I read whatever interests me until it doesn't interest me any more, and I quit reading things that don't interest me. I don't say that to be flip—it's actually what I do, and it has allowed me to consume an enormous amount of material over the years. The only trick to this method is not to confuse difficulty with boredom. There are times when I learn to code, for example, or when I read about obscure financial wizardry or mathematics, where my mind drifts and it feels like boredom. But the reality is just that it's hard. Sometimes when things are hard you do have to change your track until you've developed prerequisite knowledge to come back to it. Just make sure in those instances not to decide the thing was boring because you couldn't handle it on the first go.
Ask HN: What's your process for learning?
11–20 of 98 posts
Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?
#12I think this question can be best answered by first looking at what research tells us about learning (otherwise your question attracts only anecdotal responses which will be less universally applicable). Here's what research says, followed by how it applies to your questions in particular.
1) Mastery based learning is generally the most effective process (learning each axiom of a topic to 100% before moving onto the harder topic)
2) Spiral based learning is an effective add-on to mastery based to keep you remembering the things you've learned (coming back to a topic just at the point of forgetting keeps you retaining knowledge)
3) The content you learn off of (video, text, etc) has different attributes which may correlate to better transferring of knowledge: Shorter videos, hand-written visuals, enthusiastic voice, have all been shown to correlate with better learning outcomes.
4) The motivation you have for the topic you're learning and how much closer it exists to intrinsic/extrinsic motivation dictates how well you'll absorb a topic. The closer to intrinsic, the more effective learning will be. Project-based learning generally falls into this category: projects that interest you motivate you to learn more.
Now with all of that in mind, to answer your questions:
> Do you focus on one topic/book/course/project/article at a time, or split your time between multiple things?
(1) would suggest that you should not split your time, at least at first, unless you are trying to find a better explanation (3)
> Do you use any tools to track your resources, todos, notes, or goals?
Most of the suggestions sound like meta work. I wouldn't suggest tracking todos so much as perhaps writing down the things you've learned to prove to yourself of (1) mastery or to come back to later for (2) spiraling.
> Are there any pain points you have while learning, or are there any tools you wish existed?
Sounds like you are trying to make a tool to help people learn/track learning at a high, abstract level. Because there is no one right solution to everything because of (3) and (4), whatever tool you create may not actually help anyone unless it's more domain-specific and less abstract.
Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?
#13I need to write things down myself, then read them over and over. It doesn't work if I read over and over what somebody else wrote.
Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?
#14You might like: https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn
But what's the best way to learn how to learn?
Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?
#15Doing.
I pick a project that interests me at some point; currently "I'd like to have an internet music player that sits on my cupboard and doesn't require my tablet".
Then:
* decide on platform (CC3200, because it has wifi, enough processing power,
and I happened to have one)
* build something that decodes an MP3 stream (investigate, pick Helix as the decoder,
make it run on the CC)
* think about hardware (DAC, amplifier)
* think about enclosure (wood, how to do front panel)
For tracking my progress, I've started to use Emacs org mode.
Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?
#16Try to get learning working in multiple aspects of your brain at once. One of the best "learn about learning" lessons I ever had was studying jazz theory. My teacher used a four-way method of learning chords - say the name of the chord, visualize it on the keyboard, feel the shape your hands make to play the chord, and listen to the sound of the chord. I've applied this sort of approach to all sorts of skills since then.
Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?
#17If you're doing needfinding for a project idea to enhance learning, my suggestion is to focus on a single DOMAIN of learning first rather than trying to make something to help learning in general, since it's such a vague and broad problem. e.g., "how do you learn to do your taxes?" or "how do you learn basic home maintenance?"
Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?
#18I actually started using a search engine I built for choosing what and how to learn things. https://learn-anything.xyz/ As for learning I usually mind map concepts I thought were interesting and then review the mind maps and create flash cards. It depends on the content however. If it is something actionable like learning a programming language, I try to use the knowledge straightaway and build things. :)
This is great project, thanks for sharing!
Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?
#19My learning falls into a couple main categories: formal study for the sciences (be it math, programming, crypto, etc); and broad research for advocacy and activism. Both of these involve keeping up with current events, the latter moreso than the former; the former can be especially time-sensitive.
I don't have the time to put these in any coherent order, so I'll just list some:
- Bookmarks. I find much of my information online. I make aggressive use of tags, and I found that organizing them into folders is too difficult and a waste of time (unless grouping them for a project/talk temporarily); the tree structure doesn't lend itself well to a graph of concepts. I have ~10k bookmarks. I keep them; you never know when they'll come in handy, even if only for trivia. Figuring out what tags are appropriate forces me to extract key material.
- Maintain a reading list/backlog. I have short, medium, and long-term lists. Go through them on occasion and re-order them by interest/importance. Remove ones you know you won't have time for.
- Learn to speed read. I find it difficult on a screen, but easy on paper.
- Hands-on experience: if you're programming, go hack on your favorite project, look at bug reports, or write your own. Struggle through problems before you give up and look online.
- My time is split between many things. I use Org mode to organize my thoughts and agenda. Sometimes I can do the entire project in Org mode (e.g. https://mikegerwitz.com/projects/sapsf/tree/slides.org, but I left my time tracking private). It also integrates with my mail client (Gnus), where I live a good chunk of my life outside of work.
- While I read many articles and blogs and stuff online, for any in-depth material, I buy the book or print the paper and read offline. I have a system with 5 different color pens that I use to aggressively mark up and underline (blue general concepts, red a problem, green a solution, purple a technical detail, black misc.). I have a Bamboo tablet, but I still prefer paper.
- As I mentioned in another one of my comments (and as adamnemecek mentioned), read a book multiple times (http://pne.people.si.umich.edu/PDF/howtoread.pdf). It not only helps with absorbing the information and selecting what is important to you for further study (which is important given limited time), but also helps if you can't often finish books; after a few iterations, you'll have a good idea on all of the concepts and know _what information exists_ and _where to find it later_ when you actually need it. Discovery is the most important (thus my bookmarks)---material is always there to reference.
- I don't have time to watch videos---I prefer transcripts, which I can also search through. If I do need to watch a video (either because it explains a concept better or because there is no alternative), I watch it at 2--2.5x and slow down when I get to something I'm having trouble keeping up with. Some people talk slowly even at 2x. :x
- Get rid of distractions. One of the best things I did was create an agenda in Org mode, because once I complete a daily task (e.g. reading news sites; checking mail; checking GNU Social), I _stop_ and move onto another task. No peering at my e-mail or news sites 20 times while I'm doing another task.
- Similar to the previous: I only work on personal things at night. I have a family, and I want to spend time with them---I feel guilty if I work during the day when the kids want to play, and all the noise is a distraction; it breaks flow constantly. Wait until a calm point.
- Iterate over your system. Everything I do has evolved over the course of many years. The learning curve for some tools will slow you down, but can be very rewarding. The iterative process can slow you down. But that's not always the point: a good system can have returns in the long run, but it also _reduces stress_; you want to enjoy learning, enjoy the tasks you're doing, and not have to worry about other things. This might involve writing scripts, too.
I have more things, but that'll have to do for now.
Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?
#20For books, you have to generally read them like 5 times. The first pass might take me like an hour, it's mostly to establish a general mental framework for what's in the book (actually try to read the table of content, and like familiarize yourself with the words you might not know). On the second pass, you will actually try to read the book and retain like 20% of what you read. On the next one try the next 30%. This…
It is extremely inefficient to just read a book 5 times, it is like throwing mud to the wall hoping that it sticks.
It's much more effective to focus on each topic and try to remember and repeat the informations just read.
Having a general mental framework on the book on the other hand is very helpful.