“When reading Model Theory, I was only able to convert 30-50% of my allotted “study time” into actual study.”
I’m interpreting this as “I would schedule study time, sit down and have time free and everything, but I just wouldn’t be able to study for the whole time”, but it could be read as you not being able to study due to external factors....
Anyway, if my interpretation was correct, are you talking about losing focus and taking breaks, or being distracted by other things, or what?
losing focus and taking breaks, or being distracted by other things
Yeah, pretty much.
I guess my study technique merits description. For one thing, I’ve never had luck forcing myself to read something: if I don’t want to, I don’t. If I really need to learn something that sounds boring, I spend my efforts convincing myself that it’s interesting (or finding an alternative method of learning it) rather than forcing myself to read. I don’t seem to absorb information well when I force it upon myself. In part, the problem was that I found my impulses vetoing model theory more frequently than they vetoed other subjects in the past.
Also, there’s this phenomenon (that I’ve never tried to articulate before) where when I first glimpse a surprising / difficult concept that looks like it’s going to take some time to untangle / conflict with my existing model, I sort of… eject. Ideally, I then stare off into space / scribble on my whiteboard / meditate, as necessary. Realistically, I often end up reading fiction / dealing with email for a time before I can convince myself to attack the issue head-on.
I found that with model theory, I ended up spending more time in the “realistic” branch than usual.
Note that there are many confounding factors here; this could be related to enjoying the fiction I was reading more than usual / having more email than usual / having more “woah” moments than usual, etc. -- as I said, I don’t have sufficient data to draw conclusions. Right now, I can only note that of the hours I allotted, I managed to spend less than half actually reading the damn book (which is less than usual).
Also, there’s this phenomenon (that I’ve never tried to articulate before) where when I first glimpse a surprising / difficult concept that looks like it’s going to take some time to untangle / conflict with my existing model, I sort of… eject. Ideally, I then stare off into space / scribble on my whiteboard / meditate, as necessary. Realistically, I often end up reading fiction / dealing with email for a time before I can convince myself to attack the issue head-on.
I tend to interpret this as my subconscious needing time to process it, and I can occupy my conscious mind lots of ways without issue. I don’t have a good way to test what the boundary between things that don’t cause trouble to the processing and things that do, though. (I’m pretty sure emails are about as good as meditation, don’t know if scribbling is helpful, but strongly suspect that video games are unhelpful.)
Nope. I’m not sure that would be helpful. Like Vaniver, I suspect that this has to do with my subconscious needing time to absorb a new concept. I don’t expect a time management technique to be useful.
“When reading Model Theory, I was only able to convert 30-50% of my allotted “study time” into actual study.”
I’m interpreting this as “I would schedule study time, sit down and have time free and everything, but I just wouldn’t be able to study for the whole time”, but it could be read as you not being able to study due to external factors....
Anyway, if my interpretation was correct, are you talking about losing focus and taking breaks, or being distracted by other things, or what?
Yeah, pretty much.
I guess my study technique merits description. For one thing, I’ve never had luck forcing myself to read something: if I don’t want to, I don’t. If I really need to learn something that sounds boring, I spend my efforts convincing myself that it’s interesting (or finding an alternative method of learning it) rather than forcing myself to read. I don’t seem to absorb information well when I force it upon myself. In part, the problem was that I found my impulses vetoing model theory more frequently than they vetoed other subjects in the past.
Also, there’s this phenomenon (that I’ve never tried to articulate before) where when I first glimpse a surprising / difficult concept that looks like it’s going to take some time to untangle / conflict with my existing model, I sort of… eject. Ideally, I then stare off into space / scribble on my whiteboard / meditate, as necessary. Realistically, I often end up reading fiction / dealing with email for a time before I can convince myself to attack the issue head-on.
I found that with model theory, I ended up spending more time in the “realistic” branch than usual.
Note that there are many confounding factors here; this could be related to enjoying the fiction I was reading more than usual / having more email than usual / having more “woah” moments than usual, etc. -- as I said, I don’t have sufficient data to draw conclusions. Right now, I can only note that of the hours I allotted, I managed to spend less than half actually reading the damn book (which is less than usual).
I tend to interpret this as my subconscious needing time to process it, and I can occupy my conscious mind lots of ways without issue. I don’t have a good way to test what the boundary between things that don’t cause trouble to the processing and things that do, though. (I’m pretty sure emails are about as good as meditation, don’t know if scribbling is helpful, but strongly suspect that video games are unhelpful.)
Do you ever study with pomodoros, and if so does that affect whether or how often you eject?
Nope. I’m not sure that would be helpful. Like Vaniver, I suspect that this has to do with my subconscious needing time to absorb a new concept. I don’t expect a time management technique to be useful.
Thanks, that’s really helpful, and exactly what I was asking about.