Learning Driven

Lepszy miecz i lepsza tarcza

Sat, 01 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Wszędzie tam, gdzie mamy do czynienia z grą o sumie zerowej (czyli sytuacją gdzie jeden korzysta wyłącznie kosztem drugiego), mamy do czynienia z wyścigiem pomiędzy siłą metaforycznego miecza i tarczy. Rozwój jest zwykle iteracyjny, ze zmianami technologii zupełnie wywracającymi myślenie.

Zanim przejdziemy do konkretów, popatrzmy na ten obraz przedstawiający walkę Dawida z Goliatem. Jest to scena symboliczna, o ogromnej ilości znaczeń. Kiedy ja na nią patrzę, widzę z jednej strony Goliata. Jest olbrzymem, świetnie przeszkolonym i uzbrojonym. Za nim stoi wielu innych takich wojowników. Stoi więc na szczycie hierarchii, stanowi dla nich ideał wojownika, uważają go za nie do pokonania. Z drugiej strony widzę Dawida. W oczach wojowników jest on nikim - nie ma nawet miecza czy zbroi. Dawid jednak całe życie mierzył się z trudami życia. Był pasterzem, a ci w tamtych czasach używali procy, by odstraszać dzikie zwierzęta. Nieraz musieli stawać oko w oko z lwami. Wyobrażasz sobie walczyć z lwem, mając tylko procę i parę kamyków? Jak pewnie wiecie, Dawid wygrał tę walkę — strzelił kamieniem w oko olbrzyma. Wykorzystał swoją szybkość i zwinność, ale przede wszystkim celność i doświadczenie.

Kiedy o tym myślę, od razu widzę przed oczami startupy rzucające wyzwanie wielkim korporacjom. W końcu wygrywają. Może i Dawid miał szczęście, ale zauważcie że Goliat był bardzo kosztowny. Zrekrutowanie, wyszkolenie i uzbrojenie takiego olbrzyma to duże koszty. Takich jak David było wielu. To jednak co stanowiło o sukcesie to była zmiana paradygmatu. Najwyraźniej nie spodziewano się, że taki kamyk wystarczy. Gdyby było inaczej, zapewne hełmy miałyby przyłbice, albo technika zakładałaby takie trzymanie tarczy, by zawsze zasłaniać twarz.

Historycznie, kiedy walka na miecze była standarderm, wymyślano coraz większe i potężniejsze zbroje, dzięki czemu rycerze stawali się nie do ruszenia. Wiele zmieniło się z wprowadzeniem kuszy, która potrafiła przebić nawet bardzo ciężkie zbroje. Technika walki zaczęła się zmieniać i jeszcze większą istotność zyskały mury, z których dobrze uzbrojony i przeszkolony oddział mógł się bronić przed znacznie większą armią. Aż do wymyślenia prochu i wprowadzenia dział, które kruszyły mury. Walki zaczęły się wynosić z miast. Istotności nabrała mobilność. Polska szlachta tamtego czasu nie nosiła ciężkich zboi. Walczyło się na szable, strzelało ze strzelb, przemieszczano się szybko na koniach. Technika wojenna była dopracowywana, aż doprowadziła do zoorganizowanych oddziałów strzelców znanych z wojen napoleońskich. Salwy wystrzałów kładły oddziały przeciwników. Był to skuteczny miecz, ale i na niego znalazła się tarcza: wymyślono okopy. Z nich jeden oddział mógł ostrzeliwać drugi, który pozostawał bezbronny. Była to bardzo skuteczna tarcza. W czasie pierwszej wojny doprowadziła do sytuacji patowej, gdzie niemal wszyscy siedzieli w okopach. Mogli się skutecznie bronić, ale atak był bardzo ciężki. Zmieniło się to ze zmianami wprowadzonymi w drugiej wojnie światowej. Pojawiła się technika Blitzkrieg, czyli tak szybkiego ataku na odsłonięte punkty by przeciwnik nie zdążył zareagować i zająć pozycji. Przede wszystkim jednak pojawiły się czołgi. Na pierwszą alianci znaleźli sposób — pułapki zastawiane na pędzących na złamanie karku. Czołgi na długo jednak zagościły jednak w technice wojskowej. Jednak i na ten miecz znajduje się tarcza. Coraz lepsze pociski pozwalają przebić się przez coraz grubszy pancerz. Tworzenie coraz cięższych czołgów przestaje mieć taki sens w dobie dalekozasięgoych pocisków balistycznych. Wygląda na to, że wojna przenosi się w kosmos — na polu bitwy ten będzie miał przewagę, kto więcej będzie widział i szybciej będzie reagował. Ten kto widzi dokładne lokalizacje celów wroga, może precyzyjnie wystrzelić prezycyjne cele przeciwnika przy pomocy drogich pocisków przeciwpancernych. W takich warunkach czołgi mają niewielki sens.

