Thread by @david_perell

1/ I’ve learned a lot about learning.

Here's the best of what I've learned.

👇 Thread 👇

2/ "The best way to achieve wisdom is to learn the big ideas that underlie reality.”

— Charlie Munger

3/ Learn the basics in all the fields.

Learn them over and over.

"Life is mostly about applying the basics and only doing the advanced stuff in the things that you truly love and where you understand the basics inside out.”

— @Naval

4/ Start with first principles.

Learn from low to high resolution.

First, familiarize yourself with the central ideas of the study areas. Then, concentrate on the details.

— @jordanpeterson

5/ When you first start to study a field, it seems like you have to memorize a zillion things.

You don’t.

Identify the core principles – generally 3-12 of them — that govern the field.

Most things are simply various combinations of the core principles.

— John Reed

6/ Learning is a process, a mindset, a way of living.

Intelligence is the capacity for learning.

Successful people are the best learners. Measure learning across time & you measure success.

— @mistermircea

7/ Practice remembering to improve recall.

Here’s how:

1. Read.
2. Then put down the book down.
3. Then summarize what you have read.
4. Don't look at what you were reading when you summarize.
5. That's what makes you good at remembering.

- @jordanbpeterson

8/ It’s all about connections.

New ideas can’t just be “stored” like files in a filing cabinet.

New ideas have to connect with what’s already there like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

Teach others.

- @ncasenmare

9/ Learning is rooted in repetition.

"Reading one book twice is more useful than two books once." — Nassim Taleb

10/ Knowledge compounds.

The more you learn, the easier it is to learn.

You can start skipping over stuff you’ve read before, because you’re familiar with the ideas or the methods of argument.

Learning should accelerate over time.

- @danwwang

11/ Write.

Writing doesn't just communicate ideas — it generates them.

Writing is thinking.
Writing is learning.

"For knowledge to become wisdom, it must be carefully, tenderly analyzed from many angles, through many means."

12/ From @tylercowen:

You do not understand an argument, until you've found the major flaws in it.

For any problem complex enough to be interesting, there is evidence pointing in multiple directions.

Powerful.

13/ Focus on simple, practical rules.

Distill big ideas into stories and simple rules of thumb. They should be clear, simple, and memorable.

To think in terms of stories is fundamentally human.

14/ Treat your brain like a muscle.

It turns out that if you just tell students that their mind is like a "muscle" and spend just 10 minutes explaining that concept they will improve their grades dramatically.

Incredible.

- @zaoyang

15/ Read the classics.

"The classics seem to grow wiser as we grow wiser, more useful the more we use them.”

Good books thread the tapestry of your psyche. They change when we change.

The best part: they’re basically free.

Here’s 1,000 free classics.

amazon.com/Free-Kindle-Cl…