
Ask HN: How do you go about learning new stuff? - udayj
When starting to learn something new, I often look for books, courses, guides or how-to&#x27;s on the topic - on google, HN, reddit etc. - even directly asking knowledgeable people. What does the community here do in this situation to find learning resources.
======
geezerjay
The procedure I usually follow then tackling a new subject isn't a one-shot
approach but an iterative process. The process consists of the following
steps:

1\. survey key topics that represent either basic aspects of the subject of
interest that are required to understand it or have important practical uses

2\. organize these key topics as a project by breaking them down into
individual tasks based on interdependencies and key productivity goals (i.e.,
I want to be able to do something and add a skill to my technical tool belt)

3\. compile a list of reading material that cover the key topics

4\. while reading on each topic, write a monograph of sorts on the subject.
The monograph is intended to help you track the progress, evaluate what I know
and don't know, synthesize what you do know and refresh your memory
(particularly useful if it's a medium/long-term project), and help understand
where to guide the learning project to better reach milestones and mitigate
potential shortcomings.

Step 1 and 2 are updated based on what I've covered in the monograph. The
monograph is updated as I progress, and If I didn't added the monograph then
it's as if I didn't covered the topic yet.

------
pynerds
The easiest process to learn anything quickly. 1\. Choose a specific skill
that you find useful and that intrigues you. 2\. Break down the skills into
basic, practical steps, find the most important steps to practice first. 3\.
Gather up books, videos, articles and podcasts related to your skill. Find out
somebody who is already expert at the skill you want to learn and get help
from him. 4\. Deliberate practice will always result in improvements. Stop
reading. Start doing. The more you practice, the faster you learn. 5\. Set a
deadline. 6\. Don’t multitask at all.Turn off any kind of distractions. 7\.
Get feedback instantly to know what success looks like quickly.

------
elviejo
I try to find a couple of books on the topic. I filter them mostly based on
Amazon reviews.

Then start reading. I also look for talks on the topic and watch and repeat
them at random.

Finally I have a pretty strict schedule to do that from 6am to 8 am.

This chunk of time is for me.

------
bemmu
I've found that nowadays just Googling for appropriate tutorials can be just
as good as reading an O'Reilly book. Text tutorials are the fastest, but when
you get stuck it can help to watch a YouTube tutorial around where you get
stuck. Especially useful for anything which involves having to click on stuff
in a UI (for example when learning Interface Builder).

