Learning is a marvelous thing.
With just a connection to the internet, any old laptop and enough free time you can learn just about any skill.
Can’t find a job?
Wanna learn a language??
Wanna play an instrument????
But how does one learn on their own? As kids we’re taught in such a way where every step is laid neatly after the other but self-study is different.
Learning resources are scattered, incomplete or even hidden on the second page of google.
When all you’ve only ever done is what you’re told, choices like these become paralyzing.
Making Sense of it all
The first thing you should probably do is join the community of the thing you want to learn.
This doesn’t have to mean active participation but you should have a general undertanding of what other people in the community think is a good resource to learn from.
This help you wades through at least some of the weeds of bad resources (which you will certainly find).
Find somebody that you trust to be competent in what you’re learning and ask what they reccomend.
Avoid those with financial incentive to skew their answer, they usually don't have your best interest in mind.
Then really all you gotta do is put one front the other and get to work.
But how do I Learn?
I have a confession to make.
I used to be that guy who would watch every motivational videos on YouTube, researching “how to learn” without ever actually opening up a book.
Do better.
From all I’ve found, the “most efficient” way to learn is almost always:
literally just do the thing lmao
The answer to “how do I learn to play the guitar” will always be “play the guitar” but we love to pretend like there’s an easier way.
You will fail and adjust until you no longer seem to fail anymore.
This process does not have to be painful and boring but can be difficult and exciting.
Difficult != Boring
Another misconception I see all the time is that “learning is boring”.
Nah.
Learning is one of the most fun and engaging activities that you can participate in but you need to actively embrace engagement.
Ask questions, follow up on things that you don’t understand, fall down rabit holes.
When you’re actively trying to remain engaged with content I promise you will find it’s one of the most enjoyable experiences of your life.
- Find something about the topic that engages you
- Comparison is the thief of joy
- Try and stay within the goldilocks zone of learning
Learning doesn’t have to be this ardous proccess that you dread but even something you look forward to.
So How do I Reeally Learn
I mean that’s really it.
- Find a learning medium that doesn’t make you sick
- Actually follow through
- Do the thing
- Profits
Maybe there’s some skill out there that this doesn’t work on but it’s worked on all the things I’ve tried.
Cool Learning Resources I’ve found
If you share any of my passions, these are some learning resources that I’ve found very useful.
Also checkout my linkhut or email me for more.
Computer Science
- linkhut - literally just links
- build-your-own-x - learn programming by reinventing the wheel
- tldp - lots of free documentation on Linux stuff
- cs50 - comprehensive introduction to programming
- cpu.land - one of the coolest introductions to cpu’s I’ve ever seen
- lyah - learn you a haskell for great good (yea)
Learning Japanese
- learnjapanese.moe - guides to the immersion approach for language learning
- yomitan - popup dictionar
- anki - the goat
- livakivi - love this guy