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Constraint, emotion and time.

Over the years, this is I have found that worked best for me, but it is not fast. :-|

Constraint/limitation/dogfooding: Replace any convenient tool, service, etc with what you are trying to learn.

Specific skill: Feel comfortable in a terminal

Example: Use Word or Excel? Replace with unix text coreutils, vim/emacs and/or perl/py library. When limitation is imposed, things get more concrete, less abstract and easier to process. Step by step self-enforced incremental challenges that layer atop one another. Chunk, Chunker, Chunking!

Emotion/motivation: What do you really want to learn that is so important? Things I really wanted to know add emotional salience. I was invested intrinsically, not for external gain. The more motivated I am and USE what I learn, made/makes the next learning step/challenge easier. I think this is underestimated. Otherwise what is the point? If you are compelled externally (such as a job) see the Constraint step above. Make notes (learning) yours: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-learning-secret... Specific skill: Learn Jira Example: FTS! Use other tools that you enjoy more, ie VimWiki or another DIY issue tracker that maps to Jira fields then transfer to satisfy external demand.

Time: This is the glue that binds the above of constrain/limitation and emotion/motivation. The only discovery here is that we have more time that we think/waste we have. Small caches of time really do add up. I think the Duolingo IPO is onto something ;-)



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