7 Tips For Learning Anything On Your Own

[@benjaminkeep]

Watch me attempt to put these tips into practice here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3TMYZKqn7Scr7M 😅

[@TIS610]

1. Get Specific 2. Identify Key Skills 3. Get Good Resources 4. Make a Schedule 5. Get Valuable Feedback 6. Be Careful with Goals 7. Revise the Plan

[@Mizar4]

Thank you

[@Gameboob]

1. Ask yourself "so that I can..." what? This will turn a general wish into something a lot more specific and tangible to focus on 5. Regarding feedback, when possible, run through a match (or whatever your domain is) that's led by an expert and stop at critical decision points. Make your own decision and then compare what you did to what the expert did.

[@gshepherd6141]

00:42 How to make specific learning goals 02:03 What are the key skills? 03:21 Gathering learning resources 04:02 A note on scheduling 04:48 Making the best use of feedback 08:12 Watch out for time-sensitive learning goals 10:15 When to make a change

[@jackiepousson8497]

Thank you for the outline!

[@piano_depois_dos_50]

This is excellent. From my experience, I particularly agree with NOT setting time-sensitive learning goals. It is counter-intuitive, but I learned that in most disciplines, a few topics will take most of the time and most topics will take no time (but we can't know which topics are time-consuming until we have learned them).

[@alextaws6657]

absolutely! exactly my thoughts. plus, not reaching (or fearing to not be able to reach) a goal has been a motivational bummer for me in the past, even though the function of the goal should be motivational.

[@zaidalruwaishan1915]

Hey Dr. Keep, I think the advice to pull from multiple sources is underrated, especially for subjects like philosophy where interpretations of what the ancients really meant differ in important ways, even amongst experts.

[@jackiepousson8497]

Aside from philosophy, using multiple resources results in different coverage of topics--from explanation to presentation formats providing the variety needed to form multiple connections in the brain.

[@tomrees4812]

I can now justify all the books I’ve bought, and continue to buy😊

[@kartikpandey8739]

I feel strongly with this. I would add that "explore a lot at first".

[@jeffreyturley4585]

I'm leading an agile software development team and all the strategies you described are core practices for us. Somehow I never thought of it as a learning experience but of course it always has been: we know how to code, but we consult a subject matter expert to help us find WHAT to code. We hold regular retrospective meetings to see if the process is working, and tweak things that aren't. I'm interested to see what my team thinks of this one, whether they draw the same parallels I have.

[@kartikpandey8739]

Who would that expert be? What do you think, why they prescribe you what they do (like what to code)?

[@chri-k]

Lack of direct feedback is probably the main reason people find learning languages more difficult than other things

[@e-genieclimatique]

in brief: In this video, the speaker provides 7 tips for learning something on your own: 1. *Be specific about what you want to learn*: Break down your goals into smaller, more manageable tasks. 2. *Identify key activities*: Focus on the core activities that will drive learning forward, such as practicing proofs in math. 3. *Use multiple resources*: Leverage at least three resources to gain different perspectives on a topic. 4. *Schedule learning sessions*: Spread out learning sessions over time for deeper, long-lasting learning. 5. *Seek feedback*: Obtain input from mentors, teachers, or online communities to improve your skills. 6. *Set realistic goals*: Avoid setting time-sensitive learning goals, as they may not accurately reflect your progress. 7. *Revise your plan: Regularly assess and revise your learning goals, resources, and schedule. The speaker emphasizes the importance of being open to being wrong, as learning on your own is an exploratory process. While learning independently can be challenging, it can also be deeply fulfilling and rewarding.

[@gerunkwon2598]

thanks chatgpt

[@nomadicwolf6132]

Some of the greatest 13 minuts I've ecer spent on KZbin. Thank you. Incredible insightful.

[@dominic.h.3363]

I haven't been exactly going out of my way to search how to learn things, but as someone with both dyscalculia and ASD, I found all advice I stumbled upon near useless. This video on the other hand could be a rough summary of my methods for every single time I succeeded learning something, to which one or the other condition I have was an impediment. I still can't memorize the fretboard after six years of playing daily, and I don't think I will ever be able to "get" the hierarchy of the different surface properties in 3D development, but now I'm curious to see whether this channel has something in store for me I haven't considered yet, that would lead to a breakthrough. Thank you!

