Ask HN: How do you manage self-study?

Different things work for different people, but I'll give you my two cents. I got through college entirely through self study.

What works for me is reading a textbook and re-writing out any concept in the textbook in my own words until I understand it. Afterwards I do practice problems or a project to ensure I'm not lying to myself about my understanding.

If I can, I only do one topic until I'm sure I've solidified my knowledge to a sufficient degree that I won't forget it when I shift my main focus to something else.

Lastly but most importantly is be ok with failure. When you fail to learn something, take a break and then come back approaching it from an entirely different angle.

I have ADHD, and I used to worry about wanting to learn everything. After many years of attempting to do so, I found out that there simply isn't enough time to do it all. The surface area is too broad, and there are too many demands in life that will take priority. Without focus, it won't be as easy to excel in a particular area.

Instead, use projects to drive your learning, otherwise your knowledge will atrophy as you attempt to learn subjects broadly. Hands on learning will be more productive as it integrates all of your senses.

Figure out what you want to do. That isn't to say your interests can't change, but your learning should benefit your current objectives.

You might find that what you work on requires interdisciplinary understanding, and in that case you might integrate a broader field of skills. But let your projects guide you to that, otherwise you're making a premature optimization. Perhaps an incorrect one.

I often feel this way. I think it helps _a lot_ to have an effective task management system.

Why? There is this thing called the Zeigarnik effect. The Zeigarnik effect states that unoccupied tasks tend to overwhelm your conscious thought. When you have too much stuff to do you get overburdened and stressed and start watching Youtube. (I've definitely been there).

How do you deal with the Zeigarnik effect? Well, you can complete the task, but that's often a tall order. There's been research that shows that simply having a plan for how to complete a task helps you overcome the Zeigarnik effect.

How do you make sure you have a plan for all your open tasks/projects? This is where the task management system comes in. I'll tell you a few that I've tried and the software I use.

I think the two biggest systems for managing your todo list are Agile (adapted for personal use) and Getting Things Done (GTD).

I have been using a person Agile system for about two years now. It has definitely helped with stress a lot. I have weekly "sprints" where I plan what I want to do for the week. I review every week - what went well and what can be improved. I have a backlog with all the tasks that I want to work on divided up by projects. I also have a board for projects and what state they're in - TODO, in progess, done.

GTD is another system that I've been meaning to read about. What I know so far is that it's basically a flow chart for each item you have to do. There are lists for items in different categories - projects, backlog, current work.

The key point is that both of these systems _never leave a task incomplete_. By "incomplete", I mean not finished or reviewed. Yes, reviewed. If you recall, these are exactly the two ways of eliminating the Zeigarnik effect and the stress it entails.

Furthermore, with an effective task management system, you gain confidence and momentum in seeing your record of complete projects stack up. (I sometimes scroll back on previous years just for fun).

What about software? I started out using Trello. It's simple, free, and has almost no learning curve. I have a board for my sprint, backlog, and projects. On my sprint board, I have 3 lists - TODO, in progress, and done. At the end of the week, I move the done list to the completed board. Then I have a visual record of everything I've completed over the past year (I make separate completed boards for each year).

However, I've been slowly trying to convert all my stuff to org-mode in Emacs. Look up org-mode if you're unfamiliar with it. It's very popular among GTD enthusiasts.

In short, have a plan for everything you're working on, keep a "scoreboard" or list of things you've accomplished, and review constantly - review each task at the EOD and review on a weekly basis at least.

I enjoy these sort of channels, but I would say I ever "learn" anything from them.

I have struggled with similar issues for years. I have a kinda weird take on the topic, but I think it might be helpful. I think the “persistence paradigm” we’re living through causes these sort of psychological short circuits where we forget that what we’re doing is building our minds and not building some external edifice or monument that we can point to as our “knowledge”. There is never going to be a moment where you can point at your stack of notebooks or answers to textbook questions or list of books you’ve read and say “I’ve done it, I’ve learned so much”. The widespread behavior of persisting moments of our lives out into cyberspace has sort of bled into our psychologies. I think this is partially why you see so many people struggling with these sorts of questions.

So the short answer I think is to focus on a process of daily improvement instead of some systematic program for self study. Just read 60 minutes a day, journal 30 minutes a day, and place absolutely no restrictions on the subject matter. For a while I also burned my notebooks every 30 days, that was really helpful. These days I actually do record a lot of my thoughts but I try not to get bogged down too often in the systemization of the practice.