Ask HN: How do you manage self-study? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage self-study?

#191

Post by faitswulff » Mon, May 04, 2020, 12:16 PM UTC

mrwww wrote: post #188

hnick wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people enjoy doing useful things (my wife is one), others enjoy useless things (me - mostly video games, reading random trivia online, or trying new recipes which is nice but doesn't pay the bills). So if I were to take your advice (and honestly, I mostly do run like that) it means a lot of time spent doing something ephemeral with no real lasting benefit. I think your last point applies to me. I wish I could su…

You just haven't found something that you're interested in which also happens to intersect with being useful, yet. Exploring more interests and different ways of doing things changed a lot of things for me. Things can also change when you know how to do things in a way that aligns with you. I used to hate cooking, but found my take on it.

That assumes that there is such an intersection and that there is enough leisure time to get there. Most people need to figure out how to feed themselves and pay the bills before they can meander across that intersection of utility and entertainment. Especially due to the added competition from everyone else pursuing passion projects, like acting or working in the videogame industry. Everyone wants to do it, which drives average wages down.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage self-study?

#192

Post by chilldsgn » Mon, May 04, 2020, 12:19 PM UTC

I set a schedule every day for myself. In my diary, I set aside 4 hours a day for my university courses, segmenting them into 4 25-minute sessions. Don't overdo it, study smart, not hard. I also do a bunch of online courses on anything I am currently interested in and do one hour a day studying these. I read the book called How To Become A Straight-A Student by Cal Newport and it has given me some rather useful insights on how to study. I dunno, I guess personality type plays a role in the amount of discipline you have.

I also work and do freelance work on the side as well as help my family with their businesses, so setting a schedule is important in my case, hope this helps in some way. If you know why you are doing all of these self-study things, it can also help you focus on the here and now. I recently learned of a term used in business management - obliquity: https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/obliquity-roundabout-route...

"Obliquity describes the process of achieving objectives indirectly, such as the financial success that comes from a real commitment to business. And obliquity is ubiquitous - it can even be applied to happiness. "

Rewards help too. Like, if you study for 25 minutes, get up and do something you like for 5 minutes, rinse and repeat.

I use a personal Trello account to keep track of things. What works for me is to take a month, set aside a week and put about 5 learning outcomes into each week. I tend to get overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I want to learn and do, so recognising when you're putting too much on your plate is a handy skill to learn.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage self-study?

#193

Post by charlysl » Mon, May 04, 2020, 12:20 PM UTC

nick_meister wrote: post #190

charlysl wrote: post #185

I am doing something similar, it's not easy. I am late to the party, but in case this helps, this is what works for me: First, the most important thing is that you must really, really want it. I don't think that anyone ever got good at something hard that they didn't find interesting, or, if they did, it must have been sheer torture. If this is not the case, the sooner you accept it and move on, the better, to avoid…

> I prefer depth over breadth. > I stick to one course at a time, full inmersion. Oh, the opposite is working for me. I’m learning about three things at the same time. Reasons: - Too much time on the same topic and I get tired. For example, I’m learning databases. If I spend one hour per day every day on learning databases, after two months I get bored on the topic. But if I learn databases on Mondays and Fridays, I’…

Good point about spaced repitition, wish I had the discipline. I find that if I learned something the way I described above, I can pick it up again easily even if rusty, the moment I read and think again about it, it comes back fast.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage self-study?

#194

Post by debbiedowner » Mon, May 04, 2020, 12:25 PM UTC

Find a course sequence that you think is important to know from a university website. You can find these on (under)graduate requirements pages. Download the syllabi in order and do the hws/projects/tests. Try to stay on some regular timeline. Use the course calendar and set goals according to it. Check your work and grade yourself. You can prefer to choose courses/schools with their materials online and that use books/solutions freely available online too. Since you say you already chose books, find a course with the appropriate prereqs that uses them, otherwise you may have chosen the wrong book. Many reputable programs have professors that post everything online. When a link is broken you can supplement by buying the material on coursehero or the like.

A motivator is to think of some people who have some education you don't, and you want to be like them. They followed these syllabi like orders in the past, so so should you.

I take the procrastinating on youtube to mean you are intimidated. Maybe from analysis paralysis. So having a schedule to follow for some self assignments that you will grade will be a motivator I think.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage self-study?

#195

Post by jerome-jh » Mon, May 04, 2020, 12:48 PM UTC

First of, you will not be able to learn all these things. Or maybe you will learn several of them, but you will only have a working knowledge of at most one or two. Curiosity is good and take it as it is: understanding the concepts and open problems of other science fields. That is very enjoyable, but you will never be a scientist in every of those fields.

Now assuming you do that aside your day job. You should remember what you wanted to achieve as a child, and achieve it or some of it. Me I wanted to understand Godel's proofs. So I bought books and currently studying them. Now that overlaps and interferes with my career goal, but that is a problem of my own :)

I took a number of MOOCs and enjoyed them: they provide a frame to your learning and short term goals. You can also ask questions to human beings. The issue is they may drive you away from your core goals, since there are not interesting MOOCs on every subject.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage self-study?

