Study Less, Think More

I tend to overspend time and attention when learning something new. When I start to explore a new problem space, I often find myself spending days or weeks taking courses, reading, watching videos, etc. This feels productive but it often isn’t. I may consume the information, but I don’t absorb the knowledge. Often, I miss vital lessons during this time because I don’t yet know what I need to know about the topic. I can end up learning areas of a topic that I’ll never use, while at the same time missing the significance of something vital.

I need to focus my initial education on the basics of a domain and quickly move on to working in that domain. Once I know my way around, I can quickly expand my knowledge by working through problems in real-time. 

When learning a new skill for work, I need to learn the terminology and basic frameworks. As soon as possible, I need to shift to working with technology, building things, solving problems.

Something similar can be said when learning philosophy. Instead of letting myself go down a rabbit hole from the start, I need to learn what ideas the system brings to me. How can they improve my thinking or help me become a more complete person? Don’t try to understand every link in the chain of antecedents for an idea. Examine it within the necessary context and put it to the test.