[Learn Log] My takeaway on the Week 1 of Learning Sprint

[mikeprananto]

• My reasons why I participate in this learning sprint.

  • My most upstream reason would be to obtain the skills to learn high-performing skills in the shortest amount of time.
  • I’m currently using Shu Omi’s Resonance Calendar Template (Zettelkasten) and I keep failing when it comes to Taking notes, I always highlight, and bring it to logseq, but broke apart when I have to take notes with my own words. I’m looking for an easier workflow. (probably this learning log is the first time I’m successfully taking notes)
  • In Building a Second Brain, Tiago mentions organizing knowledge by actionability. And someone said that the Logseq query can help with that, so I’m looking forward to it.

• My takeaway on How to design and run personal learning projects with Logseq

  • Make time

    • Schedule the time to learn in the calendar and stick to it.
    • Cut a low-value activity like scrolling through social media, fell into the organizing trap (e.g. tagging all emails in inbox).
    • Try to commit to a person like your friend or family, and think if you didn’t do what you said you were going to do then they will think of you as an irresponsible person. (Sometimes this works for me)

  • Focus and be consistent

    • Our brain isn’t good at handling multiple things at a time, focus on 1 learning goal for a month or two.
    • Focus is one of my huge struggles. I always believed the only thing that took me away from reaching my goal is my inability to focus and be consistent. For a long time, I’ve always searched the “How” in my struggle to focus, but recently I found I missed the “Why”. “Why does my ability to focus become my struggle?” That question would reveal the root cause of the problem.
      • Source The 5 Whys Process

  • Aim for 80/20 rule

    • Anyone who doesn’t understand the 80/20 rule, it’s basically a principle where you spend 20% of your effort and that 20% of effort brings 80% of the results. Focus on bigger things first.
    • Only use the tools that really move the needle further towards your learning goal
      • for example, if the learning resources don’t come from books or articles, then you don’t need to pay a Readwise subscription to bring all your highlights to logseq.
    • If you have a hard time finding the 20%, try to list all of the things needed and filter it down to the 20% of it that is really needed.

  • Make it easy

    • "What if it was easy?"
      "Where is the unnecessary struggle?"
      –Khe Hy

    • Whenever I hear Make it easy, Khe Hy’s $10k Questions always come to my mind. The question leads to opening a new door and realizing an obstacle that invincibly standing in your way.

      • Let’s take an example “What if learning digital drawing is easy? How can I practice digital drawing whenever and wherever I’m ready?”
      • That would be practice drawing on the phone with a stylus pen. Then the phone and the stylus pen are the tools required for learning, you don’t need to wait until you can afford an Ipad.

    • Take an easy step first so your mind would take it as an easy activity, if you jump to a hard part then your mind will try to avoid it next time.

    • There’s also a connection from Atomic Habits, environment plays huge part. Make sure the environment is learning-friendly, there’s no distraction around

  • Be realistic

    • This the trap I was always fell into. We have to be realistic about what we’re going to learn. Try to ask the community how much time is needed to learn the specific skill.
    • I remember I did say I’m gonna learn a new 3D software for 2 weeks and then start a project with it. I did it the first few days but eventually 6 months later (without meeting the goal) I left. That was 3 years ago and I haven’t touched that 3D software again. And my colleague said to learn that skill would need a few years of consistent learning.

• Things I’m failing to understand

  • Short feedback loop
  • How do queries in logseq work (I have zero knowledge about queries but I’m gonna try to start learning about it from previous videos)

• Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong I’m also open if you have any new connections to similar ideas from different sources.

[jenn]

This is a really helpful summary and I came to similar conclusions as you did. My main takeaway from this first week is that I need to ensure I make effective notes first, before I can actually use the query feature.

Most importantly for me, I think, is making sure my notes are short and to the point and in my own words. I also found Ramses’ Question and Answer template for notetaking helpful and this is something I will start practicing with. Come to think of it, I should probably add that to my “critical resources” of my learn log.

In terms of making time and being consistent, this is where I heavily rely on James Clear’s Atomic Habits (as you mentioned for priming the environment) as I work full-time and have other hobbies that I want to spend time on / things I need to do when I am not working. When I was preparing my learn plan, I therefore tried to use habit stacking for planning when I will learn. For example:

• During weekdays, I will spend 30 minutes of Logseq learning after dinner (which, not coincidentally, is the time I need to wait until I can do my back exersises – something I need to do as I am seeing a physiotherapist).
• During weekends, I will spend 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon. For myself, I have planned these 30 minutes immediately after our morning and afternoon walks – a habit we have already succesfully created.

Loved reading your reflections so I thought I’d share mine!