Efficient ways to study

How to study various topics in just eight or 11 hours? I am studying something I should have studied before, so I would like to master it in the fastest way possible, but I am having trouble taking a long time doing something simple, e.g. reading a fragment or writing this post, and sometimes I think that I can learn more in this period, even if I did not waste time. All the sites I searched for recommended things like the pomodoro technique or writing or reading out loud, but the pomodoro technique obviously is not what i want, since it requires to stop studying for a relatively long time, (I preffer taking short pauses whenever I want) and I can remember well what I have read.

The wise old Master says: you gain mastery through time, patience, effort, and dedication, you fuarrrking idiot; there's no shortcuts for lazy sots of your sort.

Basic mistake to avoid: dont nolive studying. Just like any other training form you need to rest regularly to overall increase efficiency. I dont remember the optimal breakdown but its akin to gym where you should do frequent rest periods after every training set. Something like the often proposed 15min break every hour. Now depending on yourself it might be necessary to do it more frequent shorter breaks or you can power through 2-4h without a break. Regardless of how it is you need to find your optimal routine.

>>29379 I don't know if you're familiar, but there's a guy who wrote a book called The First 20 Hours. I haven't personally read it, but the guy also had a Tedtalk where he elaborated more on how to pull it off. Basically, if I recall correct, it boiled down to knowing what you want to learn, and then breaking it down to manageable portions for you to learn/"chunk" into long-term memory or muscle memory. This is also related to what another self-help book (Atomic Habits) basically espouses, and which has also received a lot of appraise. But I suppose it depends to a great extent on whatever it is that you're trying to study. If it's something that you need to understand, then mind mapping or explaining it to someone might help. If it's something to memorize, then there are some techniques to that as well, which you only need to google to find out. If it's a skill you need to learn, then I guess repetition is your friend. >All the sites I searched for recommended things like the pomodoro technique or writing or reading out loud, but the pomodoro technique obviously is not what i want, since it requires to stop studying for a relatively long time, (I preffer taking short pauses whenever I want) and I can remember well what I have read. >(I preffer taking short pauses whenever I want) Essentially, I think herein lies the root of your problems. It might be a "whatever works for you/me/that guy" kind of issue, but, in my experience, if I submit to this "hedonist" mentality, I'm just setting myself up for failure. It next to never works, no matter how much rationalizations or many tries I give it. The only pursuit it "works" for is painting/drawing, but since I'm not doing it for publicity, money or anything such, there is no need for me to push myself to do anything - I can wait for "inspiration" when it strikes, alas, it comes rarely, so I rarely finish anything (most of the "professionals" whom I've watched on Youtube say the same, namely that if you're waiting for inspiration, then you can say goodbye to your dream as an artist). The "secret hack" to anything is basically what >>29380 said, although I'd give much more emphasis on effort (or: to the act of "conscious exertion of power and/of thought"; keyword here being 'conscious') in whatever you're trying to master. Know wherever/whatever you're aiming at, push yourself into that direction and do this consistently. Then there's only the question of "where do I get the energy to do this all?" left to answer. I am of the opinion that some people are just naturally inclined to have some superhuman quantities of energy, but since nobody who is "brilliant" (and thus likely successful) lurks on imageboards, it is safe to assume that we are dealing with people with limited pool of energy, and so different rules apply. I think this >>29383 is the core "philosophy" to abide by here, but I'd supplement it with the exhortation "know yourself", namely your limits and strengths etc. and gaining some kind of balance between your wants (learning to do something well, for instance) and needs (if you're extroverted, you'll only frustrate yourself (in terms of achieving your goals) if you think you can manage half a year of nothing but writing in social isolation). It's only a matter of knowing what works for yourself and then keeping at it until the habit(s) stick, and you start making visible progress. pic related But yeah, since I know nothing about anything, I suggest you take everything I wrote above with a grain of salt.

>>29386 >Essentially, I think herein lies the root of your problems. Just to clarify, I think you shouldn't always do things the way or the moment you want to. Pomodoro helps me manage when I need to do some task (like reading) for a long duration. I stick with the 25min/2-5min rhythm, but for some a 45min stretch and 5-10min pause might be more suitable. It depends. Try different things until you discover what best works for you. Since I mostly struggle with motivation instead of stamina, I have to engage in different mental/behavioural tricks than someone who has the opposite problem. Know yourself and put some effort into your work. That's all there basically is to it. >>29379 >so I would like to master it in the fastest way possible, but I am having trouble taking a long time doing something simple, e.g. reading a fragment or writing this post Maybe you should start by identifying whether it is you being unfamiliar with reading as an activity as a whole or merely the style of the text you're reading or the topics/concepts you're studying that are troubling you the most. From there you are sure to know how to tackle the problem of the topic and/or the issues you've encountered in your studying methods/habits/practices.

>>29379 Get full 8 hours of sleep. Otherwise you forget everything and your brain won't work.

>>29380 Just to make it clear, if it was not clear before: I do not want shortcuts, I want techniques to study more in less time. >>29383 >Basic mistake to avoid: dont nolive studying. I do not. I still take pauses, but it seems that the problem is not in the pauses. >>29386 >>29387 What I do not like in the pomodoro technique is that one have to take relatively long pauses, while I can take short pauses and still continue studying. But now that I started to think, the problem besides the pauses might be lack of pauses. I will try to use the pomodoro technique tomorrow.

I am also interested in any advice in this regard

>>29400 >I am also interested in any advice in this regard You are going to need to be a bit more specific. In what regarid would that be, exactly?

>>29388 >Get full 8 hours of sleep getting that much sleep ruins my days. Find the right amount of sleep for you and don't over (or under) do it. Maybe its 8. Maybe its 5. Personal / anecdotal experience I've been exposed to suggests the average sweet spot is about 5-6, with some outliers.

>>29401 >You are going to need to be a bit more specific. In what regarid would that be, exactly? As OP asked, how do we optimize learning. I would like to know what works best for others. I have tried following a modified pomodoro technique when I have time. For a 3h.45min session: 30m study 15min rest 60m study 30min rest 90min study Ive also experimented with alternating subjects 1h subject1 30min rest 1h subject2 30min rest

>>29404 Your idea implies you get exponential attention span growth in a single session which is impossible imo. What i find more reasonable is start with short intervals and lengthem them over time. So you if you trained yourself into adhd start with 20min 5min rest and maybe over ~2months extend it to hour long intervals. Ive read on various source also that rest period doenst have to be long to be sufficient. You dont need to get distracted for half a hour with something else. 5-15min is plenty. 5min especially when your session length is only 30min.

>>29391 The old Master nods and smiles: "these things are one and the same".

You have to learn to induce intense focus. Most important is to reduce distractions to nothing, and resolve not to think about things besides your studies. Eventually even breaks become very productive as you become immersed in the subject. Remember to eat and drink!

If you need fancy study techniques and gizmos then it's not the subject matter you should be going for. Don't force yourself. Instead, study those subjects you already could study for 8 hours straight with no effort. Enjoy.

>>29425 I guess OP's idea is to discuss how could we maximize our potential attention span and study effectively in something that we are deeply interested in but we can't devote so much time due to other reasons

>>29422 What works for me is just to simply sit down and start reading/studying using the mental hack that 'I will only sit down for 5minutes' and then 5 mins become an hour. However, there are days that it doesn't work. Perhaps keeping mind occupied with different topics. mobile phones and search engines have made me stupidier; it is hard to give up such convenience though