> - I try to connect the thing I'm learning right now with things that I've already learned That's a big one. You're right on target. Personally, I try to foc

> - I try to connect the thing I'm learning right now with things that I've already learned That's a big one. You're right on target. Personally, I try to focus on cross domain topics and heuristics. Like Sturgeon's law, The 80:20 rule, exponential growth, KISS, etc... If you're asking about raw memorization I'm sure there's a physical limit to the ratio of usefulness to depth of data. And don't forget about The Dunning–Kruger effect and the fact that lots of people get stuff done without knowing how to do it at the outset. But that's only if you're learning to do rather than learning to learn.