What are the best books about learning?

I asked Twitter this question, and you gave a ton of valuable recommendations.

Read these 9 books to become better at learning anything:

https://twitter.com/rroudt/status/1629149219415273473?s=20

How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler.

This timeless classic is wordy but chockfull of useful gems to remember more from what you read.

https://twitter.com/CSMikeCardona/status/1629150957627150336?s=20

Drill to upskill.

To learn fast, you must leave tutorial hell and apply what you've learned. But how can you ensure you practice effectively?

You design drills for deliberate practice.

Use these 5 tactics from Ultralearning to design your practice sessions: 🧵 1️⃣ Time-slicing

Every skill is made up of subskills.

With the time-slicing approach, you focus on just one part of the skill you need to improve.

Examples:
• Practice layups or penalty shots.
• Practice one part of a musical piece.

Practice more than you study.

Are you stuck in an endless stream of courses, videos, and unused notes?

Then you're in tutorial hell.

Use these four tactics from Ultralearning to go from passive learner to creator: 🧵 1️⃣ Make it a project

Instead of taking a never-ending stream of classes, set clear boundaries and build towards something useful for yourself.

Learning by doing is less predictable, but it will help you gain skills for the real world.

Lack of focus destroys learning projects.

For most skills, intensity matters more than how much time you spend learning. But for intensity, you need bursts of focus.

Here are 3 lessons from Ultralearning to boost your focus and learning speed: 🧵 If lack of focus is ruining your learning projects, you likely have problems to:

1) Start focusing.
2) Sustain your focus.
3) Have the right focus.

In Ultralearning, @ScottHYoung prescribes the following medicine 👇

Metalearn before you tackle a new skill.

If you want to learn quickly, spend 10% of your study time planning the project.

Here's how to use @ScottHYoung's metalearning principles to make every skill-building project a success: 🧵 Every time you want to learn a new skill, you should clearly define:

• Why you want to learn exactly this skill.
• What knowledge you need to learn.
• How you're going to learn the skill.

Metalearning is an essential first step if you want successfully acquire a skill.

Every professional should ultralearn.

We need to keep acquiring new skills to thrive in the digital age. But how do you learn when you're already overwhelmed?

You run well-defined learning projects.

Here's how the ultralearning framework gives you a competitive advantage: 🧵 What is ultralearning?

It's an intense, self-directed way of learning skills fast.

When you ultralearn, you take complete ownership over your progress towards a goal *you* have set for yourself.

But ultralearning is not for everyone; you must have skin in the game.

Writing is hard.

That's why I've started to put in the reps.

My goal is simple this year: one thread per day, with a minimum of five tweets.

Here’s why (and how) I use Twitter to hone my writing craft: 🧵 Being a knowledge worker, I’m actually a professional writer.

After working remotely for the past 4 years, I realized that writing is an essential skill to master.

As my job involves connecting people and ideas, knowing how to write clearly and concisely is vital.

But...

My second 🧠 is my personal wiki.

For years, I hoarded notes, and my second brain was a mess. Now I'm intentional and spend more time learning what's useful.

Here's how my daily @logseq practice has helped me compound knowledge: 🧵 "If you don't know what port you sail to, no wind is favorable."
—Seneca

I have a second brain to learn new skills and get stuff done. But how do I know what to focus on day-to-day?

I use reflection to light my path:

https://twitter.com/rroudt/status/1615386519640084480?s=20&t=_7wGBqJMBs6Qw2RIv9WlZw

Flashcards are the easiest way to remember what you've learned.

But creating them takes lots of time.

That's why I use @logseq to turn my notes into flashcards using a single tag.

But there is more to it! Here's how I create unforgettable flashcards from my notes: 🧵 Why would you bother turning your notes into flashcards in the first place?

You certainly don't need to remember everything. But you can only offload so much to your second brain.

You can't look up what you don't know, so feed that first brain of yours at least a bit.

Every second brain needs organization.

But organizing notes is tedious and takes up valuable time. So what's the solution?

Organize as you write!

Here's how I use the power of @logseq's outlines to organize and find back my notes effortlessly: 🧵 Structuring notes is simple in @logseq.

All you need are:
• Outlines
• Links

With Logseq, you can forget about files and folders. You only need to write your notes in lists/outlines and add [[wikilinks]].

Here's why this works and what happens under the hood in Logseq:

Note-taking apps are habit-building tools.

I use @logseq for almost everything: from taking meeting notes to managing months-long projects.

Here's how I use Logseq to sustain my daily learning habit and feed my brain: 🧵 I drive my days from @logseq's journals.

