Ultralearning by Scott Young

Learning is a skill. You get better at it over time.
Reading hypnosis is when one is pantomiming the act of reading while their mind is elsewhere.
It may be useful to find crutch mechanics to deal with procrastination (Also see humanize, organize, mechanize).
It may feel more productive to ‘work’ while listening to music. But is it really more productive? One should test with data.
Scott Young outlines several tactics for the third principle (directness).
Project-Based: Setting production of some end product as a goal (e.g. programming by making your own video game, woodworking by making an ornament).
Immersive: Modifying your environment to force yourself to learn (e.g. learning a language by visiting a country, joining open-source projects).
Simulation: Simulating an environment for the needed cognitive tasks (e.g. flight simulators, air traffic control simulators).
- What is important here is that the simulation is a good representative of the actual task’s decision making process. Sounds and graphics of a simulator are not important unless they affect this.
Overkill: Setting goals are doing things that are likely to be above your skill level (e.g. taking an exam that you probably can’t pass).
Direct practice should come prior to drills.
Direct and drill practice should cycle. At the start of a new skill direct should be more of the cycle then drilling is. However as you become more competent drills become more important.
Is it possible to make Anki work in a free recall style?
Recall should be attempted before there is not even anything to recall. There is research showing that this leads to strengthening of future learning. Even though there is nothing to recall.
When giving feedback do not give it on the individual. Instead give feedback on what they have created. Of course this only applies if you want to person to benefit from your feedback.
Not all feedback is valuable. Some feedback should be ignored if it does not address the thing you are going for.
Feedback should never register on an emotional level.
Scott Young outlines several types of feedback these are (from least to most valuable):
Outcome Feedback: Feedback that is based on the outcome of an accumulation of efforts (e.g. letter grades).
Information Feedback: This feedback is approximately immediate after something is done (e.g. a computer program crashing, someone laughing at your joke).
Corrective Feedback: Feed back that is informative and also tells you what you did wrong (e.g. step by step solutions in an answer key to a problem set).
Scott Young provides a nice set of things you should research for planning. I modified it for myself. See page 169 for the original.
What will you learn?
How have others before you learned this?
What primary resources will you use?
How will you learn this?
What can you do for direct practice?
What are some extra resources that might be useful?
On what schedule will you do this?
It might be useful to keep a notebook or something of that kind. Text record of thoughts and observations on the project’s success. To read periodically to make iterations.

Metalearning: First Draw a Map. Start by learning how to learn the subject or skill you want to tackle. Discover how to do good research and how to draw on your past competencies to learn new skills more easily.

Focus: Sharpen Your Knife. Cultivate the ability to concentrate. Carve out chunks of time when you can focus on learning, and make it easy to just do it.

Directness: Go Straight Ahead. Learn by doing the thing you want to become good at. Don’t trade it of for other tasks, just because those are more convenient or comfortable.

Drill: Attack Your Weakest Point. Be ruthless in improving your weakest points. Break down complex skills into small parts; then master those parts and build them back together again.

Retrieval: Test to Learn. Testing isn’t simply a way of assessing knowledge but a way of creating it. Test yourself before you feel confident, and push yourself to actively recall information rather than passively review it.

Feedback: Don’t Dodge the Punches. Feedback is harsh and uncomfortable. Know how to use it without letting your ego get in the way. Extract the signal from the noise, so you know what to pay attention to and what to ignore.

Retention: Don’t Fill a Leaky Bucket. Understand what you forget and why. Learn to remember things not just for now but forever.

Intuition: Dig Deep Before Building Up. Develop your intuition through play and exploration of concepts and skills. Understand how understanding works, and don’t recourse to cheap tricks of memorization to avoid deeply knowing things.

Experimentation: Explore Outside Your Comfort Zone. All of these principles are only starting points. True mastery comes not just from following the path trodden by others but from exploring possibilities they haven’t yet imagined.

~ Scott Young, Ultralearning