How do you learn effectively with a short attention span?

- Introduce a constraint: introduce a deadline, or unplug your laptop from the charger and do the work only on the laptop's charge (the urgency you get from this is amazing as you're up against the battery as its charge depletes), or disconnect from the internet and do the work only with the resources at your disposal: This is great because you don't have necessarily access to resources to "look up the best way to do something" and it pushes you to do the first draft of things (prototype, proof of concept, draft of a document) and not start editing before the first draft and getting lost. You can't get lost in Wikipedia's links because you simply are not online.

- Break down work into units, do one unit at a time: break out a book into chapters for example, and read one chapter at a time.

- Reduce the size of the unit of work: if you broke down the work into units (book into chapters) but still could not manage, then your unit is not a chapter, but it's a section. If you're still unable to do that, break it into a darn paragraph and just do one paragraph in each setting, but finish the unit, however small it is. You're not reading a book, you're reading this paragraph and it is the most important thing right now.

- Vow not to leave until you finish a unit of work: it takes you two hours to read a paragraph? I guess you're staying two hours, then.

- Select the day after's work the day before, or commit to do this thing and only this thing this hour (for example: during this hour, I will read and finish this article and that is the only thing I will do and nothing else). In other words, earmark specific time slots to specific work, even if you're freestyling and earmarking this next hour, to this arbitrary thing.

Get tested for adult ADHD. Apparently a lot of people have it, at least that I've seen on HN.

What worked for me was to create as much space as possible for those bursts of inspiration. Following them tends to pay off, perhaps more so than pure grit.

I run a website. I have to work, but I never have to work right now. If I wake up with an idea, I can pursue it and I still get paid. I end up learning a ton from these side projects, so this approach works great for me.

Coffee helps staying on track, but it works even if you're on the wrong track. Some people had good results with meds, but they just felt like a really strong coffee with a side of evening depression.

Turning off distractions help. I turned off most notifications. I use ad blockers to hide feeds and useless notification badges. I aggressively filter incoming email. I get sidetracked really easily, so I'm working hard on preventing it.

When it comes to reading, atmosphere helps. A cup of tea, a reading chair and a blanket work wonders. If that doesn't work, go to a separate environment like a cafe or a park.

Meetings are harder. Taking notes helps a lot. Leading the meeting also helps, when I can.

The comments are already good, what I would add to them would be to write notes as you go through the book or lesson of whatever form.

Translating from one media to another puts your information in gear because you have to synthesize or filter it even a little because you won’t likely be able to grab everything.

Of course you will wonder what’s important wonder about the sideline thought you might be distracted by… write them all down and take notes as much as possible, it’s an exercise. You’ll get better.

I think much of what people feel with regard to learning and focus and adhd-sorts of things is comparative. This is more of a personal take for myself, but comparison is really eroding. Get better at what matters to you. Think about where you want to end up and measure what it takes to get there, build the skills necessary, and value the things necessary to get there.

Add accountability to that mix, tell someone what you’re having a hard time with and ask them to help you and check in on you or find someone also working toward something similar and share success tips

I gave up on efficient learning, accepting instead that when the burst of intense interest comes, I cannot help but learn, and make the best out of that experience.

For me, my best bet is to actively avoid forcing myself to learn, especially if it's a subject I think interesting, I wait until my brain reaches some critical threshold and the process begins.

Try audiobooks on the subject if available