Each day has three sections:

• An agenda to plan my tasks for the day
• A log to lead my attention and take notes
• An inbox to offload stuff to process later

This way, I never have to think where to look for tasks or store notes.

Reflection is a powerful learning tool.

And journaling is one of the most powerful ways to reflect easily and consistently.

Here’s how I use @logseq to find my vision, set my goals, and execute each day ⬇️ Why do I use Logseq to journal?

I'm biased, but I used this fantastic tool long before I joined the team, as I don't trust cloud apps.

Plus, templates and the journal page make journalling frictionless, making it more likely I write throughout the day.

https://twitter.com/rroudt/status/1612955450474995712?s=20&t=GVBxXHYi5gL-aKOdM3IAYQ

When building your second brain, do you also remember to feed your first brain?

This week, I'll write about how I use @logseq to plan and manage the projects that feed my first brain and help me acquire new skills.

Want to learn skills using your second 🧠? Follow along: Each day of this week, I will look at one piece of my learning workflow in @logseq:

• Brainstorm (sub) skills
• Plan daily learning tasks
• Take notes and link them
• Turn notes into flashcards
• Build your personal Wikipedia

Here's why each piece matters:

How to learn in public?

Since 2017 I've used Twitter to learn about countless topics. Along the way, I've also shared some of my learnings.

But I've never documented every step of a learning project.

So, I'll use this framework to document how I learn (feedback is welcome!) 👇 Why learn in public?

Teaching is the most powerful learning tool. By making sense of new knowledge in public, I learn even faster.

But I also want to connect with like-minded people and learn from them.

That's what makes learning in public all worth the hassle.

Should you study grammar if you want to learn a new language? This question seems to hit a nerve 😬

Some opinions from others 👇

How to choose your skill stack:

1 • Visualize your vision
2 • Identify your roles
3 • Brainstorm skills
4 • Map the skills
5 • DiSSS it

Here's how to use this 5-step framework to pick your next learning project(s) 🧵👇 This thread is based on a 60-minute workshop I gave, titled "How to Choose Your Next Skill."

I showed how to choose what skill to work on next, how to dissect complex skills and learn them in a manageable sequence.

Read on to get the 60-second summary.

Want to make learning a habit?

Then you need Anki.

For over 15 years, this app has helped me remember tens of thousands of facts, words, and phrases in a fast and fun way.

Here's why Anki is (still) the best tool to remember what you've learned: But first: what is Anki?

It's a so-called Spaced Repetition System (SRS). Or in simpler terms: a flashcard app.

If you want to remember anything long-term, you must review it often.

But when?

That's what Anki figures out for you.

I've spent 548 hours learning Italian 🇮🇹

If I had a time machine, I’d tell my younger self to keep these principles in mind to learn faster and have more fun:

📚 Prioritize reading
🤌 Use native content
🤫 Listen more, talk less

Here’s how I learned to apply them: Who am I to talk about language learning?

I mastered English in my teens and Spanish in my 20s. I’ve easily spent tens of thousands of hours learning these and other languages.

Yet, I’m still learning what works best to acquire languages. I hope you find these lessons helpful.

Logseq 10x'ed my learning process.

I remember more, hold my attention longer, and create a personal knowledge base of practical knowledge all at once.

But it’s easy to overcomplicate things.

Here’s how I use @logseq to manage learning projects and acquire skills, fast ⬇️ Why should you even bother planning your learning projects?

Shouldn’t you just start learning?

No ✋

Unless you learn for the sake of learning, you probably have a goal in mind. But without a plan, it's unlikely you’ll even move in the direction of your goal.

🎉 I'm thrilled to announce I'm joining @logseq as Community Manager.

After 4 years in the Tools for Thought space, I cannot wait to join one of the companies providing us with the tools and mental models to think and learn better.

🧵 My reasons to join this awesome project. After I left my corporate job in August 2020 and starting RoamStack, I had to learn how to cultivate a community of thinkers and learners.

Thanks to @fortelabs I got the opportunity to mentor people setting their first steps in the TfT/PKM space.

Now, I get to learn even more.

How to plan for learning projects?

For years, I'd learn new skills haphazardly by experimenting without any clear direction.

Via @ScottHYoung's Ultralearning approach I learned to plan and massively reduce my study time.

🧵 9 questions to start conquering your next skill. What are you going to learn and why?

No plan fails faster than one that has no motivation behind it.

Your first step is to find the problem you want to solve, or life area you want to make easier. Be as specific as possible so you can limit the length of your learning project.