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Ask HN: How do you manage self-study?

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

#171

Post by underdeserver »

cousin_it wrote: post #59

If you have an extremely good textbook with exercises: 1) Every weekday 30min uninterrupted study at a specific time, preferably in the morning. Don't miss, rain or shine. Take weekends off, though. 2) Work in a strict linear fashion: read a chapter, then solve all of that chapter's exercises in order without skipping any, and only then allow yourself to peek at the next chapter. Don't "take a first pass through the…

This works for me as well. I'd add another point:

* Acknowledge that sometimes the book you're reading is repetitive or not very well written. If you're <10% in, read up on reviews and try to find a better book on the same subject. If ≥10%, commit and complete, acknowledging that you're not necessarily the best judge of a book's quality.

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

#172

Post by mertnesvat »

hoorayimhelping wrote: post #35

> I either wish to know or that I should know already. So let's back up. What's your motivation here? Why do you want to know stuff? Is it to excel at your job? Is it to just be a well rounded individual? Is it just because you love learning? Your goals should dictate your focus - figure out what you're trying to do and focus on that. There's only so much making time - optimize for maximizing it with a narrow focus o…

I loved the questioning! It's more like five whys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_whys

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

#173

Post by dgb23 »

hnick wrote: post #130
krallja wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Andrew Ng. Machine Thinking. 8-Bit Guy. Ben Eater. Jeri Ellsworth. I do some of my best learning with YouTube.

I watched hours of gardening and cooking videos on YouTube yesterday and learned a lot of useful information. Unfortunately that probably won't help me with my next job interview :(

Those are creative activities and fun things to talk about. They can also be used as illustrative analogies for software.

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

#174

Post by mertnesvat »

srfa wrote: post #27

I've been in a similar boat - wanted to share what I found worked for me, perhaps it helps. I constantly found myself in the following loop: 1) Motivated to study, study productively 2) Several days / weeks later productivity stops (for any number of reasons) 3) Quickly forget everything I learnt over the next month or so 4) Back at stage 1, feeling I have 'wasted' the last few months. My big problem was the _forgett…

Looks really cool I downloaded thanks a lot for sharing. How long are you using? And are you using for programming if so how does it look like your cards?

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

#175

Post by mertnesvat »

rsanek wrote: post #108
srfa wrote: post #27

I've been in a similar boat - wanted to share what I found worked for me, perhaps it helps. I constantly found myself in the following loop: 1) Motivated to study, study productively 2) Several days / weeks later productivity stops (for any number of reasons) 3) Quickly forget everything I learnt over the next month or so 4) Back at stage 1, feeling I have 'wasted' the last few months. My big problem was the _forgett…

Strong +1. I constantly felt like I was wasting time by studying and then stopping since I would forget 95% of what I learned. With a small daily investment, Anki flips that percentage to retaining 80-90%. It has been an insane boon to my motivation, and I've been able to keep a near-daily habit of doing it for 6 years now.

Are you using every week or is it when you resume where you left of you check the cards?

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

#176

Post by acdibble »

waste_monk wrote: post #145
krallja wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Also, see if there's a game that teaches you the thing you want to learn. I learned orbital mechanics from Kerbal Space Program. Assembly programming from TIS-100 and Microcorruption. And … whatever the heck I learned from Factorio. Logistics? Abstraction? If there isn't a game, you might try and make it a game. See how fast you can solve the example problems in the textbook. Get the high score on your flashcard…

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.

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

#177

Post by dgb23 »

anon9001 wrote: post #58
cyberprunes wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to agree with this because teaching IS a great learning tool but one needs to have some idea of what they are doing. Teaching helps to identify the problem areas we fool ourselves into believing we understand well. Youtube is an amazing resource but it's also an ocean of incompetence and phony expertise by people doing exactly what you prescribe. Just be careful not to contribute to the ever expanding circle j…

Others will make content whether you do or not. Chances are that if you're sensitive to the ocean of incompetence, you would be a positive contributor. I don't know if there's a name for this phenomenon, but lots of qualified and talented will refrain from showing off their less-than-perfect work, because they know it's not perfect. I understand the impulse, and it's why I haven't published over the years. Only recen…

The key here is honesty and showing vulnerability, preferably through humor when appropriate.

This way the consumer knows where the limitations are and you possibly create an emotional connection.

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

#178

Post by dkersten »

adamcharnock wrote: post #26

I'm hoping my reply is more helpful than it sounds at first glance... This is one of those questions where I read and then exclaim (rhetorically), "what's wrong with people?!" Don't take this the wrong way, I often exclaim this. You are quite possibly in the majority and I'm the odd one. To me it has always seemed inherently clear that the way to approach life is to do something if you enjoy it. If you stop enjoying…

If I only did things I enjoyed, I wouldn’t be able to live because I don’t enjoy most house work, cooking, shopping, plenty of necessary things at work (and I have changed work a few times to maximise what I do enjoy, but there’s limits), etc.

I do feel that a large reason why mundane, boring or unenjoyable things are so hard has to do with overstimulation from low effort high dopamine activities. It becomes much easier to tackle these things if your base level of dopamine is low, so small achievements give you a nice boost. It’s very hard to keep the base level low, though, in our always connected high stimulation world...

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

#179

Post by heisnotanalien »

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 find it so curious you think of something like a marathon as Type 2 activity. For me it's the supreme Type 1 activity. As in when I am running there is nothing else I'd rather be doing even with the pain etc.

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

#180

Post by heisnotanalien »

rmtech wrote: post #97
adamcharnock wrote: post #26

I'm hoping my reply is more helpful than it sounds at first glance... This is one of those questions where I read and then exclaim (rhetorically), "what's wrong with people?!" Don't take this the wrong way, I often exclaim this. You are quite possibly in the majority and I'm the odd one. To me it has always seemed inherently clear that the way to approach life is to do something if you enjoy it. If you stop enjoying…

on the other hand, if you enjoy goofing off playing video games more than you enjoy doing math courses & you act on that, then reality will find you a job at McDonald's instead of a coding job. So choose what you enjoy wisely.

Funny because in my experience people are good at math tend to like playing games. At a certain level, every game is math after all.
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