There are no quick fixes in learning.

In the first Harry Potter book, Harry asks Hagrid, "Why does the wizarding world keep itself hidden?"

Hagrid says, "Everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems, so we're best left alone."

(…everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone.)

In today's society that emphasizes 'speed' and 'efficiency,' important details of life often turn into trivial matters that we consider a "waste of time." For instance, with reading, we begin to chase how many books we read in a month, rather than how to truly reflect on that knowledge and apply it to life; we eat standing up because it's faster than sitting down; when visiting a city, we stay at each attraction for only 10 minutes just to cover all of them; many courses must feature words like "intensive," "fast track," and "pass the exam within a month..."

Sociologist Carl Honoré pointed out the gravity behind this: "We are so immersed in a life of chasing speed that we overlook the toll it takes on our lives."

Isn't learning the same? That's right, we are starting to learn faster, but that doesn't mean we are learning well.

Learning itself might be painful or even counterintuitive at the beginning, but a sense of achievement comes only after laboriously internalizing it into one's own cultivation. What a pity! For some reason, perhaps out of a preference for an intuitive, fast-food-like feeling where the more direct and faster it is, the better, many people give up on the process of internalizing and cultivating knowledge.

There is no magic for life's dilemmas, and certainly no panacea for learning; everything must return to the essence of learning.

Stop believing the claim in study guides about speaking English in three months. If you haven't been able to speak it after studying for three years, why believe that you'll suddenly be able to speak it in the next three months—especially when you're still relying on reading to get yourself to speak?

Why not try taking some time to record sentences you frequently use in your daily life? Note down 10 sentences every day, and think about how to say those 10 sentences in English by looking up information online, asking teachers, and so forth.

Yes! It will take a lot of time, but the ultimate sense of achievement generated from the process of internalization and reflection along the way is the true essence of learning.