Maybe you should learn something • Hacker News Board

Re: Maybe you should learn something

#91

Post by marginalia_nu » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:40 PM UTC

frankie_t wrote: post #52

It's a very common thing to blame the lack of time and "finding" the extra time by suggesting to give up phone or some other form of procrastination. But in my experience, time is almost never a problem. It's usually: - energy: learning requires much more than the other "bad" activities like phone - correct psychological state: procrastination is typically triggered as a response to anxiety for me, so any learning I…

(Author of the post)

For energy, it both requires and pays dividends. It's a bit like working out in that sense.

I think my intended takeaway was that you really don't need to have make the thing you're studying take a lot of time, that daily consistency matters more than pouring hours into practice and obsessing about it.

Though in general, I do still think it's the phones and media diet that is the problem with the sense of lacking time.

Few years ago I had a full time job I felt like I had no time. Then I had a part time job, and I still had no time. Now I'm self employed, with nobody to answer to, and I still often feel like I have no time. Like damn, to get more time than I actually already have I'd need to move in next door to a black hole. Though when I unplug, then holy crap do I suddenly end up with a lot of time.

Re: Maybe you should learn something

#92

Post by cwiz » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:41 PM UTC

I learned a lot myself, but lately I just can't make it on stable regime because you don't get much positive feedback you you're learning something yourself. There's no grades, no exams and all of your motivation is internal. In that case you need to work on a motivation and goals. Why would you learn something that doesn't pays off then?

Re: Maybe you should learn something

#93

Post by sanderjd » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:43 PM UTC

jrmg wrote: post #76

globalnode wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that is beautiful, its something i believe as well but never seen it written so eloquenty. when everythings gone to hell and your backed into a corner, learning something interesting is always there for you.

“The Once and Future King” is an odd book. I read it recently - as an adult - and I’m not sure I ‘enjoyed’ reading it. It has a lot of ‘childishness’, especially in the first 2/3, of a kind I’ve never really liked in it. Perhaps the kind _adults_ think kids enjoy. But it’s also full of stuff like this at unexpected moments. Wonder at the world; consideration of others; the burden of leadership. I ended up thinking of…

Some of my favorite books are ones I didn't really "like", but which influenced me deeply. The ones that go at the very top of the list are those that achieve both things. But that's very rare.

Re: Maybe you should learn something

#94

Post by marginalia_nu » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:44 PM UTC

ur-whale wrote: post #88

Couldn't find a mention of age in the article. It was probably written by a relatively young person. Nice intent and advice, but in practice, mostly harder and harder to do as time passes by.

(author) I'm 40. Haven't really had any increase in difficulty learning things yet. Maybe when I'm 60 I'll have different ideas.

Re: Maybe you should learn something

#95

Post by sanderjd » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:48 PM UTC

khurs wrote: post #49

The education system is to blame. Kids are conditioned to associate learning with a formal course with a tutor culminating in exams. It's also intentional to segregate skills, if schools taught every child basic plumbing or car mechanics for example instead of spending a month teaching something that won't get used in life, there would be less job in those fields.

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."

Re: Maybe you should learn something

#96

Post by 9183726518 » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:50 PM UTC

cwiz wrote: post #92

I learned a lot myself, but lately I just can't make it on stable regime because you don't get much positive feedback you you're learning something yourself. There's no grades, no exams and all of your motivation is internal. In that case you need to work on a motivation and goals. Why would you learn something that doesn't pays off then?

To improve your life, circumatances, abilities. To have a larger amount of known concepts to connect to each other. To increase your stability, security, quality of life, and self reliance. To make more money. To decrease your reliance on uncontrollable and unstable factors.

Re: Maybe you should learn something

#97

Post by sanderjd » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:52 PM UTC

raincole wrote: post #32

yetkin wrote: post #27

I cannot deny the value of learning but there is a fact that learning can be a way of procrastination. This happens when the joy of learning overtake and diverge you from a goal. Nothing wrong about it, it is a time well spent. But I think there must be a balance as well

"Sometimes I feel like I'm an athlete who trained all day for years, then before my first professional match, I retired and went off to teach PE."

Is this a quote from something?

Re: Maybe you should learn something

#98

Post by thunderbong » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 1:55 PM UTC

sanderjd wrote: post #86

frankie_t wrote: post #52

It's a very common thing to blame the lack of time and "finding" the extra time by suggesting to give up phone or some other form of procrastination. But in my experience, time is almost never a problem. It's usually: - energy: learning requires much more than the other "bad" activities like phone - correct psychological state: procrastination is typically triggered as a response to anxiety for me, so any learning I…

I think when people say "not enough time", they just mean "uninterrupted time". This is the thing that is extremely difficult in conjunction with parenting (and not just toddlers). There is a close to zero sum tradeoff between being truly present with your kids, and having intellectually high quality uninterrupted time. But there is actually lots of time scattered about throughout the days! It's just in little moment…

That's a really nice point - about uninterrupted time.

I do notice however, in myself as well as in others, that given an amount of uninterrupted time, we quickly get bored and pick up our phones to break it.

I recall that when Covid hit, I suddenly had a lot of interrupted time on my hands. It quite felt like the times from when we were kids, when he had these vast swathes of time in the afternoon and before bedtime.

I think for a lot of adults, besides the chores and errands that keep life busy, it's become a habit for us to fill up what little uninterrupted time we get with distractions.

Re: Maybe you should learn something

#99

Post by russfink » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 2:03 PM UTC

I’m attempting to learn to use a slide rule. It’s quite a history lesson - we take for granted the large precision we get on calculators. But the learning is taking repeated visits, about 30 minutes at a time. I’m slowly getting it.

Re: Maybe you should learn something

#100

Post by jschveibinz » Sat, Jul 04, 2026, 2:09 PM UTC

I went back to school in my 50's to learn how to teach. Two of the most important takeaways from that experience were:

1) learning how to learn; and

2) using projects to learn

Writing about your experience in learning is also a powerful tool. If you can describe it to your journal (or someone else), you really know it.