How to Be Knowledgeable

Co-authored by Michelle Shahbazyan, MS, MA

Last Updated: February 18, 2023 References Approved

Knowledge is power, but how do you go about acquiring it? Actually, there are all kinds of simple things you can do every day to become more knowledgeable, whether you want to know more about world affairs, art history, your field of work, or any other subject that interests you. To help you get started, we've rounded up the best tips for pursuing knowledge. Try out some of the strategies below to start exploring and learning about the world around you.

Part 1

Part 1 of 4:

Gaining Book Knowledge

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Read widely. Books, newspapers, magazines, websites. You will get a variety of information and viewpoints, which can help you broaden your mind and learn more about different topics.
- Make sure to read viewpoints other than yours. This will take you outside your comfort zone, and may even challenge assumptions you have about the world, or your chosen topic.
- Reading helps your brain with memory, and with fighting dementia. Keep your brain active and reading and searching for knowledge. ^{[1]
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- Even reading fiction, it turns out, is a great way of acquiring knowledge. Scientists have found that reading certain evocative passages in books, stimulates a neurological response similar to experience that passage, highlighting smells, sight, sound, etc. It is a good way to experience other forms of living. Again, be certain to read outside your comfort zone. Accessing books about lives foreign to you is a good way to build your empathy and knowledge of how other people live.^{[2]
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- Quite a few of the classics are available for free download online. Inlibris^{[3]
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- Reading and getting new information can create outgoing new ideas.
2
Take college or university courses. Although this can be expensive, engaging with learning through classes can help you think outside the box and outside your own experience. It will introduce you to resources and people who challenge you and help you engage with learning. There are ways do this sort of learning without spending a fortune.
- Quite a few prestigious universities, such as Oxford and Harvard, offer free online courses for students and non-students alike, with pre-recorded lectures and access to the syllabi.^{[4]
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- Many university courses post their syllabi online. By buying or checking out the books used in a class of interest even non-students can keep up with current intellectual trends and continue their education.
- Museum and universities often bring in speakers from around the world to lecture on a variety of topics. Many of these are free and open to the public. Check on your local museum and university websites. The lecture series are usual easy to find, because they want people to attend them.
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Visit the library. It may seem like an outdated notion, but libraries are a tremendous source of knowledge. They are also a free resource, allowing you to access books, magazines, and newspapers that you otherwise might not be able to afford.
- Librarians can provide research help in terms of pointing you towards the right books to help in your learning. If you need help understanding how to research certain subjects librarians, especially college librarians, can help with that. Often, librarians can also point you to other resources that might interest you. Likewise, check for your item on WorldCat. If your library doesn't have it, often they can get it on loan from another library.^{[5]
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- The public library costs no money (except for late fines!) and has access to a wide variety of materials. If they don't have a particular resource that you need, request it! Libraries will often get patron's requests.
- College libraries are useful for both college students and the general public. College librarians are trained to help with research, providing access to skills and to knowledge. If you're a student, ask them for help researching your topic and have them point you towards other resources. For the general public, most college libraries only check the i.d. cards of people coming into the library at night. Even if you can't check a book out, you can make use of the specified material. College libraries will tend to have more books on esoteric materials, or in-depth on their subjects.
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Memorize your new information. Keeping the information you have learned in your brain is important after doing all the work to access it. Memorization helps learning languages, remembering lists, and important quotations and dates. ^{[6]
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- Repetition is key. Memorizing and remembering anything means repeating multiple times until you can recall it in your sleep (forgive the slight hyperbole, but people often find when they repeat something enough they start to dream about it).
- Focus on keywords. This is sometimes known as the "Journey Method." It means using certain words (or numbers) as landmarks on your journey through the quotation, list, or speech. In your mind, place these keywords along a well known physical path, such as your route to work from your house. Writing it down can help. Now, when you follow the mental route you choose, you should assign words to it. Example: Front door--I came; Car--I saw; Work parking lot--I conquered.
- Another good way to memorize something, especially with a language is to write it down over and over and over again until you can recite it with your eyes closed.

Part 2

Part 2 of 4:

