51–60 of 79 posts
Ignoring the semantic controversy on 'mastery' and 'expertise', here's my story. I dropped out of a CS program after first year. I was the classic case of a student who had always been told he was brilliant, so I never worked very hard. In high school, I coasted along simply on a fantastic memory, often 'studying' for the final exams that determine graduation the night before. I never learned how to learn. Going to c…
This is written from a student perspective, where "mastering" means passing the exam. I'll stick with Norvig's 10 000 hours.
Agreed. I had an interesting experience recently when I decided to "relearn" math. I had taken calculus courses in high school and university, and aced all the exams. But when I eventually came back to calculus out of personal interest, I realized that I didn't know what a derivative was! I didn't know what a limit was! How did I pass those classes? And if someone who got the highest marks didn't learn anything, what…
Ignoring the semantic controversy on 'mastery' and 'expertise', here's my story. I dropped out of a CS program after first year. I was the classic case of a student who had always been told he was brilliant, so I never worked very hard. In high school, I coasted along simply on a fantastic memory, often 'studying' for the final exams that determine graduation the night before. I never learned how to learn. Going to c…
Are you going to school online or on campus? Full or part time? Working?
Ignoring the semantic controversy on 'mastery' and 'expertise', here's my story. I dropped out of a CS program after first year. I was the classic case of a student who had always been told he was brilliant, so I never worked very hard. In high school, I coasted along simply on a fantastic memory, often 'studying' for the final exams that determine graduation the night before. I never learned how to learn. Going to c…
Keep up the good work.
Ignoring the semantic controversy on 'mastery' and 'expertise', here's my story. I dropped out of a CS program after first year. I was the classic case of a student who had always been told he was brilliant, so I never worked very hard. In high school, I coasted along simply on a fantastic memory, often 'studying' for the final exams that determine graduation the night before. I never learned how to learn. Going to c…
LessWrong looks like something I'll enjoy reading. Do you have any favorite or recommended articles -- not necessarily related to op? Keep up the good work.
Harry Potter & The Methods of Rationality: http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Methods_Of_Rationality_(fanfi...
Here's a good one on the ways in which LessWrong can improve: http://lesswrong.com/lw/2po/selfimprovement_or_shiny_distrac...
But my 2 favorites are the ones I mentioned: A "Failure to Evaluate Return-on-Time" Fallacy: http://lesswrong.com/lw/2p1/a_failure_to_evaluate_returnonti...
Humans are not automatically strategic: http://lesswrong.com/lw/2p5/humans_are_not_automatically_str...
Particularly the latter. Digesting those 2 are probably responsible for most of the self-improvement gains I've made. I realized that mostly, we operate on autopilot. Now autopilot is great - when you're the one who programmed it. LessWrong is about programming your autopilot so you chart and stay on the correct course as a matter of course.
Also, it would be remiss of me not to mention OvercomingBias ( http://www.overcomingbias.com/ ).IIRC, LessWrong is something of a spinoff from OB
Ignoring the semantic controversy on 'mastery' and 'expertise', here's my story. I dropped out of a CS program after first year. I was the classic case of a student who had always been told he was brilliant, so I never worked very hard. In high school, I coasted along simply on a fantastic memory, often 'studying' for the final exams that determine graduation the night before. I never learned how to learn. Going to c…
Ignoring the semantic controversy on 'mastery' and 'expertise', here's my story. I dropped out of a CS program after first year. I was the classic case of a student who had always been told he was brilliant, so I never worked very hard. In high school, I coasted along simply on a fantastic memory, often 'studying' for the final exams that determine graduation the night before. I never learned how to learn. Going to c…
> I didn't know how to learn. I'm not trolling here, but don't you think it's more accurate to say you didn't know how to work?
Ignoring the semantic controversy on 'mastery' and 'expertise', here's my story. I dropped out of a CS program after first year. I was the classic case of a student who had always been told he was brilliant, so I never worked very hard. In high school, I coasted along simply on a fantastic memory, often 'studying' for the final exams that determine graduation the night before. I never learned how to learn. Going to c…
This sounds like a textbook case of someone being raised to form a "fixed mindset" view of intelligence. Have you read any of Carol Dweck's research, like http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-... ?
Talent does matter - no one disputes that some people have learning disabilities compared to the average; yet seem hesitant to accept that some have learning advantages compared to the average. It's just that talent isn't enough. As a Jamaican, I can tell you that Usain Bolt dominates because of an almost freakish talent AND working till he vomits on the track at training. His training partner, Yohan "The Beast" Blake, is well known to be a much harder worker than Bolt - It was Bolt who nicknamed him "The Beast" when he saw how hard Yohan trained. But Bolt still wins.
I wanna work hard enough to maximize my talent.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This sounds like a textbook case of someone being raised to form a "fixed mindset" view of intelligence. Have you read any of Carol Dweck's research, like http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-... ?
Yup; it was an article on her work in NYMag that 'diagnosed' me. I think it was 'The Power & Perils of Praise.' I remember reading it and thinking, "holy fuck, that's me!" I think that was also when I was exposed to the "Talent Doesn't Matter" meme, with which I disagree. Talent does matter - no one disputes that some people have learning disabilities compared to the average; yet seem hesitant to accept that some hav…
He is, however, a master of self-marketing:
"To find out more about this, join Scott's newsletter and you'll get a free copy of his rapid learning ebook (and a set of detailed case studies of how other learners have used these techniques)."