Hello my fellow DevRanters! 😁 A question for those of you who like to learn new stuff constantly, what are your tricks or tips you use to learn more? and enjoy the overall experience (do you write notes, read posts, etc) my reason to ask this is that oftentimes I forget everything I learned after 5 minutes, so maybe I'm doing something wrong

1. write stuff down by hand into a notebook. The movement of your hand and the pen helps to memorize the new stuff. plus if you open the notebook the next time you get a short repetition of the past learnings.

2. A technique i use is to remember places in your life. In your mind, place the new knowledede there. So for example every time you pass your neighbors garden gnome you know this garden gnome stands for this piece of knowledge you've learnt back in the day.

3. exercise and keep fit. I once lost 10kg and i was so much more able to learn stuff.

4. accountability, learning alone is hard. do it with someone together

Well for one if I’m interested in learning a topic I try to get a book or two on it, on top of just having online resources.

Then while I learn I write down everything. I write questions, things that I want to remember, planning stuff out, notes about everything I’m learning.

I have a bunch of small little notebooks that I write stuff down and it’s been very helpful personally, and my notes have come in handy on multiple occasions as a reference

And after that I just practice a lot, and use the stuff I’m learning about in a project or two to really grasp it.

In my personal case, I just go straight to the problem. If its a new language, I try writing some simple programs to force me to learn the language. If its a framework or library I just write simple code too. lol By writing code in something that I don't know; Forces me to learn by practicing. Because reading documents at first will just go straight to the garbage collector of my brain lol.

I have been searching for the best learning method for a few years and here's what works best for me (might not work for everyone):

1) Learn the concept first

2) Try it out (try to write a simple example) so you are sure you understand it

3) Write the concept down in some notebook (notion, evernote..) as if you were trying to teach someone else who doesn't know anyting about it. Like a tutorial.

4) Try to recall it next day (without peeking into notes)

5) Validate with the notebook if you were able to recall everything

6) Repeat steps 4 and 5 next day, then after 2 days then after 4 days (spaced repetition technique).

It may look tedious and slow, but I found out that in a long run I learn more that way, I don't forget it and it's not shallow learning.

Thanks a lot guys! I’ll be trying every advice this week! :) I appreciate the wisdom