Thread by @rroudt

As a former educator, I found @andy_matuschak and @david_perell's recent conversation inspiring.

Their thoughts on sense-making, education, and writing hit home. I feel the teaching bug again. Lots to think about.

A thread with some of my takeaways.

1/ People learn better when they make sense of the subject together with others.

When you express your ideas and get instant feedback, your learning loop shortens and improves learning.

2/ As a teacher, make the student the subject.

What problem are they facing? What do they actually need to learn? What do you only teach because you think they have to know it but actually don't?

3/ You can tune your writing like an EQ.

@david_perell uses his and @EllenRhymes' POP writing system:
- Personal
- Observational
- Playful

Relevant notes from an earlier session by David and Ellen:
roamresearch.com/#/app/rroudt-p…

4/ @andy_matuschak on his writing process.

Hearing yourself think is difficult, that’s why Andy writes the first 3 hours of his day before exposing himself to other people’s ideas.

5/ Andy uses writing to solve problems, not for reference per se.

Complex problems need to be solved over time, that’s why you need to externalize your thoughts in writing.

6/ @david_perell writes "to put words to the foggy."

A prime tool for this is to write long-form content. Writing is not just to bring an idea across, it's just as much a tool to understand topics and other people.

7/ When you write for the public, write with a charge.

@Alex_Danco's writing is mentioned: it's fiery. If you trigger people, that means you're talking about something important. @david_perell no longer writes for clicks; he writes for reactions to see if he hits a nerve.

8/ Writing online is a great way to get "weird inbounds" as @andy_matuschak calls serendipitous encounters.

Andy writes for interesting responses. He wants to hear unpopular but exciting thoughts. Twitter has helped him tremendously with weird inbounds in recent years.

9/ Note-taking systems are to develop ideas over time.

Most people store away their notes; @andy_matuschak uses his notes to think-through problems he's trying to solve. A major tool in this is evergreen notes; they're atomic (covering one idea) and are connected to other notes.

10/ As a knowledge worker, you should train like an athlete.

Great athletes watch game film and young athletes can learn tremendous amounts just from watching pros. Knowledge workers should watch the pros in their field.

Structure your learning projects, do deliberate practice.

11/ @andy_matuschak is inspired by the experts in his field and imagines they look over his shoulder at his work.

This is what "they" say:
"That's a mess."
"That's the obvious thing to do but not the right thing to do."
"You have too many things. What's actually important here?"

My complete notes can be found here:
roamresearch.com/#/app/rroudt-p…

You can listen to the podcast episode on David's site:
perell.com/podcast/andy-m…