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> This is extremely frustrating, because it feels like I'm wasting my time by learning something, only to forget it within a few months. I really identify with
by type-r 4y ago
> This is extremely frustrating, because it feels like I'm wasting my time by learning something, only to forget it within a few months.
I really identify with this feeling. For a time, this meant that I put the minimum effort into studies to get decent grades and completely stopped learning on my own. Thankfully, soon enough I found Anki [0] and everything changed.
Through using the app ~daily for over 7 years now, I have a much better idea of how my memory works. It doesn't mean that I never forget anything (even things in Anki will decay if not engaged with), but it makes memory more of a choice rather than something that will automatically aggressively fade.
I'd recommend trying it out for 2-3 weeks and seeing if you like it. Using a shared deck that someone has already put together for something that you're already interested in is a great way to start. For me, that was geography [1].
[0] https://apps.ankiweb.net/ https://apps.ankiweb.net/
[1] https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2109889812 https://ankiweb.net/shared/info/2109889812
- drakonka 4y agoI recently did a lightning talk at our eng all-hands about this very thing: how I am quick to learn things, but also quick to forget them after I stop using them regularly. And forgetting things I'm not using is totally fine in my opinion, but I wanted more control over what and when that is. I am also using Anki to help myself with this issue, and so far it's working (although I still need to build a better habit of doing it daily instead of every other day, I still slip sometimes). The post that inspired me to try it was this one[0]. What got me excited is that it talked about not just using Anki to remember things I already know, but as a tool to learn new complex topics from scratch. [0] http://augmentingcognition.com/ltm.html http://augmentingcognition.com/ltm.html