[@GustavoSilva-ny8jc]

Excellent! My eye opened for this only recently, how much tougher is to do it alone, you're basically a pioneer. I had this epiphany when i was watching Ironmouse play Fear and Hunger, the game was made to go blind and explore for yourself, but i was like "hey, you're too calm for this!!! And fast!", she was going straight to the right answers. Reason being her friend who introduced her to the game schooled her in how to play and what to expect so there was none of the intented lost, confusion, terror and experimentation, sure, she was much more productive but it was executing more of honing skills than problem solving skills. When i was younger i thought i would be much better alone cause i wouldnt be chained to a style, a coach's mindset or limited knowledge and lets be honest, im much smarter. But that happened cause i never had good teachers so i had to develop more exploration skills than honing skills, i felt too controlled too, that's why i was smart while knowing nothing. I was a stubborn, skeptic and rebel brat.

[@KyleHohn]

This is such a great video! I couldn’t believe how few views it had

[@benjaminkeep]

Thanks - glad it was helpful! Your comment and likes help it spread. : )

[@KathySierraVideo]

Ohhhh be still my geek heart… you brought Goodhart’s law into this 🙏👏🔥😍. Another question I like as both thought experiment and Actual Practice Activity… “How could I exaggerate the mistake I’m making?” In terms of neuroplasticity “triggers”, sometimes taking a flaw (or a stuck pattern) as extreme as you can in the direction OPPOSITE “ideal” helps the brain and body self-organize a better response vs. us trying to “tell” ourselves over and over how to move that body part “correctly.” Physiotherapists sometimes call this “feed the flaw.” I use this with the horses (my athletes are all furry four-legged) all the time, and my husband uses this when coaching his golf students. At the least, it sends novel sensory info, because it’s usually doing the thing we’ve tried hard NOT to do. But in movement, especially, I just trust the movement system to gain new “insights” from that exploration. Kinetic chains are too complex for humans to understand, but I can trust that provoking it in this way connects dots in the brain/body I’d never have achieved by TRYING to converge on “correct.” (It freaks people out at first, but then they are soooo delighted 😀. Took awhile for my horses to be OK with my unexpectedly pushing them way off-balance on the side of a slope 😁)

[@benjaminkeep]

That's a really interesting approach! I've been thinking about ways of correcting "bad habits," like a dysfunctional golf swing that has now become an automated behavior. Had not come across the "feed the flaw" approach. I was going to ask how you tell the horses to do that - but are they used to it now?!

[@KathySierraVideo]

@@benjaminkeep ha-ha yes they are 😁. Learning to expect the unexpected is a huge confidence booster for them. The only *dangerous* horse is a fearful horse, so I want mine to all feel like badass mofos with ninja skills. 💁‍♀️. On the issue of helping with dysfunctional or just ANY stuck pattern, Ecological Dynamics approach has a useful way to deal with this. If we view a persistent movement pattern as “stable attractor” in a complex system, then trying to “correct” by repeatedly cueing a “better” way is an endless battle. The system has a damn good reason to keep falling back to that attractor state, and to quote Frans Bosch, “the body doesn’t care what the coach has to say” (including when we are our own coach). So the two options that can help kick us out of that state: 1. Add variability by design, using either Differential Learning or something like a “scale” exercise (e.g. ok if that movement was a 5 (on some dimension), show me a 2. Ok now a 9.” Etc.) 2. If that doesn’t work, we must first de-stabilize the pattern. For physical skills, that often means we have to take a couple weeks or more to DE-train it… let it get “rusty”, so tissue and neural adaptations can deteriorate a little while at the same time doing wildly novel things around it. For example, do anything BUT the things where that stable-but-dysfunctional swing is a useful solution. - It’s amazing how “grooved-in” a persistent pattern can be and yet still be changed, but it’s far harder to do it with incremental conscious shifts and far easier with Big Disruptions with a lot of novelty. One of my husband’s golf mentors calls his work “golf on the edge of chaos.” 😁

[@benjaminkeep]

@Panther Flow Thanks for the insightful reply! "Stable attractor" is a useful analogy for this kind of problem. I know there's research on how internal focus can disrupt automatic movement processes - could we use internal focus beneficially to help disrupt the automatic, persistent (but bad) pattern? What about slowing the movement down dramatically? I'm thinking of something like Feldenkrais, where movements are intended to be imperceptibly slow. Or is this just another example of scaling/differential learning? You're comments over the course of the past few months have prompted me to read more on the DL and motor learning literature, and I'm learning a lot. So thanks!

