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# System prepended metadata

title: Ultralearning

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# Ultralearning

- [Detailed Summary](https://koerbitz.me/posts/ultralearning-book-summary.html#:~:text=Drill%3A%20Improve%20the%20weakest%20point,Feedback%3A%20Is%20uncomfortable%20but%20crucial.)
- [Good Detailed Explanation](https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2012/10/26/mastering-linear-algebra-in-10-days-astounding-experiments-in-ultra-learning/)

## Meta-learning
  - don't absorb info at random
  - establishing how information is structured
    - create meta learning map
      - Concept (what need to  be understood)
      - Facts (what need to memorize)
      - Procedure (what need to be done)
      - Focus your energy in heavily weighted category
    - use the created map to identify challenging aspects
      - brainstorm techniques for overcomming them 
    - establish how you are going to learn
      - try benchmarking research people who've acquired similar skill or institutions 
        - replicate their methods + equipment
          - use online courses, syllabi to find resources, tools, texts that are considered essential in the field
      - Time invested in meta-learning will not be wasted
      - Allocate 10% of the total time you expect to learn to meta-learning
      - Draw roadmap for ultra-learning project
      - Use focus power to not derail you from your goal
## Focus
  - life is full of distraction, but don't let them affect your goals
  - first challenge - getting focus in the first place:
    - set timer for like 3 mins, say stop working after that, but you can use it to build momentum
      - use pomodoro technique
    - sustaining your focus
      - eliminate distraction source/Optimize environment
      - once you start your task, if you're not fully engaged with your task, you're less likely to retain the material
      - use interleaving to combat autopiolot, change mode of learning and material frequently
      - devide session in fixed time, such as multiple 2 hours/session instead of 10 hours 1 session
      - focus on different aspects
      - Pay attention to your mental alertness/energy
        - High alertness works best for narrow-focus task
          - repetitive tasks
        - Low arrousal/alertness works for lateral thinking task and forming connection 
          - creative task
          - if you get stuck, take a break
          - cognitive demanding activity is easier to focus
        - Match your arrousal to your task
        - Focus simple tasks when your focus is more aroused and complex tasks when it's less aroused 
        - Honing focus -> build up mental stamina to complete your challenge
    - Recognize where are and try to improve your focus with small steps
## Directness:
  - Competitive
  - Learn by doing 
  - project based learning
    - no transfer necessary
    - immersive learning
    - depend on project
      - you can replicate the environment/simulation
## Drill
  - Use drilling to hone your skills
  - Drill strategically to maintain the competive edge
  - Don't begin your project by drilling
    - use direct-then-drill approach
      - practice the skill directly
      - Use direct to identify areas to drill
      - drill the subskill
      - integrate the subskill into the direct practice again
  - Apply drilling to your rate-determining step (your weak spot)
    - Drill begins by breaking down the weakest part into small parts, master those small parts by drilling, put them back together
  - Design your drill:
    - Depending on if you can isolate that area from your project
    - If you can't break down parts (ie trying to drill creative writing), find others work and copycat/emulate
    - spend more time to concentrate on subcomponent you want to improve even if that decrease
  - Tactics:
    - Designate time for different parts
    - Focus on that specific sub-component only
    - Copy other's work and then improve on the area you want to improve
    - Concentrate on what you want to improve (magnify glass)
    - Start learning pre-req, then shifting back and forth between pre-req and original project
  - Drill **Mindfully**
    - Only drilling to what is connected to the **desired skills**
    - Don't drift off to unrelated materials

## Retrieval:
  - Test yourself to learn, actively recall information
    - use learned memory techniques (note from myself)
    - recall is much more effective
    - Passive review makes us think that we could recall the materials
    - use flashcards
    - free recall - write down everything you can recall
    - write down question while reading, then later try to retrieve information to answer the question
    - self-generated challenges
    - closed-book learning: test yourself closed book
      - test or apply your knowledge instead of looking up
## Feedback
  - outcome based feedback:
    - give single grade, pass/fail information
  - informational feedback:
    - feedback on individual items, which contribute to the whole outcome
  - corrective feedback:
    - tell you what's wrong, how the correct infomation look like, and why
    - hardest type to get
  ### How to improve feedback:
  - noice cancellation
        - find reliable metrics, remove unreliable one
  
  - difficulty sweet spot: find a difficult sweet spot (and continually improving it) of your learning, and get feedback from it.
    - basically do hard things
    - make sure feedback is not predictable to be valuable
    - don't make things too easy, but not impossibly hard
  
  - meta feedback: feed back on overall learning process (monitor learning rate - time learning something, if it's too long to learn, you need to take it as feedback and adjust it)

  - rapid fire feedback : get lots of feedback make you get motivated to get more feedback
    - knowing your work will be evaluated is a huge motivator for doing a **good job**
## Retention
  - Stop filling leaky bucket
  - Memory decay over time
  - old memory are partially overwritten by newer one
  - forgotten cue, information is still there but cue is gone, so it's hard to recall
### prevent fogetting:
  - Spaced repetition:
    - use flashcards
  - Procedure:  
    - train your skills as procedural memory
  - Over learning: learning a skill more might make it harder to fade
  - Mnemoic (memory tricks that I've learned)
## Intuition - Go deep before building up
### Richard Feynmans:
  -  Don't fool yourself - and you are the easiest to fool!
  -  Think concrete examples when trying to understand something abstract
  -  try your best to understand the fundamental principals
###  Feynman Technique:
  -  Write concept/problem on top of paper
      -  then write explanation
        -  if concept, write as if you're explaining to someone
        -  if problem, explain in detail how a solution works and why
  -  This can applied to anything you don't understand, problems you're stuck on and expand your intuition
   -  Don't give up on hard problem, give yourself a timer before giving up
   -  Prove or explain
   -  Use concrete examples 
   -  Don't fool yourself into thinking you understand something when you really don't
      -  ask a lot of questions to make sure you understand it  
## Experimentation Intensively
  - True mastery does not come from path from others, you have to explore what works best for you, so experimentation is the key
  - Van Gogh did not conform to art school's style but to experiment different techniques before finding his owns
### Things to experiment with:
  - Learning resources:
    - methods
    - techniques
    - before making change, make sure you've applied the tactics
  - Different subfield:
    - once you've master a skill, you could learn other subfield
  - Styles:
  - Experiment with different styles to find what work best for you or unique to you
### Tactics:
  - Copy and change: copy work, experiment, change some aspects
  - Vary one variable and compare result
  - Add new constraint to spark creative solution
  - Best of combination of two skills
  - Go to the extreme:
    - mastery usually involves two extreme sub-skills, don't expect mastery by taking safe/average option on everything

---
### Do your research:
  - Topic and scope:
    - good topic and quantitative **goal** scope
  - Identify and obtain materials you'll be learning with
  - Benchmark other's learning plan
  - Direct practice: how can you directly practice the skill you've learned
  - Investigate secondary learning materials for backup, find the possibilities for drills
  - How to get feed back from learning
### Schedule your time: Consistently ONLY:
- not sporadic/ad-hoc schedule
### Execute your plan:
- measure your actions in relation to Ultralearning principles, and make adjustment
### Reflect your result
  - Review what went wrong, what could have gone better