How to write: A friend's vision

Sat, 01 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

When you write, you are often alone. You pass your thoughts to a humanless computer. His lack of personality accepts everything without a word of critique. Even things you wouldn’t tell your closest friend, because they are ridiculous or not coherent.

There is a trick to make your writing more human, coherent and concrete: When you write, pretend you are talking to a friend. Ideally, if it is a person you know well, who might be interested in the topic and whom you wish well.

Do not mention this person in your text. Direct it to all potential people who might enter your blog, but write it as if you were talking to a friend.

The challenge is to change your speech, which is usually a stream of your thoughts to writing, which happens sentence after sentence. Thanks to that, writing can be better organized. But to not lose the benefits of speaking, it is good to start from pretending to explain your topic first, record it or note the flow and the arguments, and then based on that craft your text.

In the end, you can write your article to the person you thought about at the beginning. If you’ve dedicated it to that person, why not send it now? If you are ashamed, step back, think about what makes you feel this way and change it.

Friends are the best critiques. A friend of mine, a priest, repeats that it is most difficult to preach in front of your friends and family. And I want to admit it - running presentations in front of your friends is way harder than in front of strangers. You mind your words much more and think twice before saying anything. Do not be satisfied with the appreciation of anonymous people from the Internet. Find appreciation of the toughest critics instead. And write in a way not to be ashamed in front of your friends or family.

Immersion - The golden Graal of learning

Sat, 01 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

What are your goals? Most people have some goals or bucket lists, either on paper or in their heads. A common positions there are things like getting a promotion, becoming a good dancer or writing a book. Those are great goals, but the mistake people often do when trying to reach, them is that their plan is a list of actions, when instead it should be primary a list of skills to learn.

It is natural for us to concentrate on actions

- What is your plan to become a great dancer?

- I plan to attend to this and that course, take extra lessons, be on parties…

This is a list of actions. We like to plan actions, as they are more concrete. If your plan is to attend 100 dance lessons, you can easily track your progress. Even though it actually measures nothing. A better way it to make a to-learn list - list of all the skills you need to learn to achieve some goal.

Concentrating on actions and concentrating on skills

Concentrating on skills is very different than concentrating on actions. Your goal is then to learn something new and concrete. Think about performing on a stage. If your goal is to do the best performance you can, it will probably be best for your viewers now, but it is unlikely you will learn something new. You will use the skills and tricks you know best. There is no space for experimentation, no space for learning. If, instead, your goal would be to say learn to use your voice in an interesting way, chances are your performance will not be as good, but you would another skill to your skill set and you would improve. This is concentration on skills.

There are a few reasons why concentrating on stills is important:

Most professionals plateau, mostly because they are concentrated on their performance, not their skills. When we are good, we think we got all the answers and we just follow the same paths. But there are always useful skills to learn, and those who notice and practice them will progress faster than others.
Most goals are primary require learning, not doing. When your goals is to write a book, the biggest obstacle is not writing this pages, but instead learning to be a good writer. When you want to have a promotion, the most important thing is to learn skills required for this new position. Even loosing weight is primary learning better health habits, building a discipline, learning to motivate yourself to exercise. Action without learning rarely makes any difference in long run. Learning is essential.
Learning skills is meaningful. Seeing that you get better in something is very fulfilling and pleasant. This is why so many sportsman or musicians spend long hours on learning new skills even though they are rarely well paid. We love learning, and learning is essential to every success. Even the highest respects are not tasty when we do not feel good enough for them.

