My insights on Self-learning
Self Learning. A favorite word for those who tasted the joy of learning. Though a large portion of our society is busy with everyday survival, some are fortunately hooked up by the idea of teaching themselves.
It’s exhilarating to see how much potential and freedom is there in our life. Nothing is blocking us from doing wonders in this world and achieving the height of our thought. Infinite possibilities are blended in the wind and flowing around the world. And, there is no other time that is most suitable to do this than at the age of the Internet where knowledge is out there for whom effort and curiosity lie within.
To completely utilize this opportunity, I started actively taking notes of the pitfalls that I saw having spent some time on this journey. I hope this will help you save some time.
1. Value is proportional to Focus
This universe is complex. If we want to do something useful in this universe, the complexity needs to be well-handled. Every subject that we study is born to understand some particular chunk (subset) of this universe. The more the subject gets deeper, the more ideas overlap and create a spaghetti-like notion as it grows and gets in touch with the reality. The only way to comprehend this is to Focus and be aware because the smallest of details can make a huge difference in the long run.
2. Don’t Monkey jump with what you want to learn
Decide to study subject A. Wow, it’s so simple. I can actually understand this!
Okay, I feel like I’m having no progress now. Why do I have to study this? Will it get me a job? Why do I have to spend more time on this?Decide to study subject B instead of A. Awesome, I should have come here already. Feels like this is my subject. Wait, am I stuck? Woah! I should have remained on subject A instead, at least there I had known what I was stuck at.
Left subject B and decide to pursue A. Realising that I have to restart studying A because a lot of ideas are forgotten.
It’s not easy to see what we failed to see before. If it was easy, we would have seen it already. If something feels hard, that is the right time to pump our curiosity because it’s going to teach us something — a new perspective that was invisible to us till then. It’ll force us to crack our knowledge egg from within to introduce us to the new world.
This doesn’t mean you should build guilt while abandoning one to learn another. In contrast, it’s equally important to jump across different topics to get some sense of it. But just make if this pattern continues so much so that it’s started wasting your time.
3. Completion ≠ Knowledge
This fast-paced world sows the poisonous seeds of expectation at a very young age. This labels us as a failure if we don’t act as per the image of expectations. These are born with a lack of clarity about the uniqueness of each individual. Every one of us has unique preferences, styles, and a preferred way to perceive this reality. It’s a no-brainer to ask everyone to understand something in the same way with the same pace. Being familiar with this notion, we internalize this and make ourselves suffer by judging by the scale of public expectation.
For instance, if it takes longer than expected to learn Calculus, be it so.
Trust me, every drop of time spent on learning something will never go to waste. On the other hand, if you rush on something just for the sake to complete it, the time spent on it will go into the trash very soon.
4. The never-ending search for “the perfect resource”
Reflecting back, those days spent exhausting the answers on Quora, Youtube, and StackExchange to find the perfect book/playlist/course could be trimmed and instead spent on consuming the best-found ones.
This is not to demotivate the search for the best resource but to stop succumbing to the idea that there’s an ideal resource that will cover all our expectations. Every resource has to offer a particular take on a subject. Learning is done in chunks and it’s okay to use multiple resources to understand a particular thing.
5. Learn how the brain works
The self-learning journey will become so easy when we understand the tool we use to do that — the brain.
6. When stuck, Identify where you’re stuck
“If you can’t solve a problem, then there is an easier problem you can solve: find it.”
— George Pólya
You’re stuck? Awesome! This is the state where you’ll find yourself often on your learning journey and this is a clear indication that you’re going in the right direction. Give a pat on your back and learn to get excited when you come across this state because this is going to teach you something you’d never dreamt of.
One of the ways to get unstuck is to look where & what you’re stuck at, do not run away from it, calm down, stay still and see whether you understand the question/problem correctly. Use multiple resources and see how they frame the same question. Use online Q/A sites like stack exchange, quora, etc.
The most common theme in different ways to get unstuck is having perseverance.
7. Revision is as important as learning new
Whatever we learn fades away from memory if we don’t revisit it for a long time. Often people don’t do this if they’re extrinsically motivated because revisiting old knowledge doesn’t add anything new to their resume, for example.
8. Be aware when you get into Philosophy
At times, we might find ourselves questioning whether what we study is rather useful. Or why should we do this? What does it mean for something to be useful? Is there a meaning in life? What is life? What is what? Why do we question? etc.
Delving into Philosophy is not bad but that can be a result of your brain trying to get rid of the expensive operation — of learning something hard.
If you really want to get into Philosophy, write down the questions and engage on them later but not while you’re already focused on something else.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be expounding more about learning Mathematics & Physics in future. See you there :)