[@yasin7118]

@@KathySierraVideo Hi i don't quite get the 2nd point you mentioned. My interpretation of it is that we are to continue to do what we have always been doing but then check ourselves only awhile later and make only changes to it then based off what we felt was incorrect? That progress can and growth is met when we have understood better our incapabilities instead of checking on it every few seconds, hours or so if we felt like something we did was wrong?

[@1994Raffa]

Such a great video! "I don´t think people study experts enough". That´s so true, man.

[@tarunarachmad3976]

thank you for your video. As a person who is not good at socializing, I can still learn through books and KZbin videos or e-courses. Even though learning by yourself is not perfect, it can be done by anyone and is useful.

[@andersoncubillos]

Recently discover your channel. It is incredible helpful!! thank you for all that meaningful and incredible information that you share. By the way, is always better to learn from someone else. But as you know, not everyone can afford it. I think that one of the advantages of learning something by your own is that test your real interest in the subject you are learning. And if you learn enough by yourself, you will reach a point when you realize that the only way to go further is with the guidance of someone else. So you probably would have a better criteria to choose a tutor and would be more motivated to study with that person, and probably would ask better question and extract better information from your teacher. I think learning by yourself is a good starting point for any ability you want to achieve. After that you would decide if it worths to do it with a tutor. Or if you want to change and do something else.

[@luanBes4]

I was surprised when you mentioned Magic the Gathering, I definetely wasn't expecting it. It was like when Brandon Sanderson mentioned it during his lecture. I frequently discover here and there that a youtuber I follow plays the game, it's a surprisingly common experience.

[@AaronMartinProfessional]

This is a bloody brilliant video and seems to apply for learning acrobatics just as well to any other skills mentioned. 🙌

[@cristiangamesgames]

A question for you, since I've been pondering this all night: Have you considered that this approach - integrating desirable difficulties - can be a difficult thing to do because we are not taught how to employ delayed gratification with learning as the reward? Delayed Gratification is important for reaching long-term goals and many other things, but now I'm starting to believe that this very same concept or state of mind is neither taught nor utilized in our education systems. On the contrary, it seems that our education systems are narrowly focused on getting results (the reward) as quickly as possible, instead of actually developing it slowly and waiting for the "reward" to arrive a lot slower. Anyhow, thank you for this video! Would it be bothersome if I asked more questions? Because I'm learning by myself and it can be very difficult to do, and I'd like as much help as possible, especially form an expert such as yourself. You're doing the world a huge service with this channel. Hope you have a great day!

[@benjaminkeep]

There are certainly plenty of times when the "fun part" of learning doesn't occur until you have put work under your belt. I think of learning to play the violin or learning a really tough language. The learning is happening all the time, though - it's really the feeling of smooth performance that is the reward, which is a result of the learning. I don't necessarily think it's bad to have "rewards" - in the form of rewarding experiences - early on in the learning process. If you've ever had a brief conversation in a language you were studying there can be a feeling like "okay, that was cool, I want more of that." I do think there is an insistence on wanting things to happen fast that short circuits more productive learning experiences (and maybe this is more what you're talking about). Often, losing yourself in the roots of things leads to better long-term outcomes than just wanting to quickly "know" something. Please, ask away! I can only reply to so many questions, so sometimes I get behind. Maybe I'll start doing Q&A videos if I get a little too overwhelmed.

[@cristiangamesgames]

@@benjaminkeep Definitely consider the Q&A! In fact, that'll most likely be your only avenue of answering questions like these once you get to a certain subscriber count. Thanks for replying!

[@alant779]

I had a giant list of things i thought i wanted to learn, but turns out for the most part, I'd rather spend time playing video games or sleep. And then there are things i often catch myself thinking about even while playing video games or sleeping. I wouldn't have noticed it if i didn't devote time to learning each thing on the list, and eliminating them one by one.

