The way I learn
modified 01/10/2023 00:10I try to find interesting stuff every day. Most of the interesting stuff I know I found out about from hackernews or the functionalcs discord server. I usually end up going some rabbithole, and I used to just bookmark stuff I found interesting, but found that it’s quite inconsistent (I use 2 different computers and a phone), and I’d generally just forget that I’ve bookmarked something, which would mean I’d risk losing on some potentially useful stuff.
I ended up solving this in a really simple way – I use a custom keyword - IDEA. I have configured a capture tepmlate for that, so whenever I find something useful I just press C-c c i and save it. I also write a not about the context, or why/how I found this particular thing interesting. When time comes, I can just turn the IDEA into a TODO, schedule it and manage it like I would a regular todo – schedule, set priorities, tags, check how much time I spend etc.
I then procceed to sync all of my org files using Syncthing, so I have all of my interesting stuff with me all of the time.
The next step is reading the content. I usually take notes as I’m reading, handwritten or in org-mode. I keep these notes loose, I ask questions which I’ll later have to answer, I point out interesting/difficult stuff, but most importantly – I think about the content that I’m reading – while I’m reading. And I’m writing all of my thoughts. If I’m handwriting – I tend to draw graphic representations of the ideas.
I then go through what I’ve written, find the essential things, answer whatever questions have come up, clarify difficulties, all while writing about it.
At last, I go through everything I’ve written, and I pick up the essential ideas/concepts, which then get turned into zettelkasten notes. I usually keep them short and concise, but this is only possible because I’ve written a lot more while trying to understand them.
At the end, I’m left with a record of my thought proccess, which can act as a summary of whatever I read, and a short and concise zettelkasten note that I can use to build concepts together, and to refer to whenever I forget about it.