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How to Quickly Extract the Best Insights from a Huge Topic | Scott H Young
There are Two Strategies for Learning Something
- Depth-first. This is where we pick one area and drill down.
- Breadth-first works by first exploring your surroundings. If that doesn't work, pick one direction and fan out again.
If the area you're exploring is bounded or set out, like a syllabus, both strategies will work. If learning is without bounds, going in-depth first may lead you on a long detour. Choose poorly, and you can get stuck on an unwanted path.
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Key Ideas
The best routine for studying
It is often unhelpful to hear that the perfect routine is the one you can stick to to help you reach your goals. As everyone is different in personality, constraints, and preferences, the ideal met...
The ingredient of the perfect studying routine
- Instructions can be in the form of lessons, books, or tutoring. They are useful to avoid wasting time with trial-and-error.
- Retrieval involves deliberately remembering the knowledge, not just passively reviewing it.
- Spacing is repeated reviews, spread out over time. It forms part of a regular routine where you cover old knowledge along with new.
- Understanding. The goal of learning is for ideas to make sense. Explain the concept to yourself. When you get stuck, find a textbook or teacher to help you.
- Feedback. You don't have to get feedback from other people. When you can get accurate feedback that doesn't need another person, go there first.
Fixing your current studying routine
To perfect your studying routine, look at your current routine, and see what's missing. For example:
- An amateur painter will grow faster if they add instruction to their existing knowledge.
- Learning history by reading a lot: Why not write an essay or converse with other history buffs?
- You work correctly through a course, but don't space your learning: A ten-minute pop-quiz on previous topics can help you remember and save hours later.
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Key Ideas
Learning comes from doing
Most people have a faulty idea about when they have actually learned something.
Learning doesn't come from reading or listening. Reading creates ideas and opportunities. You only le...
Personal development books
Reading personal development books and articles is extremely valuable. The only problem is when you confuse this with real learning.
Reading a book on exercise doesn't make you fit. Reading an article on time management doesn't make you productive.
Turning Ideas into Learning
We can increase our learning when we understand that reading is like a seed - the ideas you read about have the power to create incredible learning and understanding, but only if you act on it.
Pick a few ideas that you think have the potential to benefit your life most. Then allocate time, energy and resources to practice those ideas.
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Key Ideas
Speed and transfer
Consider at what speed you should try to do things in order to improve performance.
We can often learn something quickly, but without attaining a master level (like getting good at esti...
Failing to Reach an Ideal
There are two problems you can encounter when you're trying to learn something.
- You have a clear understanding of what you'd like to do and how you're going to do it, but you're unable to implement the approach you've chosen. Slow things down so you can pay more attention to every aspect of the problem.
- Speed learning is effective when you're not sure what the ideal should be and need more information to work it out. A good example of speed leading to move closer to quality is in entrepreneurial fields. Many fail because they picked the wrong problem to solve and wasted too much time trying to solve it.
Going faster vs doing it right
The balance between going faster and doing it right depends on what you're trying to achieve.
- Faster feedback means more information to find out your key challenges and possible solutions.
- Slower helps you focus on a strategy you've chosen, allowing you to execute it correctly.