Abstraction is Understanding: How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens
10/10 - Game-changing for anyone who wants to 10X their learning.
Higher-Level Notes
This is great for anyone who wants to learn, write, and create at 10X levels.
I rate this book a 10/10. Absolute game-changer.
Writing is the best method for thinking, learning, and understanding the ideas we have
If you want to understand something, you have to understand it in your own words.
People naturally assume that huge tasks require complexity and superhuman effort. These assumptions are misguided.
Flexible work which allows us to make small adjustments to keep interested and motivated, is the secret to effortless work.
The secret to success is not willpower. The secret is in organizing environments where willpower does not have to be used.
Notes are can be valuable in different contexts - not necessarily in the context they were taken from.
Humans need an external system to think in - this lets your mind think and create within structure.
People assume that writing starts with a blank page. But it is the work that comes before that page that really matters in determining quality.
Writing is not what happens after research. Writing should involve the whole process of ideating, gathering resources, and organizing thoughts.
Accidental encounters make up the majority of what we learn.
Good tools do not add features and options. They reduce distractions from the main work.
There is no such thing as private knowledge. An idea kept private is as good as never having an idea.
When we approach learning as something to share, we can process and generate ideas better.
The presentation and production of knowledge are two sides of the same coin.
Deliberate practice is the only way to improve at anything.
A strong feedback loop is essential to any learning process.
Action leads to results which leads to motivation which leads to more action.
Multitasking destroys productivity. It ironically ruins our ability to focus.
Creativity is a mixture of playful, wide-eyed mind and a narrow, focused frame.
Stop making plans. Let spontaneity lead you. That's where true learning begins.
Experts use intuition to solve problems.
Develop intuition by internalizing knowledge.
Deliberately let thoughts linger in your mind. It's an interesting way to deal with problems.
Without a clear purpose, things feel like a chore instead of an important step within a bigger project.
By default, we are not great at selecting and filtering information.
The ability to distinguish relevant information can only be learned by doing.
Never underestimate confirmation bias.
The ability to counter confirmation bias can be learned with experience. It's quite fun too.
Spot patterns, question contexts and frames, and detect differences in what others say. These are preconditions to critical thinking.
Just because you do something repeatedly, doesn't mean you understand it. Familiarity is not understanding.
Understanding comes when we link new ideas with old frameworks. Learning is understanding.
Writing notes in your own words is a form of feedback - it signals understanding, or the lackthereof.
"The brain is a machine for jumping to conclusions."
True learning is being able to take lessons and apply it to your own context.
Society often mistakes cramming for learning.
Elaboration by connecting information to other information in a meaningful context.
You can only remember and understand things in relation to each other.
Learn from the experience of others by drawing versatile "mental models" from their stories.
Creativity is just connecting things.
Creative people recognize patterns, relationships. They make associations and connections.
Abstraction is de-contextualizing lessons so that we can piece them back together. It is necessary to connect ideas.
Self proclaimed "open-minded" people are more prone to sticking with their original beliefs and interpretations. Be careful.
Society is so focused on learning from success. It should be more obsessed with learning from failure. Classic survivorship bias.
Standardization is restriction. The restriction allows for critical mass. Standardization leads to a critical mass. Critical mass is the key to creativity.
What is available is not always what is relevant.
The feeling of being in control of one’s learning course leads to motivation.
Motivation is lost when a task loses relevance to broader goals.
Don’t push against resistance. Redirect it into something productive.
We can only learn from our experiences if there is feedback afterward.
Work fills the time we set aside for it.
The point of learning, thinking, and writing is to become a different person with different viewpoints.
The point of learning is to change how you think, not to enhance how you already think.