Writing to-learn list

Writing to-learn list is not easy and it often requires some research. It needs to be a list of concrete skills to learn. Learning to dance is not a concrete skill. Hearing rhythm in the music is. Making basic steps too. Making a correct frame to lead your partner too. Or leading a figure. I believe you see the point. Big skills needs to be splatted into small and more concrete chunks that can be learned.

A good question to ask yourself is “What are the skills of the perfect X”. For instance, I might ask myself “What are the skills of the perfect speaker?”. As a result, I can produce a very long list:

Speaking without sounds like eeee, yyyy, aaaa
Observing the audience
Using different voices
Throwing jokes
…

It is impossible to learn it all at once. But we can learn them one after another. no-one becomes a great speaker overnight. It is often said that becoming a master in most disciplines takes 10 000 hours. The thing is to use this time effectively.

When you have a skills to learn, prioritize to those that are important to you. Then keep this list. Just the fact that you have it should motivate you to look for opportunities to learn those skills. Then it is best to spend your time on deliberately practicing them.

Deliberate practice

Deliberate practice is a popular term in describing deliberate effort to improve performance in a specific domain. Psychologists identified that the key parts of the deliberate practice (except of concentration) are:

Feedback - practice is more effective when you have faster feedback on your performance. Thanks to that you can faster change your behavior for better.
Pushing you slightly outside of your comfort zone - we learn very little when we are in our comfort zone. We need to stretch it. When you start speaking publicly, just going on stage is stretching your comfort zone. Bot after hundred presentation it starts being a routine. Then you should start doing new things like using your body or voice. Always stretch your comfort zone when you practice, because otherwise you are not learning.

Summary

Write your own to-learn list for your private and professional skills. You should split higher-level skills into smaller and more concrete. Check your list periodically. Practice those skills deliberately. Remember about pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone and seeking feedback. Then cross out those skills you feel you learned enough. This strategy can offer you faster learning and development, and in long run effectively contributes to all the goals that require learning new skills or knowledge.

Learn to like

Sat, 01 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

As a high-school student, biology and chemistry were my nightmares. Since they were not essential on our specialization, but program required them covered, school management decided to compress chemistry in the first year, and biology in the second, so during the third year we can fully concentrate on mathemathics and physics. After the first year struggling with chemistry, I decided I do not want to repeat it with biology. Thinking about what I can do, I had a great idea: to learn to like it. I started looking for arguments, why what biology is fascinating and useful, in everything we were learning, I looked for practical applications or interesting aspects. I haven’t become the best student overnight, but out of the sudden, from one of the worst, I become quite a good one. This is when I discovered, how powerful is your attitude to what you are learning. This is also when I discovered, that you can work on this attitude, and this is a powerful tool for learning nearly anything.

So let’s explore, what is the healthy attitude, and what is even more important, how can we shape it.

Growth mindset

Shaping your attitude

Immersion - The golden Graal of learning

Mon, 30 May 2022 00:00:00 +0000

One of the most important element of learning is immersion. We will define immersion as an increased exposure to a discipline you learn. It is best if it requires you to operate in this discipline (and practice), but just being surrounded with the discipline is also a useful form of immersion.

Immersion is a popular technique for foreign language learning. In a simple form, it might mean watching movies or reading texts in the language we are learning. A deeper form might be traveling to the country, where this language is used.

Although immersion is also important on other disciplines. Let’s say that you want to use immersion to help you learn programming. We could do that, by surround ourselves with code, spend time with developers, talk about programming whenever possible. A great idea is making a group of passionates and writing a project together. Finding your first job as a programmer or an internship in a company is a deep immersion, and trust me, with that, people’s programming skills accelerate.

Those where just two disciplines, but immersion is a universal technique, helping with nearly anything we might want to learn. To understand why is it so powerful, we first need to understand that the majority of what skills consist of and learning those skills are subconscious.