[@vincenzocapuzziello3466]

Hi Dr. Keep! I've got 2 questions: 1⃣I was learning to type with another keyboard layout (Dvorak)... I arrived to the point where I can touchtype every key, but I'm slow, so with practice I'm speeding up. But I can't figure out which of these 2 is the best approach (to learn this skill as fastest as possible): 1) typing at the fastest speed I can, regardless of the errors I make along the way 2) typing at a lower speed, but with 0 errors I tried them all, but I can't notice any differences This question can concern also other skills such as learning to play a song (sheet) with an instrument 2⃣ Is it useful to make "links" also for this learning activity? I mean: since the brain works with links, making links when studying something is very useful (for semantic memory). But in this case (procedural memory), is it useful to make links? For example: I have problems with pressing the letter Q on my keyboard (2 times out of 3 I get this key wrong). Is it useful to practice typing sets of couples of keys = XQ where X is whichever key (example: I train myself in typing sequences of letters containing Q like CQ, TQ, BQ, KQ...), in order to make links between keys of different positions, and the letter Q which I have problems with, and thus make easier the "recall" of typing the Q key?

[@JayLooney]

I think it makes sense to try and go really fast sometimes just to be pushing your limits to find where they are, but the vast majority of typing practice should strive for 0 errors. Progress may be slow while striving for zero errors, but you will inevitably get faster (up to some >100wpm limit), and when you do get faster, you still won't be making any errors. If you practice while ignoring errors, then no matter how slow you go you'll probably still make some errors and ignore them due to reflexes.

[@youtubeexperiment5026]

Hello Mr. Keep, thanks for this great video. I just found your channel and it has everything I need, I really like the way you explain. I have a question... How could I start to put into practice the things you teach? I've been watching some of your videos, like, binge watching and taking notes here and there; but I don't think I should be doing that, right? I do wonder how should I even get started with this, how should I change my learning strategies, because they're all innefficient and harmful in the long run and I have learnt very few things throughout my life. I really cannot go wrong because I want to learn a few things on my own and I also need to teach my younger brother; neither of our parents can pay for tutors. How should I learn about these strategies and how should I start putting them into practice? Should I learn them the way you teach here, and if so, should I start using them until I really know how they work? What other sources should I check? I'm sorry of the question bombarding, I'm just too confused. Thank you again for your amazing videos.

[@benjaminkeep]

Many thanks for the kind words. I would start small, just working one thing at a time. For academic topics, I do recommend incorporating some free recall, which gives you a better sense of what you're retaining from the material you're reading. Instead of approaching it from an "I must learn this!" mentality (whatever the topic is), consider using an "I am learning how to learn" mentality. For further resources, take a look at the first section here, www.benjaminkeep.com/recommended-reading/, especially the first three books. They should give you a more comprehensive take than my smattering of videos.

[@williamhogge5549]

Great video, great information.

[@judgemongaming8435]

The fact that this video has less than 1 million views is CRIMINAL.

[@vishalnangare31]

Thanks sir, 🙏 I always trouble @ no. 6, thanks for explaining 🙏

[@GustavoSilva-ny8jc]

Another insteresting thing is that when he get used to being guided and receiving the right tools and danger warnings we dont know how think like a scientist, to explore the new and be careful. But ironically i think you should learn how explore too, studying history and biology really opened my eyes for this, or sense of even what is dangerous and how to read reality need to be taught, people who started studying ratiation didnt end well for them.... One thing that i quickly caught when studying chemistry is that EVERYTHING can kill you and explode, some people are unable to deal with the pressure and quit. Biologists too, must be very stressful to study things like hiv. A video on learning with dangerous consequences and one in which you cant practice much due to chance (eg. Surf) would be intereting....

[@markmilan57]

I believe in learning through entertainment as if you become addicted to whatever you want to learn and your journey becomes a joy-ride.

[@fuzzylogics139]

The goal is so important but my goal is a little fuzzy 😅 On the other hand, for now as long as I don’t have a clear bulls-eye goal, just getting better at math and coding is what it is.

[@noctem7205]

This is life changing advice, no doubt

[@lucmar6867]

This is quality advice. Thank you!

