tasking combines a
• 09:00 - 09:30 physically repetitive task with a mental task, minimizing the focus needed for the mental task. And so, while this combination isn't optimal still for learning, is anything in life really ever optimal? It's way better than doing no learning at all during this otherwise empty time. Examine areas of your own life where there's empty time. How about your morning commute? How about while you're waiting in line? Don't get me wrong, I do also devote specific times during the weekend to reading, but we
• 09:30 - 10:00 really need to take advantage of dual tasking during these empty times. My next step to really solidify my knowledge is the second habit here, annotation. As I read a book or listen to an audio book, I'm always taking some quick notes on my phone about it between sets at the gym or I'm highlighting a specific passage in my ebook while I'm on the treadmill or stair climb. Once I get home from the gym, at some point during the day, I elaborate on these notes and often refine them further with
• 10:00 - 10:30 my own thoughts or ideas on the things that I read. That way, I'm not simply passively absorbing information. Instead, I'm actively engaging with the information by connecting it to other ideas I have or other books I've read. This step really solidifies your retention. I do something similar with any new research or studies I find. I'm subscribed to several neuroscience and behavioral science newsletters, and so I spend about 15 minutes each morning
• 10:30 - 11:00 reading the main points and adding them to specific categories in my notion account. This way I can easily go back and review them later. Honestly though, all these notes and organization will be a huge waste and will be forgotten in a matter of a week or so if you don't engage in this next habit, teaching. Now, I do have what I would consider the luxury of having clients on a weekly basis who I teach. And so, this is constantly reinforcing specific knowledge I have and forcing me to
• 11:00 - 11:30 remember and retain it. But you don't have to actually teach people to get the same benefits. Instead, if you're not going to get together with a group, why not take your notes you annotated and get up in front of your room at home and give the equivalent of a TED talk about the topic you're learning? Admittedly, this isn't as helpful as the study group idea for synthesizing new knowledge, but it still is incredibly effective at helping you retain what you learn, and for the simple reason that you're no longer simply reciting facts you've learned. Instead, you're putting them
• 11:30 - 12:00 into your own narrative and making them make sense to you. So, which of these learning paths will you take? What project are you going to start? Or which one are you currently working on? Let me know in the comments. And if you want to keep leveling up your critical thinking to make a massive impact not only on your own life but on the lives of countless others, then be sure to watch this next