Subconscious is essential

Why does it take so long to learn to speak another language? All necessary knowledge, like word definitions and grammar rules, can be fitted into a single book. However, even if someone would memorize it all, it would be far from being enough for using this language. We need to get fluent in formulating sentences immediately, feel where a word fits and where it does not, hear word mispronounced enough times to recognize it anyway… Those are subconscious skills. They cannot be described, they need to be trained. You need to spend enough time with language. Notice, that when you are a confident foreign language speaker, you build your sentences subconsciously, based on what feels right. Depending on definitions and learned meanings can be a good start, but it is unconscious that is essential.

Here are a few examples of subconscious skills, essential for learning a foreign language, programming, mathematics and many more:

True understanding and finding good words - keywords and functions in programming (if, while, class, filter), words in language, operations in mathematics, biological structures and elements in biology - they all can be explained, but understanding them requires seeing them in use in many concepts, and where they cannot be used.
Recognizing patterns - algorithms and patterns in programming, grammar and stylistic in foreign language, common ways how equations can be solved in mathematics.
Seeing what is important - learning what is important in practice and what is not.

As you see, many things cannot be learned by memorization. To learn them, you need practice and exposure. Immersion helps with both.

Immersion and practice

Immersion is strongly bound to practice. When you practice, to some degree you immerse. Good immersion requires you (or encourages you) to practice. Although those are different concepts. Practice, especially deliberate practice, is the key activity to acquire any skill. Immersion, surrounding yourself with discipline, supports and complements practice. You need to use both, to achieve the best results.

Healthy immersion

Watching a movie in a language you do not understand at all has little utility. Moving to a country whose language you do not use at all might cause more frustration than benefits. The key is to find a healthy immersion level, but there are no easy rules to find it. My suggestions are:

Immerse for as much as it feels conformable to you. To avoid frustration, that could block you or make you quit learning.
You should understand at least half of the concepts. Learning is not efficient when you understand too little. Some say, that you should look for comprehensible input, that can be defined as “what you understand plus a bit more”.
Consider having a mechanism for correcting your errors. Using language incorrectly might only deepen your misunderstandings and mistakes. That is why it is useful to have some who could correct your mistakes.

Immersion examples

To see how immersion might be used, let’s consider some examples in different disciplines. We will start with the most obvious discipline, that is learning a foreign language, and then we will touch completely different disciplines: chemistry, drawing and running.

Immersion in foreign language learning

We can use immersion for language learning by surrounding ourselves with the language. Here are a few examples:

When you learn the names of furniture or utensils in another language, you can use stick notes to label all the furniture in your house.
Switch the language in your phone or computer.
Read books, watch TV, listen to the radio in this language.
Attend meetings in this language (there are such meetings organized im big cities, you can also attend Erasmus meetings).
If your housemates use this language, set days when you use it only.
Use applications that connect to people using the language you are learning.

Find the conformable level for yourself, you can start with a child book, or a movie with subtitles in your own language.

Immersion in learning chemistry

Here are a few examples how we can use immersion for learning chemistry:

Make chemical experiments, or some useful things like soap or detergent (Assuming you are learning for some exams anyway, making experiments is not required, but it might be really helpful anyway, as it makes everything you learn much more real. You can find all ingredients and recipes in the internet, just be careful to not hurt yourself).
Watch fun lectures about chemical experiments (an example).
Watch movies about great chemists and great chemical discoveries.
Label substances you use in your everyday life their structure drawings and/or chemical formula.

Immersion in learning to draw

For drawing, practice is essential, but even more than using deliberate practice, it is important to draw as much as possible. That is why, it might be really helpful to have a pencil and some paper, and use it for drawing whenever you can, like:

During a boring meeting or lesson, you have no trouble following even while drawing.
Listening to an audiobook instead of reading a book.
Waiting in a queue or in a bus.

Except for that, a good form of immersion might be surrounding yourself with drawings. Look for a beautiful drawings in the internet, start reading comics or manga (if this is the kind of drawing that interest you), decorate your home with beautiful drawings.

Immersion in running

To learn running it mainly requires… well, running. Though there are also important components, like having a proper mindset or being inspired for running. Immersion can be helpful in here as well, and here are a few examples:

Reading books written by or about great runners.
Leaving your running shoes visible, to remind you about running.
Looking for occasions to run somewhere instead of driving there.
Attend some running club or make connections with other runners.
Listen to podcast for runners.

