Learning To Learn [Efficient Learning]: Personal Implementation In Web Development

Hello Fellow Codenewbies 👋

“You learn at your best when you have something you care about and can get pleasure in being engaged in.”

-- Howard Gardner

This post is my own personal web development learning method review as a self-taught and what I need to improve.

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The Personal Implementation by A Self-Taught

I finished Learning to Learn [Efficient Learning]: Zero to Mastery a week ago and wrote a series of articles about the topic.

It's an eye-opener for me on how I could improve my learning to be more effective as a self-taught web developer.
And it adds to my knowledge that there are sciences behind learning.

Now I decided to review my current learning methods and see where I need to improve.

What I Need To Carry On

• Pomodoro Technique

  I've been using this technique for quite some time, and I have found many advantages.
  I get more focused and productive by allowing myself to be in focus and diffuse mode. My back pain gets better, and my eyes are not quickly getting tired. It's all because I allow myself to be away for 5 minutes from my desk, do some stretches & not forget to take some drink between sessions.

• Productivity Time

  I am not a morning person, but also not a night owl.
  I realize that I am in between.
  My most productive time is between 9.30 AM and 3 PM.

  But as a stay home mom, those hours are the peak hours at the house. So I have to find another productive time.
  Then I come with a time when everybody in my house already sleeps. I found this time slot is much better than super early in the morning.
  10 or 11 PM until 12 or 1 AM is another productive time of mine in the day.
  It's not much, but I can be super focused in that time zone.

• Choice

  For me, learning web development is a choice.
  As weird as it sounds, learning to create something and solve problems is very therapeutic. It is also becoming my me-time in a day.
  And that's been said, it's one of my happiness factors.

• Feynman Technique

  I recently implemented it by explaining things I learned through blog posts.
  I know there's still plenty of room for improvement 🙂.

• Community And Feedback

  I start with being more active on Twitter to log my learning and engage with people in the web development field.

  A few years ago, I found my first circle of community, Moms Can Code (European timezone).
  And recently found my very supportive community, Virtual Coffee.
  I'm blessed that I found these communities ❤.

  My communities (which are more like a family to me) are the best support system in my learning journey.
  The place where I feel safe, where I can get support, feedback, and help as I need it.
  The place where I can also contribute with what I can give, where I feel useful to others.
  It has become one of my intrinsic motivations for learning.

• Habit & Creating A System

  I make it a habit that when I dedicate myself to learning, I will take my notebook and pen, sit in front of my laptop, and play one favorite song of the day on the media player to boost my mood before doing anything else.
  This triggers me to start learning.
  There are times that I learn for less than 2 hours. But even only learning 1 or 2 lessons, I always do my best to learn something and move forward.

  I also do the #100DaysofCode challenge on Twitter to keep my learning habit.

  Of course, there are times when I break my habit for some time because life comes in between, or simply because I surrender to procrastination instead 🙈

• The Power of The Senses

  I am a conservative person.
  I always take physical notes with a notebook and a pen when I learn.
  Though I haven't found any answer, I somehow feel familiar when I encounter a problem in a topic from taking physical notes.
  The course answered why I feel that way.
  Evoking our senses in learning is very important because we form strong neuron connections in our brains.

• Parkinson's Law

  I usually break my learnings into small chunks, create short goals (deadlines), and do not cram many things daily.

What To Improve

• Procrastination

  Even though I've built my habit of learning, there are still times when I surrender to procrastination.
  And when it comes, I tend to procrastinate for days.
  I need to improve this for sure 😁.

• Goal's Deadline

  I have a goal about where I want to be by learning web development.
  But one thing that I haven't done is set up a goal of when I will be there.
  I need to sit down and set realistic and achievable goals deadlines based on the S.M.A.R.T. method.

• Stop Comparing

  I sometimes compare myself to others, especially those who start learning at the same time as me, and they are now way further ahead of me. It does give me the imposter syndrome.

  Comparing steals the joy.

  I need to put on the beginner's mindset more, stop comparing myself to others, and remind myself (again) that everyone's journey is different.

• Create Roadmap & Pareto Principles

  Some courses actually have a structured roadmap for us to follow.
  But I tend to look around and try something new and not really stick to the roadmap 😅.
  Recently I have been sticking to what I really need to learn.
  I also need to improve myself in applying the Pareto Principles. For now, I should be more focused on things that I should learn and eliminate the not-too-important ones to achieve a more significant result.

• Method of Loci

  There are times when I have a hard time understanding a concept or a flow.
  Now I know about the Method of Loci, I will learn to implement this in my learning.

• Deliberate Practice

  Whenever I push myself to the limit, sometimes I experience burnout which leads me to procrastinate. However, I notice and even feel surprised that every time I apply this practice, I can do something that I thought I couldn't do.
  I need to implement this practice more often.

Closing

How about you?
Is your learning so far efficient enough, and what will you improve if there is any?

Hopefully, this post can inspire you to review and improve your current learning methods, too 😊.

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Thank you for reading!
Last but not least, you can find me on Twitter. Let's connect! 😊

Comments

[Brandon Damue]

Self reflection and review is a really good way for self improvement in any career especially in tech careers. Knowing your weaknesses and strength is very important when seeking growth. The methods(systems) I am implementing in learning thanks to the Book Atomic Habits is I try to make learning easy, attractive and satisfying. Procrastination is one of the biggest obstacles on our roads to success and as the saying goes, "You are only as good as your worst days", I try to show up and learn something even when I don't feel like it. Keep working and learning.

[Ayu Adiati]

Great advice, Brandon 😀