# Ep. 281 — Learning Hard Things  URL:: https://share.snipd.com/episode/0f499e7e-a215-4b3e-b26c-adff08836f4a Author:: Deep Questions with Cal Newport ## Highlights > Episode AI notes > 1. Most people can learn almost anything, but they can't learn everything. Mastery of complex subjects comes from a long process of learning and dedication, not just innate ability. > 2. Deliberate practice involves carefully designed exercises that push understanding to the next level, requiring individuals to stretch past their comfort zone. This practice is not fun or comfortable, but it involves stretching oneself to try to understand and engage in activities carefully designed to move to the next level. > 3. Using a working memory extender such as a text file on a computer desktop can help knowledge workers temporarily hold and organize more information than they can keep in their heads. It allows them to capture and organize information as it comes in, such as during meetings or while going through emails, and provides a durable form outside of one's own brain for holding and organizing information. > 4. Creating an obligation tracker is essential for maintaining all relevant information for every obligation, providing a centralized location to store and categorize tasks. This system allows for capturing and accessing detailed information related to each task, reducing the need to keep track of everything in one's head. > 5. Note taking involves capturing key ideas, interesting articles, brainstorming sessions, and personal concerns, which forms the broad category of what most people think about in note taking. > 6. Separation is key in note taking. It's important not to mix different types of notes together, such as tasks, long-term vision, and grocery lists. Keeping different notes separate helps to keep up with the complexity of modern life. > 7. Consider the incentive structure of creators when choosing between books and YouTube for acquiring information. ([Time 0:00:00](https://share.snipd.com/episode-takeaways/237729c9-c2db-4c8b-bb7b-e32352e0cb7a)) > The Possibility and Limitation of Learning > Summary: > Most people can learn almost anything, but they can't learn everything. Mastery of complex subjects comes from a long process of learning and dedication, not just innate ability. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > I think for the most part, I'm going to argue most people can learn most things. You can learn almost anything. Part two of the reality, and this is the bad news, you can learn almost anything, but you can't learn everything. So I think what is obscured when you encounter people who have mastery of something really complicated, what is obscured is that it took them a really long time to get to that place. We jump ahead and just imagined them a month ago, just picked up the math textbook. I was like, ooh, this just makes sense to me. And then everyone kind of applause and they're really good at math and they're obviously smarter than you. Now there's a long process that we're going to unfold here in a second of how they build up to that expert knowledge. ([Time 0:08:27](https://share.snipd.com/snip/dd90c950-0082-4711-8a47-b541366c8cf2)) > Deliberate practice > Summary: > Deliberate practice involves carefully designed exercises that push understanding to the next level, requiring individuals to stretch past their comfort zone. This practice is not fun or comfortable, but it involves stretching oneself to try to understand and engage in activities carefully designed to move to the next level. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > Now how these steps are actually made. So how does this actually happen here and here and here? So you're going to have to be able to practice carefully designed exercises that push your understanding to the next level in a way that takes you out of what you're already comfortable With. There has to be some strain into that. So in order for this step to be successfully had at each of these levels you have to stretch past where you're comfortable. Right? It's kind of the practice aspect of liver practice. It's not fun. I'm not I'm not comfortable. I don't really understand this thing and I'm stretching myself to try to understand it and the activity you're doing is carefully designed. This is the right next level to actually move up to. That's the deliberate acts, the deliberate piece of deliberate practice. ([Time 0:11:02](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5910c234-afb0-4751-a891-7d2ad5587096)) > Notes as a working memory extender > Summary: > Using a working memory extender such as a text file on a computer desktop can help knowledge workers temporarily hold and organize more information than they can keep in their heads. It allows them to capture and organize information as it comes in, such as during meetings or while going through emails, and provides a durable form outside of one's own brain for holding and organizing information. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > Here are the three types of this note taking that I think are critical, especially for most knowledge workers. One, some sort of working memory extender. This is where I use my text file on my desktop on my computers, workingmemory.txt. This is for strictly expanding the amount of information you can temporarily hold on to as you engage with the inflow of information throughout your workday. As things come in, you're in a meeting and people are suggesting next steps, you can just write this information down in whatever medium you use for your working memory extender because It's probably more information you can keep in your head. There is. I write it down right there. I'm going through my email inbox and I need to remember different notes. I need to act on, schedule this, get back to them. I can write it into my workingmemory.extender. These are notes that exist outside of your own brain, allows you to hold on and organize more information than you could do just strictly within the confines of your own neurons. This is something that resets all the time. It's a durable form, but you reset it all the time. ([Time 0:31:08](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5cb3f28b-7cc8-4450-941a-c280149ca024)) > Note taking for PKM > Summary: > Creating an obligation tracker is essential for maintaining all relevant information for every obligation, providing a centralized location to store and categorize tasks. This system allows for capturing and accessing detailed information related to each task, reducing the need to keep track of everything in one's head. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > Next comes what I just cited, which is your obligation tracker. Some system to maintain all of the relevant information for every obligation on your plate. This is also note taking, written durable information that you don't have to keep track of in your head. So somewhere here are all the things I have to do, probably categorized. Here is all of the information related to each of these things all in this one place. You want that information accessible and captured somewhere. That's note taking. ([Time 0:32:40](https://share.snipd.com/snip/19c0f5b4-665b-486e-bb47-4ef5004d1b4c)) > Note taking for capturing > Summary: > Note taking involves capturing key ideas, interesting articles, brainstorming sessions, and personal concerns, which forms the broad category of what most people think about in note taking. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > Then finally, we get to what most people think of when they think about note taking. And this is more where you're capturing key ideas about your work and your life. Could be interesting ideas, interesting articles, brain storms, concerns that you have. This is the broad category that captures what people normally think about in note taking. ([Time 0:33:10](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a9718e24-af51-4313-901c-6a0d475fd5c3)) > Different medium for different note taking levels > Summary: > Separation is key in note taking. It's important not to mix different types of notes together, such as tasks, long-term vision, and grocery lists. Keeping different notes separate helps to keep up with the complexity of modern life. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > I think that separation is key. Don't mix all this stuff together. Don't have a moleskin somewhere in which you're trying to keep your tasks next to your vision for living on a cabin in 20 years next to a grocery list. You want to remember when you go to the store. We need some separation for note taking to keep up with the complexity of modern life. ([Time 0:35:39](https://share.snipd.com/snip/16b5242e-6cd0-4899-89d2-29e818b723aa)) > Choose medium by the incentives the creators have > Summary: > Consider the incentive structure of creators when choosing between books and YouTube for acquiring information. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > Books have a better incentive structure surrounding their information. And then YouTube does. ([Time 0:43:36](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c236fb50-be90-4bd9-8af5-50ad1067f751)) --- Title: Ep. 281 — Learning Hard Things Author: Deep Questions with Cal Newport Tags: readwise, podcasts date: 2024-01-30 --- # Ep. 281 — Learning Hard Things  URL:: https://share.snipd.com/episode/0f499e7e-a215-4b3e-b26c-adff08836f4a Author:: Deep Questions with Cal Newport ## AI-Generated Summary None ## Highlights > Episode AI notes > 1. Most people can learn almost anything, but they can't learn everything. Mastery of complex subjects comes from a long process of learning and dedication, not just innate ability. > 2. Deliberate practice involves carefully designed exercises that push understanding to the next level, requiring individuals to stretch past their comfort zone. This practice is not fun or comfortable, but it involves stretching oneself to try to understand and engage in activities carefully designed to move to the next level. > 3. Using a working memory extender such as a text file on a computer desktop can help knowledge workers temporarily hold and organize more information than they can keep in their heads. It allows them to capture and organize information as it comes in, such as during meetings or while going through emails, and provides a durable form outside of one's own brain for holding and organizing information. > 4. Creating an obligation tracker is essential for maintaining all relevant information for every obligation, providing a centralized location to store and categorize tasks. This system allows for capturing and accessing detailed information related to each task, reducing the need to keep track of everything in one's head. > 5. Note taking involves capturing key ideas, interesting articles, brainstorming sessions, and personal concerns, which forms the broad category of what most people think about in note taking. > 6. Separation is key in note taking. It's important not to mix different types of notes together, such as tasks, long-term vision, and grocery lists. Keeping different notes separate helps to keep up with the complexity of modern life. > 7. Consider the incentive structure of creators when choosing between books and YouTube for acquiring information. ([Time 0:00:00](https://share.snipd.com/episode-takeaways/237729c9-c2db-4c8b-bb7b-e32352e0cb7a)) > The Possibility and Limitation of Learning > Summary: > Most people can learn almost anything, but they can't learn everything. Mastery of complex subjects comes from a long process of learning and dedication, not just innate ability. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > I think for the most part, I'm going to argue most people can learn most things. You can learn almost anything. Part two of the reality, and this is the bad news, you can learn almost anything, but you can't learn everything. So I think what is obscured when you encounter people who have mastery of something really complicated, what is obscured is that it took them a really long time to get to that place. We jump ahead and just imagined them a month ago, just picked up the math textbook. I was like, ooh, this just makes sense to me. And then everyone kind of applause and they're really good at math and they're obviously smarter than you. Now there's a long process that we're going to unfold here in a second of how they build up to that expert knowledge. ([Time 0:08:27](https://share.snipd.com/snip/dd90c950-0082-4711-8a47-b541366c8cf2)) > Deliberate practice > Summary: > Deliberate practice involves carefully designed exercises that push understanding to the next level, requiring individuals to stretch past their comfort zone. This practice is not fun or comfortable, but it involves stretching oneself to try to understand and engage in activities carefully designed to move to the next level. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > Now how these steps are actually made. So how does this actually happen here and here and here? So you're going to have to be able to practice carefully designed exercises that push your understanding to the next level in a way that takes you out of what you're already comfortable With. There has to be some strain into that. So in order for this step to be successfully had at each of these levels you have to stretch past where you're comfortable. Right? It's kind of the practice aspect of liver practice. It's not fun. I'm not I'm not comfortable. I don't really understand this thing and I'm stretching myself to try to understand it and the activity you're doing is carefully designed. This is the right next level to actually move up to. That's the deliberate acts, the deliberate piece of deliberate practice. ([Time 0:11:02](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5910c234-afb0-4751-a891-7d2ad5587096)) > Notes as a working memory extender > Summary: > Using a working memory extender such as a text file on a computer desktop can help knowledge workers temporarily hold and organize more information than they can keep in their heads. It allows them to capture and organize information as it comes in, such as during meetings or while going through emails, and provides a durable form outside of one's own brain for holding and organizing information. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > Here are the three types of this note taking that I think are critical, especially for most knowledge workers. One, some sort of working memory extender. This is where I use my text file on my desktop on my computers, workingmemory.txt. This is for strictly expanding the amount of information you can temporarily hold on to as you engage with the inflow of information throughout your workday. As things come in, you're in a meeting and people are suggesting next steps, you can just write this information down in whatever medium you use for your working memory extender because It's probably more information you can keep in your head. There is. I write it down right there. I'm going through my email inbox and I need to remember different notes. I need to act on, schedule this, get back to them. I can write it into my workingmemory.extender. These are notes that exist outside of your own brain, allows you to hold on and organize more information than you could do just strictly within the confines of your own neurons. This is something that resets all the time. It's a durable form, but you reset it all the time. ([Time 0:31:08](https://share.snipd.com/snip/5cb3f28b-7cc8-4450-941a-c280149ca024)) > Note taking for PKM > Summary: > Creating an obligation tracker is essential for maintaining all relevant information for every obligation, providing a centralized location to store and categorize tasks. This system allows for capturing and accessing detailed information related to each task, reducing the need to keep track of everything in one's head. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > Next comes what I just cited, which is your obligation tracker. Some system to maintain all of the relevant information for every obligation on your plate. This is also note taking, written durable information that you don't have to keep track of in your head. So somewhere here are all the things I have to do, probably categorized. Here is all of the information related to each of these things all in this one place. You want that information accessible and captured somewhere. That's note taking. ([Time 0:32:40](https://share.snipd.com/snip/19c0f5b4-665b-486e-bb47-4ef5004d1b4c)) > Note taking for capturing > Summary: > Note taking involves capturing key ideas, interesting articles, brainstorming sessions, and personal concerns, which forms the broad category of what most people think about in note taking. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > Then finally, we get to what most people think of when they think about note taking. And this is more where you're capturing key ideas about your work and your life. Could be interesting ideas, interesting articles, brain storms, concerns that you have. This is the broad category that captures what people normally think about in note taking. ([Time 0:33:10](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a9718e24-af51-4313-901c-6a0d475fd5c3)) > Different medium for different note taking levels > Summary: > Separation is key in note taking. It's important not to mix different types of notes together, such as tasks, long-term vision, and grocery lists. Keeping different notes separate helps to keep up with the complexity of modern life. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > I think that separation is key. Don't mix all this stuff together. Don't have a moleskin somewhere in which you're trying to keep your tasks next to your vision for living on a cabin in 20 years next to a grocery list. You want to remember when you go to the store. We need some separation for note taking to keep up with the complexity of modern life. ([Time 0:35:39](https://share.snipd.com/snip/16b5242e-6cd0-4899-89d2-29e818b723aa)) > Choose medium by the incentives the creators have > Summary: > Consider the incentive structure of creators when choosing between books and YouTube for acquiring information. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > Books have a better incentive structure surrounding their information. And then YouTube does. ([Time 0:43:36](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c236fb50-be90-4bd9-8af5-50ad1067f751))