How to Learn to Learn Again

Question

I often find myself instinctively seeking immediate solutions whenever I encounter a new challenge or problem. Whether it's using immediately Google, ChatGPT, or reaching out to colleagues for assistance, convenience seems to take precedence over effort in my approach. Interestingly, during my teenage years in the early 2010s, I consciously avoided smartphones and social media, but since embracing them during my bachelor's and master's degrees, I've noticed a decline in my attention span and willpower, a trend that seems to be much sharper than the expected one. Even though being able to frame questions effectively and identifying appropriate sources for help are valuable skills, I fear that I've become reliant on quick fixes, neglecting the effort required to acquire deeper knowledge and skills that aren't readily available.Even in activities I enjoy, such as playing the guitar, I tend to lean heavily on tabs or chords rather than trying to improve my ear and understanding of music theory.Approaching my 30s, I'm determined to break free from this perceived dependency on instant solutions. I know that knowledge and understanding come through challenges and effort. I am stuck to quick dopamine hits.Has anyone else had a similar experience?

proc0 · Accepted Answer

Do you have overall objectives and goals for the learning? If you set yourself an end goal, the learning is automatic. For example with martial arts, the goal was getting to black belt, and then possibly winning tournaments. Martial arts and fighting is a really good analogy because it is very simple. The instinct to win is more than enough to get you to train and drill the same things over and over again. The same can be for anything else. If the end goal isn't there or is motivating enough, the learning can be a drag.There is a meta to learning (meta is a term used in gaming for winning strategies that can be learned outside of the game itself). After a while I think learning anything becomes easier, there is only a finite amount of knowledge in the world and it has a regular structure. Whether it's math, music, sports, or whatever, at first you learn the tactics, then you learn the "map" of the territory, then you start moving along this territory while updating the "map" until you get to your desired destination. What I'm trying to say is that at some point you don't even need to learn something, it becomes somewhat pointless unless you have an end goal, It is enough to learn the map and have the major milestones on there in case you need to go there in the future.