[@englishwithanes]

Question: how should we deal with learned helplessness should we encourage others to have a growth mindset or tell them to give up and "bE ReAliSTic" ?? Personal story: being a kid I wasn't any good at soccer, biology, piano, and physics and like many kids in my country (algeria) if you're not good at something (let it be a kid struggling at school or a teen not being good at x or y or z) after relatively little training you're told "sadly" things like: (you're stupid, you're ungifted, just quit, it's not for you, blablabla) I grew up with that belief thinking I'm just not cut for them.. Today I do think it's possible for me to become good at so many things especially that mostly every researcher studying expertise (regardless of his perspective or the position he takes about the importance of other factors) does agree that anyone can improve with practice.. However.. there are some problems: > learned helplessness: I really lost self-confidence and am still negatively influenced by my past life experiences 🙁 > the fear of being laughed at and being seen as stupid 🙁 > age: in my country if you're like past 15 16 17 (which is my case) and wanna start out a new sport or take up a new instrument with no experience you're basically told things like It'S tOo lAtE, yOu'rE tOo oLD 😒 any tips, any help, even some words of encouragement can help.. Please friend 😔

[@KathySierraVideo]

I know quite a lot about the science around learning and expertise (one reason I’m such a fan of this channel), and looking at the MASSIVE gap between what science knows about learning and how things are typically taught, it’s amazing anyone learned anything. I’m saying, it’s not the fault of the learner OR the teacher when people get stuck before reaching more advanced levels. It’s the fault of a flawed foundation on which most traditional teaching, training, etc. is based. People learn in spite of the poor training, and most traditional teaching privileges a narrow subset of learners, while others who ARE more than capable of learning are not exposed to ways that could help them. I’d say, it’s not you… it’s the broken system. Then throw yourself into something you’re interested in, with as much exposure to diverse experiences and practices. And re-watch all the vids in this channel 😁💁‍♀️

[@benjaminkeep]

What Panther Flow said. : ) No one is immune to their social circumstances, to the expectations that other people have for them, to the pressures other people put on them. But something to consider is: who are you doing this for? If it is for yourself, then it doesn't particularly matter what other people think of what you're doing. They might think you're odd. Or crazy. Or stupid. Letting their opinions roll off you is easier said than done. But some amount of insulation from the opinions of others (especially of their opinions about your decisions) is a good thing. A slight variation on the same question is: why are you doing it? A simple, "I enjoy playing music" or "I enjoy playing sports" is enough of a reason. You don't have to be good to enjoy something. You don't have to have some kind of future career planned out to enjoy something. You don't need to judge yourself or anyone else; just engage and delight in the material and the practice.

[@andy_jenks]

Incredibly helpful!!

[@timwoods3173]

Thank you

[@GustavoSilva-ny8jc]

Can you do a video about good coach vs bad coach/mentor, please??? And how deal when you feel you should switch but fears burning bridges? Cause one of the reasons i prefer to study alone was that during my whole life i didnt have courage to disagree with them or did what they say because i trusted their position even though it felt wrong (authority bias), how do you know if you should trust them as a complete beginner? If youre an average person youre not going to be coached by Dicaprio or bolt. And i saw people complaining about being transformed in something they're not for the sake of results (last exemple was an experienced aggressive boxer being forced to play range [think Adesanya] by a condecorated coach and people were saying "listen blindly to your coach", i hate this, i think it kills your passion and whole motivation). You think we should play the stoic and see the beauty in what is ugly? Or this is more of an emotional psychology instead of your area? Josh Waitzkin had a very insteresting take called "Breaking the stallion" when talking about his 2 coaches with opposite beliefs.

[@silpheedTandy]

oh god; youtube recommends me your video (because youtube knows i'm learning a foreign language), and now i offhand discover that you're an mtg player! it's like when i had two different friend groups that i thought were completely separate, and it turns out that they knew each other this whole time! next thing you're gonna tell me is that you're into soap operas, too...

[@benjaminkeep]

lol... I did watch a decent amount of "As the World Turns..." when I was a kid b/c my mom liked it!

[@luiscruz5556]

Just discovered your channel and absolutely loving your content!! Thank you! Curious if you could advise as to an "ideal" length of time for intense, deep focus study. 45 minutes on, 15 minutes off, repeat? I've seen a doctor advise doing 4 hour blocks, others that do pomodoro of 25 on 5 off, just wondering what the science says :)

[@benjaminkeep]

I don't know if there is solid research on this question. And, to some degree, I think it's probably the "wrong question," if that makes sense. It depends on the person and the skill level and the activity. The typical research on deliberate practice suggests that the length of time that people can focus intensely for increases as their expertise in the area increases. But as I recall, the outer limit is pinned close to 1.5 hrs or so. Beyond that, researchers generally find that it's hard to maintain such intense concentration. I also think it can be beneficial to develop your own sense of feeling like you need a break (feeling tired, etc.) and rely less on fixed time periods. But I don't have any real research to say that that's right.

