Ask HN: How do you manage self-study?

#1

Post by ruph123 » Sun, May 03, 2020, 7:14 AM UTC

I often feel overwhelmed by the amount of things I either wish to know or that I should know already.

Be it theoretical knowledge about ML, CS, mechanics, math topics. Or lack of experience e.g in some algorithms I need to understand, control problems, programming lanuages.

And I really struggle to organize a propper study schedule. What should I do next? Should I continue learning this one programming language? Continue reading this ML book? Try to set up and solve some control problems? For each topic I would like to learn, I already have the right material (books, problems to solve, etc.), so at least this is not a problem.

Often I am so overwhelmed that I just watch stuff on youtube.

I wish I had a tool or found a methodology to a) stay focused on the things I want to learn and b) to somehow track my progress.

Are there any tools or methodologies that you can recommend? Please don't tell me "just use pen & paper", I tried and I would like something more interactive.

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

#2

Post by gas9S9zw3P9c » Sun, May 03, 2020, 2:56 PM UTC

I have exact same problem. But for me it's not just about learning. It extends to other aspects of my life - side projects, health, work, travel, etc. I have huge lists of things I want to do, but no real way to manage them. I'm having an especially hard time balancing them.

I've been through various apps and approaches, and even tried to write some tools myself. So far I have been unsuccessful in finding the right abstractions and solution to solve the problem. Everything I've tried ran into edge cases it couldn't handle. I always came back to listing goals and daily schedules in raw text files, sometimes using org-mode.

One approach that has worked okay-ish for me is to have a hierarchy of personal OKRs. Quarterly -> Monthly -> Weekly. I found anything longer than quarterly to not be very useful - life changes too quickly. Even quarterly may be too much. You create these as-you-go, e.g. each Sunday you review your past week and create OKRs for the next week, possibly adjusting some of your monthly goals. Each day is then managed with a simple TODO list and you count tasks towards your weekly OKRs. At the end of each period (day, week, month) you have a review.

This approach still has a lot of shortcomings (not being flexible enough, not incorporating habits, some things are difficult to measure and can't be expressed as OKRs, etc) and I've tried several other things I could talk about, but the time period in which I used this approach was one of the more productive ones.

Regardless of the technique, one thing I've come to realize is that people tend to spend not enough time on "meta" - figuring out what to spend time on. If you think about it, spending 1-2 full days a month making sure that you are working on the right things aligned with your long-term goals is reasonable, but very few people spend this amount of time (me included). Instead, we tend to keep ourselves busy with the micro - tasks right in front of us.

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

#3

Post by rotterdamdev » Sun, May 03, 2020, 2:56 PM UTC

This writing gets asked every 3 weeks. Use the search function.

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

#4

Post by manic85 » Sun, May 03, 2020, 3:43 PM UTC

I've found a combination of keeping a journal, having self-compassion, and having something to prove to be the key to sticking with a self-study regimen.

Journaling helps document progress and provides notes that you can transcribe to a spaced repetition system (i.e. flashcards) for long term retention.

Self-compassion is key for picking yourself up after you feel overwhelmed by a topic and quit for the day, which will happen. You have to not be so hard on yourself and understand that there will be good days and bad so that you can build the long term stamina needed to see the project through.

Having something to prove (i.e. I'm a business guy but I can learn coding too; I know I'm smart enough to score high on the GMAT/LSAT whatever and get into the school of my dreams, etc etc) is often what motivates me the most. It gives you that "why" that you need to keep yourself focused on finishing in the face of so many distractions until the project is done.

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

#5

Post by atemerev » Sun, May 03, 2020, 4:09 PM UTC

Have a particular project in mind. It doesn’t have to be serious, but it can cover a lot of ground.

I have learned more about physics than in my whole life before, when I took the hobby project of recreating the numerical simulation of a nuclear explosion. It was immensely satisfying.

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

#6

Post by s1t5 » Sun, May 03, 2020, 4:18 PM UTC

I have a learning Trello board with categories "Maybe", "To Do", "In Progress" and "Done". When I come across something new it goes in the maybe category. I also make sure to only work on something if it's "in progress" and keep the in-progress list limited to 2-3 items at any time.

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

#7

Post by duxup » Sun, May 03, 2020, 4:37 PM UTC

My thing is similar, there is a lot I want to learn.

My problem is a little different that even when I do it... it's on my own, late at night, I'm tired and frustrated that I'm not learning at the pace I want to.

