<ul><li>Trying to rush and consume more theory doesn’t help.</li><li>Slow, steady learning actually leads to faster improvement long term.</li><li>It’s better to go deep on a few things than shallow on many.</li></ul>

3. Learning Too Fast = Learning Less

<ul><li>Enzo studied less theory but practiced more and improved massively.</li><li>Sesh consumed more theory quickly but got worse over time.</li><li>Why? Enzo avoided overload. Sesh didn’t.</li></ul>

4. Enzo vs. Sesh – A Real-Life Example

<ul><li>Learning new ideas takes a lot of brain power.</li><li>Unlike physical skills, mental skills don’t use muscles—they use focus.</li><li>That focus gets drained if you try to think about too many things.</li></ul>

6. Mental Skills Use Mental Energy

<ul><li>Don’t try to learn everything at once.</li><li>Focus on mastering just a couple of things before adding more.</li><li>This keeps your brain from crashing under pressure.</li></ul>

7. Only Tackle 1–2 New Things at a Time

<ul><li>Too little theory = no direction.</li><li>Too much theory = overload.</li><li>You need a healthy balance to build real, lasting skill.</li></ul>

8. Balance Theory and Practice

<ul><li>For every 1 hour of theory, do 5 hours of practice.</li><li>If you only practice a little, learn only a little theory.</li><li>As you practice more, slowly increase the theory intake.</li></ul>

9. Use the 5:1 Rule of Thumb

<ul><li>Most people fail at learning because they try to learn too much theory at once.</li><li>This leads to something called "theory overload".</li><li>It's one of the biggest reasons people give up or don’t improve.</li></ul>

1. The #1 Mistake That Kills Skill Learning

<ul><li>You know you're improving when things start feeling easier.</li><li>Speed, confidence, and accuracy increase without trying.</li><li>Once habits form, you’re ready to take in more new learning.</li></ul>

10. Look for Habit Formation

<p class="ql-align-center"><em>Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.</em></p>

<ul><li>Imagine your brain is a bowl—it can only hold so much at once.</li><li>Too many new ideas fill it up and cause overload.</li><li>Once overloaded, your brain can’t process or remember well.</li></ul>

5. Your Brain Has Limited Space

<ul><li>Learning works in a loop: do → observe → reflect → adjust.</li><li>Just like archery, you can’t improve unless you know what to change.</li><li>Without this feedback cycle, progress is random and slow.</li></ul>

2. The Key to Learning: Experiential Cycling

This Mistake Is Why You're Not Learning Faster

Avoid theory overload to learn any skill quickly.

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Justin Sung is a former medical doctor, full-time learning coach and consultant, top 1% TEDx speaker, education author, and social entrepreneur. He has an MBChB and BMedSci (Hons - First Class) from the University of Auckland, and an MEd from Monash University. He is invited to hold workshops and lectures at Monash University and the University of Auckland, as well as for various organisations around the world.

He is the co-founder and Head of Learning at iCanStudy. iCanStudy developed the world's first cognitive retraining program focused on enhancing self-regulated higher-order learning and deep processing. Over the past decade, he has worked with over 10,000 learners from ages 10 to 80+ in over 120 countries. In the 7 years prior, Justin worked in the non-profit education and mentoring space for disadvantaged students.

Justin sees himself as a research-practice bridge, helping to connect dedicated learners and educators with critical applications of the research.


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