Look at it this way. Let's say you're interested in, Machine Learning, Embedded Programming and VR, but you know nothing of any of them. Really it goes beyond

Look at it this way. Let's say you're interested in, Machine Learning, Embedded Programming and VR, but you know nothing of any of them. Really it goes beyond interest, we're not merely interested, we want outcomes. In 6 months time, I want to be able to make a nice computer vision project etc. Let's say your estimates for how long each subtopic takes are 100% correct. A subtopic in itself, however, may not be very useful. It may be that you need to study perhaps 5 or 6 subtopics consecutively to be able to actually make something, or do something, or properly reason about something. Then we split your focus over three major topics - given that it takes 5 or 6 subtopics to do something useful, you find yourself in a position where you're doing quite a bit of time management, quite a lot of studying, but you're not actually able to do anything for a long time. That knowledge you're building is just there, not actually useful or satisfying. With this kind of self study, it's a bit like dieting or exercise. If you don't enjoy it, eventually, you'll stop. It might not be tomorrow, it might not be next week, but eventually, people will tend to just drop it if it's not satisfying. Learning is hard, but I don't think it's hard in the way that topics are complex, I think it's hard emotionally, because it's kind of tough being 'not good' at something, especially if you're good at similar things. It only gets harder the longer you sit in that 'not good' zone and splitting your focus forces you to sit in that zone for longer. That said, sometimes you're in a situation where having the ideal level of focus isn't possible - I certainly am in that situation. In which case, prioritisation helps manage learning. But at least one of the learning projects has to be progressing quickly, for me.