Beginning to Collect Knowledge

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Keep an open mind. Learning often challenges our assumptions and our pre-wired reaction is to ignore the ideas that conflict with ours. Don't automatically dismiss something because it does not fit neatly into your current vision of the world.^{[7]
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- Understand your own bias. Bias, or leaning toward a certain way of thinking, arises from your upbringing - both at home and within society - and forms your core belief set. Recognize that everyone has a viewpoint that is a function of upbringing and past experience and that each viewpoint has validity within the context of a person's life. Realize, too, that each person's perception of reality is colored by bias and does not actually correspond to reality. One way to mitigate the effects of bias is to consciously practice adopting different viewpoints and internalizing those alter-biases.
- As you expand your knowledge, even in the most basic forms, you will have to revise your opinions and the way you do things.
- Learn how to be wrong. As you learn, you will encounter people and situations where you will be in the wrong. Treat these as a learning experience.
2
Decide what kind of knowledge you are looking for. Are you seeking to have extremely specialized understanding of writing codes? Are you looking to be a historian focused on the Medieval Middle-East? Or are you trying to have a broad knowledge base covering abilities from home appliance repair to ancient Greek? Any and all of these are valid. Knowledge is not simply college learning.
- For generalized knowledge you will want to focus on breadth rather than depth. Read and experiment widely. Talk to as many different people about as many different subjects as you can.
- For specific knowledge you will need to focus on the depth of the information or skills you are looking to acquire. This means reading on the subject, talking to experts in that field and practicing.
3
Get out of your own comfort zone. Learn about things that might not be your keenest interest. You may find new hobbies and interests you never dreamed of.^{[8]
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- This means getting out in your community. Check local announcement boards (often at the library or grocery store) or your community's website. This will give you access to a variety of learning opportunities: dance classes, economic aid, community theater. All are good ways to start learning.
- Look at the people you look up to and see what they do as far as the day-to-day aspects of their life. Try to get some ideas from there.
4
Don't be afraid to fail. Above all, this is the most important advice in learning to be knowledgeable. You don't know everything and you will get things and information wrong. Owning up to your mistakes and learning from them will help you gain knowledge and help you remember better the correct information.^{[9]
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- Examine what you did wrong and come up with solutions for what you might do differently in the future. This way you'll be prepared and will show that you are taking your knowledge accumulation seriously.
- You will be wrong at times, especially in the beginning. This step ties back to keeping an open mind. Accept your failing, learn from it, and continue working hard.

Part 3

Part 3 of 4:

Gaining Practical Knowledge

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Acquire the skills to fix things. This includes fixing things like home appliances, understanding how your car operates, or how to put in a windowpane. They also cover making objects like quilts, carved wood, and blown-glass. Skills like these will help you navigate life and sometimes even find a job.
- Fixing things is important for anyone to know. Check your community website, or community boards at the library or grocery stores. Often there are free, or cheap, classes put on by someone in your community on wide-ranging things: fixing a flat tire on your bike your car, or your television.
- If you're only interested in learning the basic skills, check your library for self-help books, or find a YouTube tutorial. If you know someone who has the skill you want to learn, ask them for help.
- If fixing certain things is important and interesting to you, find a trade school in your area and learn your craft well.
- See if someone who practices the skill you're trying to learn will take you on as an apprentice. Apprenticing can be a great way to get in-depth with your chosen interest and possibly lead to a job. Be warned: it may take a few tries before you find someone willing to take you on, but even if your chosen person doesn't, they might be able to point you in the direction of someone who will.
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Learn to make something tangible. This can mean any number of things: carving wood, blowing glass, quilting, knitting. Being able to present something at the end of your learning is extremely rewarding and you can see how far you've come. Handmade objects also make great gifts.
- If you're in school, some cities have after-school programs for learning how to make tangible objects. See what your district might offer, or might be willing to offer.
- Colleges often have at least some sort of art department. They occasionally offer free classes, both to students and, sometimes, to the community. Be certain to check by calling your local college.
- Find people who sell the object you're looking to make. Go to a yarn store, or quilting shop. Find a place that sells hand-blown glass. Ask if they ever offer classes, or know of anyone who does. Often the people who sell these objects, or the things to make the objects, are crafters themselves!
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Gain technological skills. Technology surrounds us these days. It is important to know how to navigate and use it. Using technology can also help in your quest for other knowledge, so it is an important skill to learn. A website like TechWeb can help link those trying to learn technology with information and others who share that interest.
- Learn how to use computers. There are different types of computers, which all operate differently. The best thing to do is discuss with the seller how your computer works when you first buy it. Often companies will have help numbers to call, or websites that can give you tips on how to operate your system.
  - A few tips for the Mac user: the desktop is where you put files, the finder helps you find your files, the dock shows icons of certain applications that are on your desktop. These are basic information you will need to operate your computer. Mac has tutorials that take you further than the basics.
  - A few tips for the Windows user: Windows has the "Ease of Access" button in the control panel. By clicking "Get recommendations to make your computer easier to use" the computer will help you find recommendations of how to make your time on the computer easier.
- Most computer websites have forums where you can post questions and look for answers. The people who run these forums tend to be knowledgeable about their product and don't mind answering questions.
  - If you are using computers at the library, you can also ask for help from a librarian.
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Learn to navigate and understand the internet. While similar to understanding technology, learning about the internet is a huge task in and of itself. However, being able to search for relevant information, understand and write your own basic code, allows you to better utilize your own learning.
- Navigating search engines can be difficult. This means both searching for things yourself and having your internet stuff be searchable. By making your own website searchable, you need to understand how to use HTML (or other code) to optimize it, how to make the navigation of your site accessible to search engines, and making sure to hit the right keywords.^{[10]
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- Knowing the best way for search for something using a search engine like Google can be difficult. A few tips for Google: use site:websitename.com to search the pages of a website, quotation marks " " around a phrase searches for that exact phrase. Using ~example word, will search for related terms. Google Scholar can help find academic articles, GoPubMed^{[11]
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- Learn code. There is a huge variety of code, so the easiest way is to focus on one specific type and learn it well: HTML, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Perl, etc. There are lots of online tutorials for all the different codes. Experiment with different ones and practice your code writing. A few places to start would be Code Academy^{[12]
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Learn things that will help with being an adult. This knowledge will serve you well in the long run and allow you to navigate the challenges of being an adult. This is something that is good to learn early.
- Learning the terms to manage your money. Find out what a budget is and how to set one. Learn what an asset is (something you own) and how liabilities (money you owe) impact them. Figure out the difference between net worth and net income (what you earn after taxes). Learning these terms and how to use them will help enable you to make smart financial decisions in the future.^{[15]
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- Discover the wonderful world of paying taxes. The less you understand about this world, the easier it will be to mess it up, which can lead to some major problems. The varieties of taxes are wide and varied: income tax, property tax, sales tax, tariffs. They all have a different place in the system.
- Make sure you understand what taxes you are responsible in your given country. Even better, discover why they are in place and what they are responsible in your system of government (in the U.S. taxes pay for things like the public school system, roads, bridges, welfare programs; England has the National Health Service; it varies country to country. Talk to a tax consultant (although this costs money).
  - For the United States the IRS has several tools for understanding the basics of taxation.^{[16]
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    Internal Revenue Service
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Garner home remedies and knowledge gleaned from folklore. Those old wives often knew their stuff and it can help to grow your knowledge to encompass ideas outside the norm, like how to tell the weather forecast without using an instrument or how to treat your cold without medication! Of course these don't work 100% of the time (but then, the weatherman doesn't seem to get it right every time, either).
- Learn how to determine the weather without instruments. Pay attention to the clouds: wispy and white tends to mean good weather, if they are dense and dark a bad change in weather is usually coming. Red skies usually mean humidity in the air, check which direction the red sky is in at dawn, east or west to determine the weather. A halo around the moon can indicate rain.^{[18]
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- Learn to treat your awful cold with home remedies. Make a saltwater gargle (1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt in an 8-ounce glass of warm water).^{[19]
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  Research source} Do things like inhale steam, drink water, stay and warm.^{[20]
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Part 4

