History is replete with great men who self-educated themselves. Reasons are immaterial. For some it was a business decision, for some, traditional education methods could not satisfy their requirement, some had no other option or some just loved to learn. Nevertheless, the habit of self learning played a crucial role in cementing their place in history books.
Now I have stressed enough on the importance of self-learning. Let’s get on to How to do it well.
The hard part of understanding a new subject is trying to follow the interaction of several topics and many variables, as the current complex nature of things in our world constitute a quite formidable system. How can you ensure that you will progress efficiently and with some ease? The most important thing is to ask questions. Ask yourself, as you follow an argument: Why is it that this or that variable should affect, say, aggregate demand? What would happen if it did not? What is the critical link?
There is no substitute whatsoever for active learning. Are there simple rules for active study? The best way to study is to use pencil and paper and work through each argument by drawing diagrams, experimenting with flowcharts, writing out the logic of the argument, working out the problems, and underlining key ideas. Another valuable approach is to take issue with an argument or position or to spell out the defense for a particular view on questions that require opinions. Beyond that, if you get stuck, read on for half a page. If you are still stuck, go back five pages.
Remember, you can never master a subject in 1 or 2 reading. You have to devote time and effort for knowledge compounding to kick in. First reading is like reconnaissance, so get the lay of the land, understand what you can but move swiftly. It’s the second reading which needs to be exhaustive, working through problems, summarizing the text and so on.
Economics, Computer Science, Physics, Math are all tough subjects but mastering them, is the only way to remain relevant in this era of Artificial Intelligence. Else your wealth and knowledge would be as flimsy as whatever’s trending on social media.
Here’s some additional tips I collected from the works of Cal Newport, Scott Young (MIT Challenge) and Derek Sivers.
Be as specific as you can be about what or how you will learn and limit it to a single source. Then have a single criteria to judge if you did it well.
Like in my projects, if I solve the exercises and assignments correctly, then I consider myself passed.
Once you have committed time for learning in your calender, protect it aggressively. Eliminate distractions, plan out checkpoints to gauge your progress. Most importantly, build your focus progressively, so that you can sustain con- centration for longer without giving up.
Rather than 1 exam of 100 questions at the end of quarter, it is more beneficial to have say 10 questions every week or even 1-2 questions a day. Faster feedback is faster learning. This way you can adjust compass if you are sailing in the right direction
The learning research recommends: spacing out your practice re- sults in much stronger, longer memories than bunching it in one spot. So no 5 hrs straight on a Saturday but 1 hr every night. See this article from derek sivers to see this in action.
You are learning a language, watch movies and listen songs in that. You are learning programming, read those heavy papers and YT videos about the implemetation. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand it. The objective is to familiarize yourself with the lingo. So when you finally come to that part, you will do it more enthusiastically because you’ve been familiar and can’t wait to implement on your own.
PRO TIP: Explore ideas independently without getting influenced by crappy loud-mouthed influencers on social media.
All these tips can only work, if you commit time to it so make it a priority. Learning is worth the effort but it cannot work unless you make it work.
Happy Learning.
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