It’s not a trick question: which of these four verbs is ‘different’?

• Show
• Ask
• Tell
• Learn 

I’m sure you’re creative enough to think up a perfectly good reason for why any of them could be the odd one out.

But you only get a point if you said it was Learn. And you get a hundred points extra if you said it’s because Learn is the only one that doesn’t take an indirect object.

Or to put it plainly...

You can show somebody something.

You can ask somebody something.

You can tell somebody something.

But you can’t learn somebody something.

When it comes to studying, this is really important. Learning is something we can only do for ourselves. Nobody can do it for us.

It might sound obvious, but I know of too many cases where someone sits in a class or seminar and expects to be taught stuff without making any effort themselves. 

Or someone reads a book and expects to learn its pearls of wisdom by just passing their eyes over the words without putting in any mental effort of their own. They think learning and reading are synonymous. What about you? Seriously, think of the last non-fiction book you read. Could you say what the main points were from just the last chapter? Most of us forget over 90% of what we read unless we make a big effort. 

This big effort has to come from ourselves. Our teacher, trainer or tutor can’t do it for us. You can’t learn somebody something.

So the next time you attend a class, seminar or training session, remember it’s not a time to take it easy and see what entertainment is being put on. 

To get the most out of it, you need to actively pay attention, focus, envisage, interact, challenge, ask, reflect consider and make notes. Assume that unless you take steps to the contrary, almost everything you cover will be forgotten within 48 hours.

If a student can embrace just this one thing, they’ll double their learning ability - and surely that's something worth learning.

No one can learn somebody something.

They have to do it themselves.