[@luiscruz5556]

@@benjaminkeep makes total sense. thank you so much for the helpful and timely response. loving your videos! they provide a lot to think about.

[@thegrumpypanda1016]

This video is amazeballs.

[@とらーぷす]

Excellent video! I've been learning a language for the past few months and keep considering the varying methods that people recommend, and as a result, at this point I've started synthesizing multiple methodologies into my learning time. Have you looked into any of the research by Stephen Krashen on Second Language Acquisition? I've been wondering what an academic opinion on his views and research are, since most of his research seems to be in heavy conflict with the main way we teach language in the modern day. There seems to be a mixed consensus about the validity of his work as well.

[@benjaminkeep]

Yes, I think exploring and trying new techniques is a very good thing to do. I've been meaning to dive more into Stephen Krashen's ideas. From what I know, I am a fan of comprehensible input, although I think beginning language learners often have an inflated sense of what's comprehensible. His stuff is definitely a topic for a future video, but one I'd have to do considerable research for.

[@alextaws6657]

amazing, thank you SO much!!

[@MasterXoergOwnsen]

Do you have any advice on how to select what points to focus on? I have a skill that I want to improve, but it is quite complex and I don't know which of the many key skills to focus on to improve most

[@thaily1658]

9:28 sounds like the overfitting problem in machine learning

[@Klauskunze99]

I came here from Dr Sungs Channel. I like your examples and visualization of your ideas better. But I think you could learn from Dr Sungs consisiveness and the way he makes concepts understandable. Thank you for your videos

[@vsepotap]

Wish you the best of luck too, dear comrade!

[@siyke15]

Thank you for the video. :)

[@fieuline2536]

Love your videos!

[@deirdre_anne]

These aren't just good for learning on your own. The difference is that a good course should provide much of this to you. Too many courses don't incorporate various parts of this, which makes them be less than ideal courses. I also found it interesting how you phrased your specific sentences in the first one "I want to learn a so that I can do x" that's also exactly the way user story is structured in agile.

[@GustavoSilva-ny8jc]

8:45 Yeah, wait until that part or parts that will ruin your life come, they always come for me

[@IntegralMoon]

Brush up on the basics.... shows Laplace transform 😥

[@8__vv__8]

The Laplace transform only seems hard now. Later, when you’re trying to solve nonlinear PDEs with no closed form solutions and you’re struggling to get them to converge, you will remember Laplace transforms very differently 😂

[@martinpaddle]

Basics is relative. If you study Math or Physics, the Laplace transform is pretty basic stuff.

[@randatatang9222]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@lindadelalifiasam5878]

😂😂😂😂

[@Lejacoby]

I’m trying to develop a learning system to improve at league of legends and I am so close to figuring this all out… I get that I have to break down a skill, but I just don’t know how to drill this stuff in and learn and improve from it

[@luhan3578]

Great video, found your channel after your Justin Sung video, which also was good. A question, have you joined or hade any experience with the contents of Justins course? If so what do you think of it?

[@benjaminkeep]

Nope - no experience with Justin's courses, just some familiarity with his KZbin content.

[@yevengyklaus7066]

Any tips for learning a topic in which you have lots of anxiety in?

[@benjaminkeep]

This is probably a better question for someone who specializes in anxiety, but I can talk a little about my experiences. Certainly, knowing what’s driving the anxiety is helpful. Is it a social thing (like, you don’t want other people to see you fail, or you feel uncomfortable performing in front of others)? Or a safety thing (e.g., you’re afraid of putting your face in the water to swim)? Or a perfectionist issue (you don’t want to make mistakes at all regardless of whether other people know about them)? There is no trick, AFAIK, for making the anxiety just go away. Rather, you have to think in terms of management - the anxiety will come, but how do we manage it? Can we modify the task to lower anxiety levels enough to make it doable? And then, once we get used to that, make the task a little more challenging (anxiety-wise), building up the comfortableness over time? Sometimes this involves lowering the stakes of the performance. You might think of recording yourself playing a song instead of performing in front of other people, if you had a lot of anxiety about public performances. Or taking practice tests instead of tests that count if there’s a lot of anxiety around “failure”. General strategies for controlling anxiety also play a role. Knowing that there is a safe place to come back to can lower over all anxiety; knowing some breathing techniques or meditation techniques can help. It’s certainly not easy. But I think tools, wisely applied, can usually make things significantly better. Lowering the anxiety is a good move for learning, too, because it’s easier to learn when our mind is not pre-occupied with whatever is making us anxious.

