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16 Comments

How do you learn?

Disclaimer: This post is about trying to validate an idea of mine. It's also my first post here.

By now, you've probably read a thousand times this advice: 'validate your idea before you start building it' or something along those lines.
And probably like me, you started building it anyway! 😬

So even though I already started, I'm thinking it's not too late to get some sort of validation.

My question is quite simple: How do you learn?

It's a very open question and any insight is interesting. Though, here are a few elements that I'm most curious about:

  • Which medium do you use? Text, audio, video, MOOC? Online/offline?
  • Given a specific topic, is learning an ongoing process or do you figuratively sit down and actively learn until you believe you know?
  • Do you have a tool or a trick that helps you learn better/faster?

Looking forward to all answers!

  1. 3

    My go to has always been books. Because there's higher barrier of entry to get a book published than to write a blog post. This is how I've learned most of what I know about coding. And I'm applying the same strategy right now to learn about entrepreneurship and marketing. I prefer real books to ebooks. Much easier to flip back and forth, take notes and dog ear.

    I usually read the whole book before I dive into something. I don't really "remember" everything from the book per se, but I've turned all my unknown unknowns into known unknowns at a minimum and also get some known knowns too. Then when I do dive in, I know what to google and I'm much more effective at weeding through blog posts, forums and videos. I don't think you ever stop learning. I always say that half of being a good software engineer is knowing how to google stuff.

    One thing about videos. I have a chrome extension that lets me play videos faster so I can watch youtube / khan academy videos at 1.5x the speed.

    1. 3

      You touch on an important point with the barrier to entry, but allow me to expand on it. The economics of blog posts are largely broken compared to books. A book has to guarantee delivery of enormous value up front for the transaction to place and they are paid for doing so. Blog posts aren't getting paid for directly and so they are incentivized to funnel you towards a product and are likely biased in a given direction.

      I place a great deal of trust in books because the economics of them alone.

  2. 1

    I strongly believe in 1) Getting Started 2) Having a plan and above all if possible Human guidance. Check out my site www.newskillstudio.com , this has my complete thought process on What is the better way to learn. Thanks.

  3. 1

    Mostly I rummage through Behance or Dribbble and try simply recreate. Meanwhile, I think about ways that I would do better and then just try it.

  4. 1
    1. Mediums:
    • original project documentation (usually on-line)
    • books
    • tech blog articles
    • videos of conference talks or on-line courses
    1. I would say a mix. I like to dive deep and crunch on the material, but I also know you HAVE to apply the knowledge (and/or review it periodically) to make the best of it and not forget it.
    2. Sometimes reading faster doesn't mean understanding less. Try it, but make sure you're in an environment where you can focus. Also, watching videos at speed no less than x1.3 up to x3, depending on the speaker (yes, there have been times I've watched a conference talk at x3 still understanding everything that was said - like I said, it depends). I hate wasting time on slow paced videos, same goes for podstasts. If there's a video transcript, I'll sometimes choose that over the video.
  5. 1
    1. Udemy mainly, videos as well, and books for conceptual things like management
    2. both, depends on the thing
    3. No I dont
  6. 1

    Technical (code):

    1. Read all official documentation (of language, library, framework, etc)
    2. Find relevant youtube channels / playlists that pertain to it
      2a. Watch video
      2b. Re-watch video, but this time pausing and coding myself
    3. Start extracting out relevant parts for my project.

    Language (Spanish, etc):

    1. Duolingo
    2. Find native speakers and attempt dialogue

    Business / Startup / Entrepreneurship / Self-Improvement:

    1. Find topic I'm interested in (marketing, ADHD, etc)
    2. Find books (dead tree version preferred) relevant to topic
    3. Buy or borrow (library) said books.
    4. Read through 3-6 within a given topic, taking laborious notes in Google Docs.
  7. 1

    Thank you to everyone so far for your answers! Really appreciate and also interesting to see so many different approaches!

  8. 1

    My active-learning process:

    1. Spend no more than one-day consuming data (while taking notes)
    2. Dive right into it and learn by doing. Avoid the comfort zone at all costs. For example, in the case of a new PPC channel, since real-money is at stake, I’ll create campaigns, adsets, ads, and the whole nine yards, but just not set them live yet.
    3. After I’ve given it my best shot, I’ll talk to a verified expert to answer any final questions and audit my work on www.growthmentor.io
  9. 1

    For me it's really hard to just follow courses, I really don't like this. Whatever I learnt I did it by doing, doing and doing again.
    Work on a project, face a problem, read the doc / blog posts, continue working, repeat.

  10. 1
    1. I learn from text mostly. Audio and video are often pretty bad when you need to search or reference back to a specific section.
    2. It is an ongoing process mostly
    3. Not really a trick, but just applying what I am learning in practice
  11. 1
    1. Find one the most respectable person in the field.
    2. Get a book written by the person.
    3. Read it + Use Google.
    4. Test/Apply.

    Why don't I use courses? They just teach you what's on the surface but I want to know the fundamentals.

    1. 1

      I totally agree on that courses teach you the surface but if you have no deep understanding about the topic it should be better start from the surface and use your listening and watching senses after then you can do deep by reading blogs of reputed guys and further by reading content matter experts books meanwhile in the process of learning practicing what you have learned is a must.

      1. 1

        It comes down to how you learn best.

        Me for example, when I have a goal, I reverse engineer it. I break it down into smaller pieces (by using google/doing research) until I find myself at the root. Then I "work up the tree" until I'm at my desired goal.

        Elon Musk mentioned it:

        "it is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree -- make sure you understand the fundamental principles, i.e. the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to."

  12. 1
    1. I learn from video,text and offline/online course.
    2. learning an ongoing process
    3. I will write in white paper what i learn today,i don't know,its make me learn better.
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        I am curious. What makes it more fun for you over text?