I've sort of settled that self learning for me is just going to be a mix of hacking things out clumsily and watching some videos before bed, and maybe maybe some lucky times where I have free time (rare with a family with kids) and some bits of it will stick, others won't, and I'll probably watch it again later and that's ok.

In short rather than sweat the outcomes too much and get frustrated and not do the thing, I just do the things and frankly that usually results in better outcomes long term.

Granted... I'm still working on all of this ;)

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

#8

Post by gas9S9zw3P9c » Sun, May 03, 2020, 4:38 PM UTC

manic85 wrote: post #4

I've found a combination of keeping a journal, having self-compassion, and having something to prove to be the key to sticking with a self-study regimen. Journaling helps document progress and provides notes that you can transcribe to a spaced repetition system (i.e. flashcards) for long term retention. Self-compassion is key for picking yourself up after you feel overwhelmed by a topic and quit for the day, which wi…

That's an interesting approach, but I feel like you are describing a slightly different problem than the op is talking about, or at least I have.

Once I pick something to work on I have no problem staying motivated or sticking with it. I've also never felt bad about myself running into roadblocks. My problem is that there are too many interesting things to work on, I have a hard time picking from them, leading to FOMA for all the other things I can't pick. What I'm looking for is not so much a way to stick with a task, but rather a system to help me "manage" my life, deciding which of 1,000 potential thing has the highest payoff, and how to balance them.

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

#9

Post by darrelld » Sun, May 03, 2020, 4:59 PM UTC

I've been trying to figure this out for decades now. From my teens, I realized that the internet was limitless in how much info it had, but that I was limited in how much I could pack into my brain.

Here are some things I try to keep in mind as I try to learn new things:

* Get enough sleep and nutrition. If you're tired/hungry you're going to feel overwhelmed faster

* Don't rely on motivation, instead rely on discipline. Motivation is great for a burst of energy, but it will eventually leave you. Discipline, on the other hand, is what will make you start and finish that book / online course, etc.

* Track your progress in whatever way is best suited to you. This could be as simple as a check on a calendar or using an app. Personally I like the Jiffy and Habits app on the Android store. Seeing progress helps with both motivation and discipline.

* Learn one thing at a time. It's tempting to spread yourself thin, but sticking to one thing is best.

* Give yourself more time than you think you'll need to learn. In a classroom setting you can raise your hand and ask an expert a question which they can quickly clear up for you. When you're doing self-study you'll find that you may ask the wrong question, interpret things wrong, go down a Google rabbit hole trying to understand related topics, dig through forum answers which may not quite answer your question, and leave you with even more questions.

* Figure out your learning method. Maybe it's video, maybe it's a book. Your preferred learning method may change over time and it may change by topic. Don't be afraid to stop one method and pick up with a new one, or change midway through. For example, when I'm learning a new language I find video courses helpful to get me started, but then once I'm running and past the basics, I find text content easier to digest.

* Personally I get frustrated when learning new things when someone decides to coin a new jargon term. For example a little while back I ran into the term "upsert" to refer to an "update or insert" process. The text I was reading used it like I was supposed to know what it was, but I had never run into it before. These things frustrate me and usually make me feel like I'm way behind in basic knowledge and tend to kill both motivation and discipline. Why not just the extended-term, especially in a course designed for beginners? It causes a weird mental block for me. My solution is to just say "Fuck you, but fine. I accept this as it is". It's a little mental prayer than helps me move past the feeling.

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

#10

Post by gas9S9zw3P9c » Sun, May 03, 2020, 5:06 PM UTC

darrelld wrote: post #9

I've been trying to figure this out for decades now. From my teens, I realized that the internet was limitless in how much info it had, but that I was limited in how much I could pack into my brain. Here are some things I try to keep in mind as I try to learn new things: * Get enough sleep and nutrition. If you're tired/hungry you're going to feel overwhelmed faster * Don't rely on motivation, instead rely on discipl…

I think you are describing "how to learn effectively, manage time, and stay motivated [once you've picked a topic]" - which is important and useful, but IMO slightly different from what the OP is describing (and a problem I have), which is "how to pick what to learn next when there are 1,000 interesting choices with uncertain payoffs"

For example, you say "Learn one thing at a time" - Sure, but how do you pick that one thing when there are 1,000 things on your list that all seem equally useful and interesting? What I am looking for is a proper system for picking that one thing, not using my gut feeling.