[@noxfelis5333]

Like Benjamin state, that you would get a better response from someone who specializes in anxiety, but here is my take on it. Anxiety is based in your future thinking, so try to focus more on the now. Anxiety is fear based, so find ways to reassure that what you are doing isn't harmful, like walking slowly towards what you are anxious about, slowly feeling it, testing it. Make very small advances, like if you are afraid of writing, just try to feel the pen or the papper. Anxiety also rises when you try to control what is going to happen, let go of the though of controlling the situation and just observe it. Also do some deep dive into understanding where the anxiety is rooted in, as there is a reason why you are anxious about it, either throught bad experience or your where thougth just that. Find an acceptance of your fears, the more you accept that you actually are afraid, the more anxieties are turning into fears instead, it is okey to be afraid of whatever you are afraid of, take your time to realize that fear isn't rooted in reality, but in past experiences. Take your time with it, don't let anyone push you into it, very important, follow your own pace, not what someone else or you wishes it is, you are where you are at right now that that is up to everybody to accept.

[@Bvic3]

Chat GPT is a massive revolution for self taught learning. You can ask tons of questions to get word definitions and relation between concepts.

[@FenShen-us9tv]

It's just glorified google dude

[@Bvic3]

@@FenShen-us9tv It's not remotely comparable. I use Google, StackOverflow and official documentations 80% less. It's insanely good at comparing two advanced technical concepts. And at making you learn the precise name of a subconcept that you can then query. Before, you had to Google and read 10 pages and then 10 pages again for the sub concept. Now, you get it in two query and clearer. For programming, it's god tier at using the popular libraries and finding the obscure function that will solve your problem in one line. On Stackoverflow you would never find exactly what you wanted. When I read academic papers, I can ask definitions of each unknown concept and dig deeper on sub concepts. It's like the famous Wikipedia rabbit hole where you spend an afternoon without realising it.

[@ApatheticPerson]

That's true. But current LLM models halluciante A LOT! You shoule be really careful with what they output, they can output utter nonsense and make it sound as plausible as ever. You should use them to help you create questions based on text, or something that doesn't require a high level of expertise.

[@Bvic3]

@@ApatheticPerson Hallucinations are only an issue with specific type of questions where you ask for things that don't exist and LLMs prefer to invent that say 'I never heard of that". The only time I saw Hallucinations is when I asked for scientific papers with a very specific topic. ChatGPT invented papers, including real URLs to other papers ... But if you ask for things that exist, this is no issue. LLMs are not an excuse to turn your brain off, it's just an insanely effective knowledge base.

[@ApatheticPerson]

@@Bvic3 LLMs might hallucinate about real things if you ask them differently or in a more complex way.

[@patronsaintofthebog]

First of all, thank you for your amazing work. I can't express enough how your videos are helping me. 3:38 are at least 3 resources set in stone? I find it a bit overwhelming and slowing down studying from 3 math\physics textbooks at once and then check my free recall results from all of them. What would you recommend for someone with obsessive tendencies to check everything again in case I have missed something? I know that learning is a process and it takes time, but I'm really striving to learn fast.

[@jessstuart7495]

Don't get sucked into the trap of thinking newer is better when it comes to textbooks. A good trick is to find a modern textbook you like, then look at the bibliography and see what books the author referenced. Those are usually the really good ones!

[@ApatheticPerson]

Well that depends, are you studying math or physics or cs for example? Math books never get outdated, they're always relevant, a physics book might be outdated if it's 100 years old for example, a CS book is almost always outdated if it's 20+ years old and hasn't been updated. It depends on what you're studying.

[@AFGautonompunk]

thanks for the farewell wishes that i genuinely requite. i was wondering, on step 7, how you relate to scrum or kanban in autodidact learning ? more specifically, there are cycles of evaluation and revision, containing of both sprints and critical analysis to adapt and optimise further iterations. - regarding the different personnel, one could think to focus on 'becoming' a scrum master is the closest relation ..

