It usually occurs when we're actively doing a task like cooking a meal, solving a math problem, writing your notes, programming software, composing music, etc.
Similar to ourselves, the brain has a routine to follow not only to make our body function as-is day-to-day but also improve ourselves in terms of habits and skills when we put the effort.
Nonetheless, both of these modes can be used to our advantage to familiarize with new information, see the bigger picture, and learn a new skill.
As counterintuitive as it is, sleep does have its function that helps with the brain such as preventing sleep-related disorders (e.g., insomnia), removing toxins that accumulate while you're awake, and strengthening relevant neural structures while erasing less important ones.
Having a group of chunks can be helpful in learning new ideas as you'll find relations between different fields/skills/ideas.
This transfer of ideas will come in handy once you explore more.
If you're a mathematician, for example, you'll find similarities on computer programming with the concepts of variables, looping, functions, conditionals, and so forth.
- Practice to strengthen the chunk and know the big picture.
Learning can go bottom-up — knowing the details of a specific problem — and top-down learning — gaining a 30,000 foot view of what you're learning and where it fits in.
For a related example of the practice, see [[id:0dbfee88-cdce-48d1-9a10-23fc12d9bcd5][Refer to advanced resources when skill-building for a solid short-term goal]].
Though, do focus on the bigger picture with the example (e.g., why this solution is valid, why this step is necessary) and not only how to reach that conclusion.
In other words, treat examples/exercises as a road map that when mastered can lead you to reach the same conclusion with a different perspective/solution.
- Testing it yourself is one of the most effective indicator if you've mastered the lesson.
Simply recalling can be more effective than rereading.
- Keep in mind about "Law of Serendipity": Lady Luck prefers the one who tries.
For a start, you can do something small and another until you're surprised at the results.
Taking advantage of our tendency to associate and to group things, we can create a technique to learn new things.
The memory palace technique places the familiar things with the newer topics such as your house, your route to a store, or a collection of things we're familiar with.
For example, you overlaid the [[https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/conjunctions][conjunctions]] into an acronym: "FANBOYS" each letter standing for one of them — e.g., for, and, but, or, yet, so.
There is a whole memory competition scene that famously use the technique by crafting a crazy narrative around it.
What's interesting with this technique is it can be an exercise in creativity.
Like most skills, the time to create more memorable narratives in shorter time can improve with more practice.
Illusions of competence is one of the pitfalls when trying to learn.
One of lesser forms of it is practicing what is proved to be ineffective — while plausible to learn with those, can entrap the learner into thinking they're making progress.
Once you understood the key idea of a concept, you should move on to the next (preferably more difficult) concept (see [[id:9b669fd4-e04e-43dd-a61e-81dea5ec0764][Deliberate practice]]).
Another example of it is learning with solutions — while helpful into learning the big picture, it can also fool students thinking the problem is easier than they thought.
The shown solution is given and solved by others so it is easy to think that we have solved the problem as well.
One of the key takeaways from this is doing the problem solving ourselves is the one of the most important step in mastering a subject.
The saying "Science progresses one funeral at a time." relates to the fact that most breakthroughs are done by young people and those who are not originally trained in that discipline.
This concept is known as einstellung.
To be less vulnerable to this mindset, you have to practice interleaving and unlearning.
Our brain has a preference for routines or habits.
These routines *start from small doses with each repeat becoming larger* to the point it can affect your life for better or worse.
It is very similar to addiction.
Habits are great energy-savers as they free up our mental space to put it somewhere else.
When we mindless do a task, it is our habits in motion.
This is how procrastination (see [[Procrastination]]) also forms.
To combat against this, we need to know the internals of habits.
A habit can be sliced into several parts:
- The cue which is the starter of the habit.
This could be something simple as seeing your todo list or your looking at the clock.
- The cues are harmless but the routine, our response, is a matter of benefits or harm.
When we see the todo list, we either be afraid or motivated to empty it.
When we see the clock, the typical response will either by inaction or action to sleep.
- The reward which can enforce a habit to grow into something larger.
This could be something like the feeling of satisfaction of doing your todo list and rewarding yourself by relaxing at the end of the day.
Or in the case when we see the clock, we either get rewarded by worsening our sleep cycle but more awake time or improving our sleep cycle thus reducing the chance of encountering sleep disorders.
For the habit to improve, worsen, or even entirely replaced, we need to change our belief.
* Takeaways from "Interview with Dr. Terrence Sejnowski"
- Learn headfirst in a new topic by getting involved with peers and experts who are already invested in similar topics.
- Active engagement > passive listening.
- A method to capture your ideas before it evaporates — e.g., a portable pen and notebook, org-capture, the PARA system.
- While multitasking is possible, it's not efficient.
However, being unable to multitask can make day-to-day basis difficult.
The more important skill is efficient context switching — i.e., being able to return to the original task after being interrupted mid-task and continue smoothly.
- Being in a more reflective mode creates the best work.
- Being in an enriched environment with creative people makes generating and processing ideas easier.
If being in enriched environment is not possible, exercise can be a good substitute.
The point is making a creative workspace for those ideas to roam and bounce off other ideas either with other people or idle time.
- Passion and persistence > smarts.
- Being able to see things at a different perspective.
* Takeaways from "Interview with Dr. Robert Bilder on creativity and problem solving"
- While our subconscious can be more right, it doesn't mean that it is never wrong.
Examples include people feeling more creative while under the influence of LSD but after the session they find the product is not as close as they visioned.