#196

Post by waste_monk » Mon, May 04, 2020, 1:06 PM UTC

acdibble wrote: post #176

waste_monk wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you like TIS-100 and similar games, check out MHRD (available on Steam and itch.io). It teaches you a simplified version of hardware description language that you'd use to synthesize stuff on an FPGA or ASIC. You start out using NAND gates to build foundational logic gates (AND, OR, etc.), and gradually work your way up to building stuff like I/O multiplexers, memory, an ALU, and finally a working CPU using the bu…

Is it essentially nand2tetris in game format? I tried making my way through that a couple times but maybe some gamification is just what I needed.

I haven't done nand2tetris (despite buying the companion book which has been gathering dust for some time on my bookshelf...), but I understand it's roughly equivalent to the first few chapters.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage self-study?

#197

Post by majky538 » Mon, May 04, 2020, 1:22 PM UTC

As you said, you feel overwhelmend. For example,I usually code my side-project in the evening, after 8 hrs of coding at my job.

I have a goal to create working application. Is it a joy for me or just another work that takes my time and gives me nothing? Sometimes, I don't know. I keep working with different technologies, tools so it's not the same as at the job. When i feel, that's not a joy, I am tired or whatever, i don't force myself to do that.

Rather than "learning" programming language, you can write down an idea for the sample app and start working on that. Rather than reading a book, you can watch a video or you can go read outside.

Create schedule, couple hours per week, break your loop.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage self-study?

#198

Post by arbifol » Mon, May 04, 2020, 2:05 PM UTC

alexashka wrote: post #163

You're asking the wrong question and you'll get 1001 shitty opinions for it. There is no methodology for how to waste your life better - you haven't mentioned your goal a single time. Learning without a goal is for idiots and public education, created by idiots for idiots. Figure out what problem you want to solve in this world, in this short lifetime you have. Specializing in a field and doing something worthwhile w…

Couldn't disagree with this more strongly. You can have a goal. It's good to think about them. But some of the most innovative theorizing in history was done by people with no thought about the practical goal in mind. Studying something simply because it's interesting to you is a valid choice. But you do need to be aware that that's what you're doing, and not expect some reward to materialize other than the knowledge itself. "Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned" is a very good book on this topic.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage self-study?

#199

Post by IggleSniggle » Mon, May 04, 2020, 2:11 PM UTC

codeknight11 wrote: post #153

IggleSniggle wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the same boat as you, except that I classify most games that I enjoy as type 1 fun. Mentally taxing, frustrating, making the victory so much sweeter. This, learning "hard things" is type 1 fun. Until it isn't. And then I do something else. I'm also "ADHD." Quotes because after 30 some years living with the diagnosis (and reconfirmed, both by others and myself), I still don't really know what it means. Somethin…

This is my biggest struggle right now. I am very similar in "nature" to you and the OP you replied to. I just cannot get myself to do hard things ONLY because they are hard. I am young and struggling to find my way. Thanks for sharing your perspective. I have always thought something is wrong with me. But maybe I am just wired that way. I can still immerse myself in really hard things but only if I enjoy it.

The best you can do is constrain your environment in a general direction. In my own life, when I try hard to do something I really don't want to do, it ends up being a set-back. Time wasted.

If instead I go deep on what I enjoy, I am happier in the short term AND long term. When I was younger, I would "waste" time on strategy/tactical games. But I think I actually gained some long-term planning skills from this, and developed a taste for "slow thinking" from this activity. And now those games are boring to me.

Last weekend I buried my head in functional/algebraic programming, even though my conscious brain was saying it was a total waste of time and distraction from my real tasks/goals. From the experience, I've learned that functional programming really isn't the silver bullet I want to believe it should be. But I trust myself enough to believe that even if the payoff isn't obvious, or even if it doesn't apply in my professional life, that my brain giving me enjoyment for the activity is enough of a signal that it was time well spent...even if I really can't justify it to anyone including myself.

You can point yourself in a general direction by setting up your environment towards that direction. Buy books in things you're interested in even if you never end up reading them. Give your body sunshine. Never go grocery shopping when hungry, and fill your fridge only with good foods. The key to letting your unconscious brain take over is that you only give it access to the sugar that your executive planning brain believes will work.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage self-study?

#200

Post by maire » Mon, May 04, 2020, 2:28 PM UTC

adamcharnock wrote: post #92

cortesoft wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think enjoyment is the guide we should always use for deciding what to do. That is one aspect of our lives that is important to maintain, but a lot of satisfaction in life comes from things that aren't 'enjoyable' in the strictest sense, especially not in the moment that you are doing the action. Hard work, selflessness, and sacrifice doesn't usually feel enjoyable in the moment, but can lead to a more satisf…

From the other comments here this seems like a common sentiment. I do indeed do things which are not enjoyable in the strictest sense, as you phrase it. However I do still think my original comment is true, so perhaps there is some finessing to be done here. I'm not sure I have the answer though. Perhaps there are different kinds of 'enjoyment'. And perhaps I'm personally willing to accept some immediate suffering be…

I downvoted your original post because it was the top post. It did not answer the OP's original question. It should be one of the answers but not the top answer.

You should to some extent enjoy what you are doing particularly when what you enjoy is in line with what you want to get out of life.

The OP asked for tools for focus. Most of us need tools to gain perspective because we are so busy day to day that we don't see how it will fit in with a full life. We all need tools to periodically take a step back and see how everything fits together. I think you do that naturally but it was not in your post.

BTW - I can tell you do not have young children. They will completely change your perspective.