fancy way of saying im gonna spend time everyday doing something cognitively challenging
why?
things are becoming too easy and we are all becoming complacent. so i want to manually include things which are hard to do in my daily routine so that i stay competent
also people online have a lot to say about learning hard skills
rules
- schedule time just like how you would plan your gym seshs
- figure out and follow a routine
- log as often as possible with progress updates
- has to be cognitively challenging and require focus
topics
physics
Working through undergrad physics material with a focus on understanding the fundamentals really well and taking notes to practice recall.
math
working through undergrad math material with a focus on solving as many sums as possible
experiments
in order to see if i can make this habit persist, here’s what i am trying:
- 90minutes of studying everyday
- alternate math and physics everyday
- compulsory logging of things studied in one session.
i will check back into this every week to see how it goes:
[
{
"timestamp": "2025-10-09T01:21:01.831Z",
"message": "week 1:\n\napart from the first few days, it was incredibly hard to find time to allocate to an hour / hour half to study.\n\nunlike going to the gym, this doesnt involve an environment change so the activation energy is much higher...\n\ni wonder if i could just go somewhere everyday to spend time \"focusing\" on this or maybe like set an alarm at the same time everyday so that it starts becoming a habit\n\nthis could also totally be because my sleep is fucked up right now but idk, ill check back in next week"
},
{
"timestamp": "2025-10-23T05:47:28.565Z",
"message": "LOL it has been incredibly hard to balance with travel, and general discomfort of doing this.\n\ni am still trying to devote time..\n\nsome things im trying:\n- doing 15minutes of timed work, everyday\n- just book + notebook, no other complex resource which might increase friction"
}
]