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Ask HN: How do I stay motivated to learn?

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Re: Ask HN: How do I stay motivated to learn?

#51

Post by cstigler »

NY_hudson wrote: post #17

I'd say get rid of the Internet at home. That's the number one distraction. Personally, I can't read more than a paragraph online without jumping to another page...so just kill that beast. Here's an example...I have all the documentation I could ever want right on my hard drive, but I might spend a few frustrating hours surfing the web trying to figure out something out instead of looking at what I already have. Some…

If you want to block access to only distracting parts of the Internet, I wrote an open-source Mac app that might help: SelfControl (http://selfcontrolapp.com)

Re: Ask HN: How do I stay motivated to learn?

#52

Post by sheepmullet »

davnicwil wrote: post #42
sheepmullet wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"If you want to quit smoking, do you ban yourself from entering all places that sell cigarettes, and cut off contact with all your friends who smoke?" Yes, actually that's a great way to quit. Find out what triggers you and avoid it. Changing your environment is incredibly beneficial. "It may not be pleasant but being able to do that == being able to truly control the problem" Who cares about controlling the problem?…

> Who cares about controlling the problem? Well, if procrastination is liable to hinder you in buckling down to learn things, it's pretty important to find a way to really control it. Otherwise HN/the internet will be just be replaced by some other distraction offline. How likely is it that your procrastination is really limited to whatever manifestations it currently has on the internet, rather than being a general…

"Well, if procrastination"

I don't think procrastination is the problem with most people spending time on learning. Personally, I've found it is simply an issue with distraction/focus/energy/motivation like going to the gym.

I've spent an hour learning per work day for the last two years simply by going to the park after work and reading books/writing in my notebook. I've missed maybe a dozen days in the last year. Yet, if I get on my computer at home intending to study... i hardly ever end up doing anything useful.

Re: Ask HN: How do I stay motivated to learn?

#53

Post by toephu2 »

NY_hudson wrote: post #17

I'd say get rid of the Internet at home. That's the number one distraction. Personally, I can't read more than a paragraph online without jumping to another page...so just kill that beast. Here's an example...I have all the documentation I could ever want right on my hard drive, but I might spend a few frustrating hours surfing the web trying to figure out something out instead of looking at what I already have. Some…

I always thought about this too, I always want to learn more. But every time when I arrived home after work I was just not motivated to read/learn other new things that took longer than 5 minutes. I imagined if I was in prison I would learn so much and work out much more because you are confined and restricted to a certain space and only have a limited set of activities to do. So you make the most of your time; learn, read books, work out. You would come out a physically and mentally a much better person. But if you have freedom, you actually have too many choices you don't even want to take time to read or learn something new or go workout, human nature causes us to take the easy way out and turn on the TV or do something else considered entertainment and requiring little effort. It's hard to resist.

Re: Ask HN: How do I stay motivated to learn?

#54

Post by duncanawoods »

I can recommend a coursera course that could help you. Its short and always open so doesn't require waiting for it to start:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn

What I like about it is that its created by a neurobiologist and an engineer so it combines understanding of brain function combined with practical methods to work around its limitations like procrastination and concentration.

I expect everyone will have a different take away but for me, it was the role of how chunking not just involved in learning but procrastination. When we approach something unstructured, the complexity can generate the type of discomfort that leads to procrastination. Seeing that chunking not only helps the brain remember something but helps it stay on mission has been helpful.

Re: Ask HN: How do I stay motivated to learn?

#55

Post by jefurii »

NY_hudson wrote: post #17

I'd say get rid of the Internet at home. That's the number one distraction. Personally, I can't read more than a paragraph online without jumping to another page...so just kill that beast. Here's an example...I have all the documentation I could ever want right on my hard drive, but I might spend a few frustrating hours surfing the web trying to figure out something out instead of looking at what I already have. Some…

Recently a cosmic ray flipped a bit in my home laptop's configs. The wifi stopped working and I've been too lazy to fix it. My home network rack is far from my reading chair and has no seating nearby.

This has worked out surprisingly well!

Every so often I plug in, download some pages, and then unplug and go sit down to read. If I get an idea while reading I jot it down and go back to my reading. The next time I get up to go plug in, half the things I thought I wanted to look at are no longer interesting.

At work, unplugging is not an option. I do all my work inside VMs. In my main work VM I've edited /etc/hosts to block HN, Reddit, and other distractions. I have a separate VM that I use for personal mail and leisure browsing. When I'm not using this VM I shut it down and if I want to browse the web I have to boot it up again.

All this has done wonders for my focus while not being quite as drastic as cutting the cable.

Re: Ask HN: How do I stay motivated to learn?

#56

Post by trentmb »

NY_hudson wrote: post #28
trentmb wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd say get rid of the Internet at home. That's the number one distraction. Maybe- maybe not. For me, it was getting a 'third' place- somewhere that isn't work and isn't home. Work is for work, and home is for play. There's a nice 24 hour diner (sans wi-fi, so I'm kinda in accord with you here) between me and work where I can have a serving of toast while clacking away on my laptop. So my M-F schedule is work from…

Totally agree this is the way to go. Unfortunately, I'm a little too undisciplined and I need to take stricter measures on not having access at home.

Hey- you found what works for you. That is what is most important.

My comment was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction, I just wanted to present another option- especially for those that don't have the luxury of living alone like me!

Re: Ask HN: How do I stay motivated to learn?

#57

Post by stewbrew »

Maybe you just haven't found the right angle/perspective on the subject in question yet. If other things interest you more, either change your take on the subject, approach it from a different angle that's relevant to you or don't waste your time and learn something else. I don't think forcing yourself to learn something you have no genuine interest in works on the long run.

Re: Ask HN: How do I stay motivated to learn?

#60

Post by thomasreggi »

Buddy system? I need a buddy. Anyone need a buddy? I've been coding deep for a couple of days straight. I've gotten to the point where I'm just filing github issues and stackoverflow questions for everything. I just started picking on my package manager. I could really use a buddy.
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