
Ask HN: Why is learning so painful? - WheelsAtLarge
Most people find it hard to reach their full potential because we hate to learn something new. For most of us it takes some grit to spend the time and energy to learn something. Even now, when it&#x27;s easier than ever to find and learn new stuff. Yet we can spend time doing the same thing over and over like an endless loop. Even if it&#x27;s to our detriment.<p>Why is that? And how can we make it easier to learn? What helps?
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dalke
First, a couple objections to your phrasing.

I dislike the term 'reach their full potential'. That would require
precognition. Perhaps you _do_ study topic X, but your full potential would
have been better reached by going for a walk, where you ended up meeting a
group of like-minded people who support and challenge each other to do better.
(For that matter, there are many worthy paths in life. You can't take all of
them, so will never reach your 'full potential'. Perhaps I could have been a
great figure skater, had I tried, so I'll now never reach my full potential.)

I also dislike the term 'grit', because it has so many meanings. It's often
interpreted needing an internal quality of perseverance and resilience. But
what's also important is external support. This could include teachers or
trainers, but also a community which doesn't resort to "LOL, N00B - RTFM!"
when someone comes with a beginner question.

Most people don't like feeling ignorant. Even fewer like it when others
highlight that ignorance. As a personal example, years back I went to buy a
new iPod and brought in my old one for a trade-in. The Apple store staff
pointed out it was an old model "is it 3rd generation"? I had no clue, and
didn't like the feeling like I was supposed to know this information.

Now, as to your topic, there's an entire field of learning science. For
example, Greg Wilson, at Software Carpentry, recommends ([http://software-
carpentry.org/blog/2016/09/small-teaching.ht...](http://software-
carpentry.org/blog/2016/09/small-teaching.html) ):

> Elizabeth Green’s Building a Better Teacher changed how I think about
> teaching, and sparked some good discussion in our community. Therese
> Huston’s Teaching What You Don’t Know had a similar impact a few years
> earlier, and now there is James Lang’s Small Teaching. As its title
> suggests, Lang’s book focuses on little things that teachers can do right
> now to improve their teaching, rather than on big, systemic changes that
> might have larger impact, but which require larger effort (and probably buy-
> in from other people). To be included, a practice had to: have some
> foundation in the learning sciences, have been shown to have impact in real-
> world situation, and have been used or observed by the author. ... Frequent
> low-stakes quizzes to prompt recall, interleaving different material, having
> students write a one-minute thesis or draw a concept map, making the
> assessment criteria clear, setting aside time for self-explanation and peer
> explanation—none of these should be new to anyone who has been through our
> instructor training course

Perhaps reading the literature from that field would help more than random HN
commenters? As the Software Carpentry instructor training page points out at
[http://swcarpentry.github.io/instructor-
training/](http://swcarpentry.github.io/instructor-training/) :

> "Over the last hundred years, researchers have discovered an enormous amount
> about how people learn and how best to teach them. Unfortunately, much of
> that knowledge has not yet been translated into common classroom practice,
> while many myths about education have proven remarkably persistent."

It's likely that people here may repeat those same myths.

This also gives you the chance to ask yourself if you want to spend the time
and energy to learn that topic enough to really be able to answer your own
curiosity. And if not, perhaps that same answer can be applied to others?

------
kixpanganiban
> Why is that?

It's because of the mindset. When you consider learning as a chore, it really
does become painful and tedious. However, if you consider learning as a hobby,
it becomes much easier and much more natural. I had this job a few years ago
where I was required to learn a certain programming language whose syntax and
semantics I really disliked. It took me months to fix a problem that I now
deem trivial, and this was because I felt that what I was doing was a chore. A
few weeks ago, I decided to learn a new language, and since I did it after
work right before going to bed as a hobby, the learning part came naturally
and I felt like I was just having fun.

> And how can we make it easier to learn?

That said, it certainly helps if you incentivize your learning process. Answer
these questions: why do you want to learn what you're trying to learn, and
what will you get out of it? If the answers make you happy and excited, then I
think you're already halfway there. Learning is much like going to the gym and
working out: you have to tear those muscles up (a really painful process!) so
they can be rebuilt much bigger. As the old saying goes: "no pain, no gain".
It takes the right mindset and the right goals to truly make learning easier
and more rewarding.

> What helps?

Peer learning! Try to find someone to learn whatever you're trying to learn
with. As a programmer, I can attest to just how much peer learning works. I
usually hang out at the Slack of whatever tool or language I'm trying to learn
and join meetups. It really helps you learn faster when you have someone to
bounce your ideas on.

------
kafkaesq
_Why is that?_

Because it's good for you. The same way walking up stairs or not giving into
every single craving for sweets/alcohol/carbs/cheese/whatever can seem
"painful" if you're out of shape (or in the latter case, metabolically
dependent). Until you get into shape, that is, and walking up the stairs
doesn't hurt anymore. And you realize that all this time (when you were a lazy
bum), it wasn't walking up the stairs, but _not walking up the stairs_ (and
not saying "no" to whatever kind of crap you thought your stomach was
demanding) which was "hurting" you. You just didn't feel it until you shifted
modes.

 _And how can we make it easier to learn? What helps?_

Making a system out of it. Realizing that a long journey always begins with a
few modest steps (and that this isn't just a trite slogan). That for a long
time, you're going to feel confused and inert and like a wannabe and an
imposter before you get much benefit out of it. But you realize that those
aren't signs that you're "failing", those are signs that you're actually
getting somewhere. So you're going to push yourself through it all anyway.

Because it's good for you.

------
coldtea
> _Why is that?_

Because reality?

Might as well ask why it's hard to just go out an dead lift a 500lbs weight.
Obviously because there are physiological limits to what we can do with our
brains and bodies, and unless there's some great enabling technology that
addresses them specifically, they'll remain.

That said, learning is not hard in general. Some things are very easy to learn
(e.g. to bike, to tell the time, to cook spaghetti). Others are hard, because
the subjects are bigger or vast and the knowledge more intricate (e.g. Math,
Medicine).

> _And how can we make it easier to learn? What helps?_

Studying with focus, practice, persistence, actually liking the subject,
starting our study of it from a young age, etc.

Things that have been shown to also help are being in good shape
(exercise+nutrition also help our brain function better), immersive learning
(e.g. when learning a new language, don't just read books and do tests, speak
it with native speakers, watch movies in the language, etc), and some other
stuff and "spaced repetition" (google it).

No magic bullets.

------
kowdermeister
There are many types of learning and it boils down to motivation. If you are
supposed to learn something because you boss told you but you resist because
simply you disagree, then it'll be really hard to learn that thing.

On the other hand, if you have a goal that for example you want to be a
generative artist then you'll have a good time learning about math and various
algorithms. Learning is achieved via repetition and practice, so don't stop at
watching YouTube videos. Put those thing to practice. Rinse a repeat.

If you lack motivation, you could also try various focus boosting drugs, but
don't ask me, I haven't tried any.

