4 ms·

I would push back on this. What is the goal here? If thr goal is to master the skill, then it takes as long as it takes and there shouldn't be a deadline. If

I would push back on this. What is the goal here? If thr goal is to master the skill, then it takes as long as it takes and there shouldn't be a deadline. If you need to pick this skill up in order to accomplish a certain task, then mastery isn't what's required. This is a challenge we face regularly as software engineers. There is an art in deciding which rabbit holes to plunge down and which to step over. My process for doing so is roughly to survey the field in a broad and shallow manner to understand the context, evaluate what parts of it are most relevant to the matter at hand, and then study them in depth. But try to keep it tethered to the task you set out to accomplish. The minimum amount of information you'll need to capture is probably still a lot, so don't put more on your plate than you can eat.

jstummbillig 3y ago
Meh-ish. The goal is always on a gradient. It's entirely reasonable to look for the best way to "approach mastering a skill" on a deadline, because there is at least one deadline, and in reality there's always more.
- maxbond 3y ago
  My experience has been when I try to master a skill as fast as possible, I burn myself out and slow myself down. Slow is steady and steady is fast. It feels paradoxical but, at least in my experience, it just is what it is.
  - jstummbillig 3y ago
    No doubt, but somewhere between here and you dieing, I would assume that you semi-continuously revisit the progress per time and effort you put in and what you are getting out of it (maybe not so explicitly), and reconsider if "mastery" of that topic and as by your rules, is still a reasonable and worthwhile goal? Either you never change your mind on what you master, or there is a implicit process by which it is changed, and I would be very surprised to learn that time/effort/progress do not play a role in that calculation.
    - maxbond 3y ago
      Not really. I'm not fussed about leaving things unfinished when I die. A few years ago I was deeply struck by an image of the late Grant Imahara's workbench [1]. It was cluttered with tools, notes, and unfinished business. That's what I expect my desk to look like when I die, too. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23830450 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23830450
      - jstummbillig 3y ago
        I like that.
ezequiel-garzon 3y ago
"There is an art in deciding which rabbit holes to plunge down and which to step over." Saved, bookmarked, framed.

jstummbillig 3y ago

Meh-ish. The goal is always on a gradient. It's entirely reasonable to look for the best way to "approach mastering a skill" on a deadline, because there is at least one deadline, and in reality there's always more.

maxbond 3y ago
My experience has been when I try to master a skill as fast as possible, I burn myself out and slow myself down. Slow is steady and steady is fast. It feels paradoxical but, at least in my experience, it just is what it is.
- jstummbillig 3y ago
  No doubt, but somewhere between here and you dieing, I would assume that you semi-continuously revisit the progress per time and effort you put in and what you are getting out of it (maybe not so explicitly), and reconsider if "mastery" of that topic and as by your rules, is still a reasonable and worthwhile goal? Either you never change your mind on what you master, or there is a implicit process by which it is changed, and I would be very surprised to learn that time/effort/progress do not play a role in that calculation.
  - maxbond 3y ago
    Not really. I'm not fussed about leaving things unfinished when I die. A few years ago I was deeply struck by an image of the late Grant Imahara's workbench [1]. It was cluttered with tools, notes, and unfinished business. That's what I expect my desk to look like when I die, too. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23830450 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23830450
    - jstummbillig 3y ago
      I like that.

ezequiel-garzon 3y ago

"There is an art in deciding which rabbit holes to plunge down and which to step over." Saved, bookmarked, framed.