[@benjaminkeep]

TBH, I don't really know enough about scrum or kanban to have a strong opinion.

[@AccessCode101]

great video

[@benjaminkeep]

Thanks!

[@oldcalvinarchivechannel]

0:55 NO STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

[@nathandaniel5451]

What about skills where there's very very little feedback. let's say someone is trying to learn their times' tables. The only feedback on the skill itself is whether or not you get the right answer and how fast you can do it.

[@benjaminkeep]

There's also feedback (potentially) on the kinds of mistakes the student is making. Different kinds of mistakes suggest different kinds of problems. Still, for a skill like learning all one-by-one multiplication facts, there seems to be plenty of feedback for the skill the student is learning (which is just to get them right and know them quickly). It's not just pure practice, though - understanding the patterns in the multiplication table helps people to remember the correct answers.

[@RowanSau]

Let's say it's tough to get feedback, would an AI source be beneficial? I watched a few videos and realized that AI hasn't been mentioned. I assume feedback would be ok right? This answer seems obvious, but as an overthinker, I wanted honest feedback about using AI when learning.

[@griggiorouge]

Gr8

[@TheRealNickG]

This seems a bit antithetical to the idea of liberal arts and maybe liberalism in general. You can't know what you want to do until you have a sufficient level of knowledge of the world at play around you. I had no idea I would fall in love with the art of writing proofs and decide to get a mathematics degree until I was a comp sci major 3 years into college. This approach isn't wrong per se, but it does presume self-awareness that most people do not have. I went to college in my late 20's and came out in my mid 30's and the reason I even mention this is observation that this is actually very good advice for me today and would have been bad advice for me before I was educated.

[@acx8680]

1:35

[@acx8680]

Set the right target

[@acx8680]

What is the next thing I can learn/improve (pick one specific thing)

[@redmed10]

A good heart these days is hard to find. If you get it you get it. Started with a spelling mistake.

[@TheSemgold]

It'd be good if tips were in description.

[@benjaminkeep]

Thanks for the thought - I'll do that when I get a chance.

[@AlliK_Worldwide]

the bible of self studying

[@junveld4830]

Українська 💪

[@keithrezendes6913]

Neo from the matrix teaching us.

[@richlutterjr]

Where is the elevator?

[@metternich05]

This is great content but please hire a better thumbnail designer. Or if you do it yourself, consider to outsource it. This particular thumbnail is a disaster.

[@alexcerny5881]

I thought it was wrong to copy off experts because they use techniques far too advanced for your skill level.

[@benjaminkeep]

It can be. It depends on what you mean by "copy". If you mean "imitate exactly", then, yes, it's probably a bad idea until you have the foundational skills. An example I frequently return to is science labs in high school and college. Traditionally, these labs asked students to perform a canonical experiment to reach an expected result by following a specific series of steps. In a way, that is "copying" what a scientist would do. But in a very important way, it's not. Practicing scientists make many decisions during the course of research. With these labs, students do not do that. At the same time, asking students to perform actual scientific research (actually pushing the boundaries of knowledge forward) is also likely an impossibility - they do not have the background knowledge and skills necessary to do that. Instead, you can create labs for the students that have students make decisions LIKE practicing scientists do (i.e., they are focused on the important skills) in a context that is more tractable. You can see the paper below as an example: Holmes, N. G., Keep, B., & Wieman, C. E. (2020). Developing scientific decision making by structuring and supporting student agency. Physical Review Physics Education Research, 16(1), 010109. journals.aps.org/prper/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.16.010109

[@rasmusturkka480]

Hardly ever are absolute statements like this completely true. I'd say look at what experts are doing (if you feel like it) and if they do something that inspires you to try something, go ahead. and see what happens. But trying to blindly and meticulously copy someone in hopes of one day magically becoming exactly like them probably isn't helpful.

[@Simlatio]

Is this the learning tips equivalent of "Sleep well, eat well, exercise often, build quality relationships and enjoy the things that you do"? I was, perhaps very foolishly, hoping to discover seven trade secrets for learning anything on your own.

[@natnael8484]

great video

[@tarunarachmad3976]

1:29

[@tarunarachmad3976]

1:04

[@tarunarachmad3976]

8:43

[@tarunarachmad3976]

9:59

[@tarunarachmad3976]

10:24