Learning Involves Effort
How is Knowledge Acquired?
There is no other way in which knowledge of anything can be forced upon a person's mind. There may be cases in which a child may be brainwashed into learning something, but in terms of fully functional adults, knowledge will never fall into your brain. Things that are learned and ingested must be done so deliberately and intentionally.
Have you ever wondered why some people are just "smarter" than others? Many times others will judge people without ever actually looking into the circumstances in which judgment is placed. These "smarter" people in most cases have the same capability as a normal person. The thing that separates them into the "smarter" category is the things they learn and focus on. Once a person realizes that being "smart" takes grit and resolve to become, then the world is open to them. No longer are they held back by thinking they cannot learn something because of the default judgment placed upon them.
How to Acquire Knowledge
Many times others think that going to school or college will let them "unlock" the genius capabilities! Sadly, this is not true. The real learning is done in one's personal time. The time spent at college or school is usually spent getting ready, commuting, leaving, eating, listening, and being force-fed information. Leaving the student to spend time outside of the "school" time trying to understand what was fed to them.
1. Remove Time Wasting Actions
Remove all of the fluff when it comes to learning. This can involve many things, but in general, this means going to the source of the knowledge. Meaning, what is the teacher teaching? Is it from a book? Is it from lecture notes? You do not need a filter when it comes to the information. This will not only save time and effort, but will allow you to learn more in the long run. If you can watch the lecture on 2x speed and skip the "uhh" and "um" during the lecture, then more power to you. Speed is your friend, and in most cases, things can be ingested fast, then pondered about later.
2. Learn Things Even Though They Are Not Deemed "Neccicary".
School and teachers many times will tell you what is important and what is not. Who is in charge of saying what is important and what is not? Usually, the things that are 'not' important are the things that glue the topics together.
For example, when I was learning C, many teachers and videos said to 'not worry about header files till later.
These things:
#include <math.h>
#include <stdio.h>The truth is that googling and worrying about why these things are there is what will make you more knowledgeable! Going down the rabbit hole of Stack Overflow is what will bring you to the next level. If you skip over and do not learn them when they come up and are apparent, then you will have knowledge holes.
"Skipping the rabbit whole of learning brings knowledge wholes" - Bradley Allen
3. Continuous Learning
The reason you want to integrate steps 1 and 2 is that learning never stops. You must make it bearable and enjoyable because you do not learn and then stop. Learning is a forever action. You must make it bearable because if you do not, you will despise learning. When I was in college, I hated learning Computer Science topics because I thought that the only way to learn was to memorize concepts and spit them back out on tests.
Your best friend is Google.
Googling is an art form, and there is priceless information on the web. If you are reading this now, then you have been down the Google rabbit hole; continue finding out all of your questions. There are many websites and content that truly want to help someone learn and develop.
Here are some good google tips:
Exact Phrase Match:
Use double quotes to search for exact phrases.
"exact phrase here"Exclude Words:
Use a minus sign (-) before a word to exclude it from results.
search term -excludeSite-specific Search:
Limit results to a specific website or domain.
searchterm site:example.comFile Type Search:
Find specific file types (e.g., PDFs, PPTs).
searchterm filetype:pdfRelated Pages:
Discover pages related to a specific URL.
related:example.comWildcard:
Use an asterisk (*) as a placeholder for unknown words. This is usefull for songs or quotes.
searchterm * of the bestSynonym Search:
Use a tilde (~) before a word to include synonyms. This will search programming with any word a synonym of langauge.
programming ~languageDefine:
Get a definition of a word or phrase. This is my favorite.
define:serendipityLet these tips lead you to find the exact information you desire. If you can think of it, then it is out there.
Boredom is evil.
As a programmer and computer science enthusiast, you should never be bored. There are too many things to learn and involve yourself with in this world of technology and programming. If you are bored, then you may need to find something that piques your interest. Once you find this thing, dive deep until you are satisfied. Continue this cycle with all things.
"An idle mind is the devil's workshop"
Never stop questioning why.
After the age of 3 or 4, children stop questioning 'why.' After this phase, something happens, and they just accept things as they are. Continue to question everything, because this will start the process of finding out the answers to the questions that you desire. Once you give up and stop questioning, you will never lead yourself to the answer.
Source Of Knowledge
This will bring us to the source of the knowledge you are ingesting. Always be careful of where the information is coming from and who it is created by. This is very important. There are those out there that profit off teaching ignorant people wrong knowledge. Always go through the information before making it yours, because if not, you may taint your mind. Even as you read this, think, is this information going to hinder me or help me? You never know the motives of others until it is too late. Although, do not lose hope, because there are those out there that will help and stay true to learning.