[HN Gopher] Relearning to Learn
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Relearning to Learn
Author : sourceless
Score : 66 points
Date : 2022-06-19 08:33 UTC (14 hours ago)
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| joebob42 wrote:
| Having a goal, and creating an environment where you can
| frictionlessly work towards it for a little bit of time most
| days, is such an unreasonably effective tool. You'll never become
| a true, deep expert in something with 10 or 15 minutes a day, but
| in my experience that's all it takes to become perfectly capable
| at a lot of things.
|
| A few years ago I started having an hour most days that I devote
| to learning and trying new hobbies / habits / whatever, and when
| I find something interesting I start giving it a 20 minutes slot
| in that hour until I stop liking it or I feel I've gotten what I
| want to out of it. I'm nowhere near a professional at any of this
| stuff but I have a fulfilling level of competence in a ton of
| interesting things now, and it's brought me a lot of pleasure.
| agumonkey wrote:
| And even then, the "expert" goal may be foolish, these days I'm
| much more about feeling new things, new ideas, at my level. And
| then let the "little bit" process take me to where I can go. I
| may never end up an expert but everyday will have been fun and
| happy.
| joebob42 wrote:
| Absolutely. When I was younger I was pretty competitive and
| tried to be good at everything. These days I'm an expert
| engineer, and I try to let myself do the rest of the stuff I
| do just for enjoyment.
| BeetleB wrote:
| Some notes from an older person:
|
| The best approach will vary based on topic, age, and constraints
| (e.g. professional with kids).
|
| When I was a teenager, I learned Calc I, II, III and a first
| course of differential equations. I retained most of it. When I
| decided to take more advanced math courses later on (just a few
| years later), I was always saddened by my inability to retain
| much after the course was over. I kept wondering if I'm in my
| decline (at the old, old age of 25).
|
| No - I was not. The nature of the material had changed. Whereas
| stuff you learn in Calc I and Calc II is material you can easily
| and often apply in engineering, some random theorem in group
| theory is not. When you study a theorem in Calc II, the frequency
| with which that theorem is invoked in the same book is high. When
| you get to higher math, it does become somewhat broader: Most
| theorems are invoked only a few times in the book.
|
| There's also raw talent vs techniques. Younger me got by with raw
| talent, but at some point the material you're learning will
| supersede your talent. You then need to strategize (and different
| topics may require different strategies). Don't knock raw
| talent/skills - they can be honed and it may be worth honing
| them. But broadly: The person who has good systematic study
| skills will eventually overtake the raw talent person.
|
| Most of the approaches that will work if you have all the time in
| the world will fail you when time becomes constrained. I started
| using spaced repetition a few years ago and it has been a game
| changer. I can study things for a bit, take a break for a few
| months, and mostly can pick up where I left off despite not
| practicing that material in those months.
|
| Having said that, most of Becky's advice is good. The one thing
| I'd disagree with is:
|
| > "Five minutes every day is better than an hour once per week"
|
| This definitely depends on the material. You're not going to get
| far in math on just 5 minutes a day. Some topics will need a
| lower bound of minimum time per session.
| bmitc wrote:
| Learning and reading is something I've been struggling with. One,
| getting older, even at a relatively young age is definitely
| taking its toll. It's mainly my memory. I've always had great
| recall, but it has gotten slower. Secondly, I believe computers
| and in particular phones and tablets have partially destroyed my
| attention span and ability to be comfortable inside a book for a
| long period of time. I read all the time, but not in a deep,
| concentrated way. Despite knowing these things are problems, even
| though I typically read or learn on them and do not play any
| games on mobile devices, it has taken me to admit to myself that
| I absolutely _must_ distance myself from mobile devices, and even
| my computer, if I want to get back to long-form, deep learning.
| Both are going to take some practice and discipline.
|
| One thing that has helped is signing up for actual university
| classes as opposed to online courses. Online courses are of
| course awesome, but taking a few graduate level mathematics
| courses at a local university really got me back into deep
| reading, of at least technical material.
|
| Another thing is trying to reduce my anxiety. Instead of worrying
| about all the books I have that are unread, of which there are
| hundreds and maybe even over a thousand (yes, I have a problem
| collecting books), I'm trying to just concentrate on one or two
| and actually finish before switching or moving on. This is one of
| the hardest things when your interests change fast, but I am
| really trying to bolt myself down on this one. I'm not quite
| there yet.
| blinkingled wrote:
| > computers and in particular phones and tablets have partially
| destroyed my attention span
|
| Right on. That and the constant, never ending polling for
| information that comes with it leaves you with no downtime and
| a very worn out feeling. We need downtime throughout the day -
| pick up a task, do it, put it down and do nothing for a while
| before switching to another. Without that you can't focus and
| that leads to irritation which makes things worse.
| orbit7 wrote:
| Understanding the zeigarnik effect and assigning a the literal
| next action to everything made a dramatic difference for me in
| this respect its alike to shutting down a ton of background
| processes with pop-ups. The subconscious keeps bubbling up
| stuff. On the positive side its also a useful to use as a
| memory tool for pinging up stuff you need to remember.
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