How to learn

Nothing makes me feel more alive like learning. I love the feeling of starting from scratch.

Memories from when I started learning banjo, going to the gym for the first time, or starting a new job live in my mind's happy place.

I define learning as an activity that ultimately makes you adopt a different behavior. And building on that behavior change is intelligence, which I think of as the speed of behavior change.

The Feynman Technique

Named after Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman, the technique involves breaking down a subject into its simplest, most fundamental parts and then explaining it in simple language. By doing this, you force yourself to really understand the material and identify any gaps in your knowledge. The Feynman Technique is particularly useful for complex subjects that are difficult to understand and remember.

Here’s how to use the Feynman Technique:

1. Choose a topic you want to learn about.

2. Break down the topic into its component parts.

3. Explain the topic to someone else in simple language.

4. Identify any gaps in your understanding.

5. Go back and fill in any gaps in your understanding.

6. Repeat steps 3-5 until you can explain the topic without any gaps in your understanding.

By using the Feynman Technique, you can be sure that you really understand a subject before moving on to something else. This is an incredibly powerful learning tool that can be used for any subject, no matter how complex.

There is no single answer to the question of how best to learn. However, there are certain techniques that can help to facilitate learning.

Be contrarian

Do the opposite. That is, instead of starting with the basics and working up to more complex concepts, it can be helpful to start with the end game. In other words, start with where you want to go.

By doing this, you can better understand the context in which you will be using the knowledge and skills you are trying to acquire.

Once you have the context you can go deeper.

Micro -> macro

To delve into the component parts of a model, framework, tool, method, etc, a technique that can be helpful is to deeply study the micro in order to understand the macro.

Do this by breaking down a concept into its component parts in order to better understand how it works.

Learn some theory. But don’t go too far down the rabbit hole. Don’t get too bogged down and instead focus on practical applications.

Just in time

Finally, utilize just in time learning. This means that instead of trying to learn everything at once, you focus on learning the specific skills and knowledge you need just before you need them. This can help to make the learning process more efficient and effective.

Read the book about marketing when you need to do some marketing. Not when you are working on an engineering problem.

Summary

The key to any of this is action.

Just do it.

As Derek Sivers says, don’t be the Aesop’s fable donkey.

Mental masturbation can 100% stop you from making progress.

Stick with it and make incremental progress.

Something that helps me is to see someone else doing the thing.

If I can see someone else do it, it makes it seem more real to me and accomplishable.