Dear Kayla,
There were many dimensions of learning how to learn, probably because there are so many ways to learn. As I said before, I am still working on that myself. But I can tell you what I do know.
Learning how to read was a large project in itself. In retrospect, I wish I had pushed myself more aggressively in that area.
To be clear, I was always able to read the words well. My mother, an elementary school teacher herself, said I learned to read right with the system. But I had considerable problems with comprehension. In hindsight, that makes sense; if I couldn't comprehend the world I observed around me, I certainly couldn't comprehend someone else's world I was reading. I watched the same television show over and over again until I was better able to follow situations and pick up cues from the broader context. I expanded to watching several seasons in this same television series and watching longer movies. But learning through reading was a separate skill, and I wish I had worked more on that.
Eventually I started reading at a level I could comprehend. For me, I needed to go back to upper elementary school books (grades 4-6). I read some of the books I remembered reading as a child, some of the books I wanted to read as a child and never did, and some more recent childrens' books which looked interesting. After a while, I moved to young adult fiction and then to easy adult fiction. It took an enormous amount of trial and error, figuring out which authors worked for me and which did not. (For a brief period afterward, I went back to childrens' books so that I could focus on speed.)
All this was for reading fiction. Nonfiction took even more potential for trial and error and error and error. I eventually learned that different subjects require different approaches and forms of concentration. The skills you need for reading history are different from the skills you need for reading biology. Obviously, in the beginning you need to start with topics you know and enjoy. For unfamiliar topics, I start with the Great Courses lectures. Once I watch or listen to those lectures in a particular topic, it is no longer unfamiliar. That being said, it can still take a while to find appropriate books and learn how to focus on them.
All this comes down to the lesson I give to people who are just starting a task or who are stuck: Do what you can do, not what you most need. If a book looks unappealing or it is a struggle to follow the author's style, then in the beginning you cannot learn from it. Later on, when you become more skilled, you will probably grow more flexible. But in the beginning you simply need to start simply and slowly.
