Learning to learn.

I have read a lot of Technical and Business books over the years, and they have helped me build my knowledge aside from work. I have realized that some concepts and ideas stick, but I lose much of what I have learned over time. One way to retain those concepts would be to re-read these books. However, reading books takes time, and one can only read a certain number of books every year, and my reading list is ever increasing.

Given these limitations, I started exploring ways to retain my knowledge better. After doing some research and some trial and error, I have come up with the following techniques.

🧠 Building and refining mental models are a great way to retain and expand knowledge. Mental Model is a framework to internalize how something in the real world works. I read Shane Parrish’s writings on mental models, which were a great introduction.

📝 Taking notes and highlights have helped me quickly revise previously read concepts the following day, and thus retain more of what I have read. And by the way, Kindle has great support highlights and notes!

🍅 I follow the Pomodoro technique of time management. This technique has helped me cut down my procrastination and get real work done, including reading more books. I can’t believe how much additional time I can reclaim. I am currently using this Pomodoro app on the Apple App Store.

I hope these techniques will not only expand my knowledge but also improve my capability to learn in years to come.