Part 4 of 4:

Continuing your Study

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Talk to experts. This step is important, because it allows you to interact with someone in your chosen field or fields. You can ask questions and get a dialogue going.
- Talk to the mechanics at the garage you take your car to, get the person who is fixing your computer to give you an overview of what they are doing to fix it.
- Prepare questions in advance and during a lecture or class at a college, community center, or museum. If they haven't been answered, afterwards approach the speaker and ask them. Speakers almost always are happy to engage further in their chosen material. Be polite and respectful.
- Museums often have a contact number or email. Approach them with your questions. It might take them some time to reply and they might not know the answers, but they can often put you in contact with someone who does.
- Professors usually have a university email somewhere on their university's website. You could try sending them an email outlining your interest in your subject and asking for their help. Remember that professors are busy people, so don't contact them around midterms or finals.
- There are certain internet resources where it is possible to talk with an expert and ask them questions covering a wide variety of topics.
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Constantly pursue knowledge. Gathering knowledge, learning, is a lifelong endeavor. Pay attention to the world around you to look for new opportunities to learn. Keep an open mind and learn from your mistakes and you will be quite knowledgeable.
- Information changes constantly, be it science, literature, or even wood working. Keep learning on your chosen topics.

Expert Q&A

Question

How can you learn to transition to "adult life" after high school or college?

Michelle Shahbazyan, MS, MA
Matchmaker, The LA Life Coach
Michelle Shahbazyan is the Founder of The LA Life Coach, a concierge life, family, and career coaching service based in Los Angeles, California. She has over 10 years of experience with life coaching, consulting, motivational speaking, and matchmaking. She has a BA in Applied Psychology and an MS in Building Construction and Technology Management from Georgia Tech University, and a MA in Psychology with an emphasis on Marriage and Family Therapy from Phillips Graduate University.

Michelle Shahbazyan, MS, MA

Matchmaker, The LA Life Coach

Expert Answer

If you run into anything you feel is a stressor, that means that it's a problem in your life that you haven't yet found a solution to. As you start to find solutions step by step, you'll start to see that the stressors will go away. This is a day and age when we have no shortage of information. Go out and look up what successful people do when they have this problem because you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Most people have a lot more ability than they give themselves credit for.

Warnings

Take in information with a healthy skepticism. Not everything you read on the internet, in a book, or learn from someone is going to be correct or useful.

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