Stoic philosophy tl;dr

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Our rational nature moves freely forward in its impressions when it: 1) accepts nothing false or uncertain; 2) directs its impulses only to acts for the common good; 3) limits its desires and aversions only to what’s in its own power; 4) embraces everything nature assigns it. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Morality as the highest goal

The only reason to study philosophy is to become a better person. - Lives of the Stoics, the first sentence, Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

Like many ancient philosophies, Stoicism believe that the ultimate goal is to be a better person. Better for others, for society, and also for ourselves. It can be achieved by developing the virtues:

Justice - it is our moral compass, a duty to our fellow man and our society. It’s the morality behind how we act, specifically to our community and the people within it. We should be kind, courteous, understanding, respectful, fair and generous. We should support people when they need it. We should add values to the community.
Wisdom - is your ability to define what is good, what is wrong and what is indifferent. It is also the ability to view the world objectively, as it is, rather than warping your view of the world because of what you want it to be.
Temperance - it can also be called moderation. It relates to self-restraint, self-discipline and self-control. It is our ability to choose long-term well-being over short-term satisfaction.
Courage - is our ability to overcome feelings that threaten to cause cowardice, and as a result, prevent us from acting in the correct way. It means doing the right thing even if we are afraid of it.

Stoics believe that if we develop our virtues and live a good life, we will live in a happy eudaemonic state.

The dichotomy of control - What we can and cannot control

One of the most important Stoic ideas is that we should learn to distinguish between what we can and cannot control. We should then work and concentrate on what we can control and accept what we cannot, treating it more like facts.

We should always be asking ourselves: “Is this something that is, or is not, in my control?” - Epictetus, Enchiridion

We can control our actions, mindset, will. We cannot control the outcome of actions, especially of other people.

Example: An archer can do the best training, can be sure to be in the best state of mind, fully concentrate, but cannot control whether his arrow hits the target.

“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own…” – Epictetus

What is truly important is that you did your best, not if you succeeded or not. My father once said after his tennis game that he is very happy with it. I asked: “Did you win?”, he answered: “No, but I feel I did my best, and that is important”. This is a Stoic approach. We should strive to do our best, and we should not worry, but rather look at things as indifferent facts.

“No person has the power to have everything they want, but it is in their power not to want what they don’t have, and to cheerfully put to good use what they do have.” – Seneca

Embracing obstacles

Obstacles are an inseparable part of our lives. Most people are unhappy when an obstacle stands in their way, but we should rather embrace it. Imagine a game with no obstacles. For instance, a Mario game where you just walk on a flat map without monsters and bosses. It would be really boring! The same in life, obstacles make life interesting, and it is also what makes us stronger and better people, it prepares us for other challenges.

The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

The key is a good attitude. Are you lucky? Good for you. Are you unlucky? Take it as an opportunity to train your character, learn to overcome obstacles, learn how to turn an obstacle into an advantage. With such a mindset, you always win and you can face every situation with equal stillness and cheerfulness.

“I judge you unfortunate because you have never been unfortunate; you have passed through life without an antagonist; no one will know what you can do, - not even yourself.” For if a man is to know himself, he must be tested; no one finds out what be can do except by trying. - Seneca

Follow nature

“We are members of one great body, planted by nature … We must consider that we were born for the good of the whole.” - Seneca

Stoics strongly believe and insist to follow nature. That is more about acting in a way that is natural to us and others, than sticking close to the trees. Stoics believe we should observe what the nature of things and the natural flow of the world are. Then we should follow it in a Taoist fashion instead of fighting it (it is no coincidence, as Stoicism has strong influences from east philosophies, including Buddhism and Taoism).

For good or for ill, life and nature are governed by laws that we can’t change. The quicker we accept this, the more tranquil we can be. - Epictetus

Live without anger or grief

Anger or grief is never helpful. Seeing the world as it is and acting rationally is. It does not mean we should suspend anger. Instead, realize it does not make any sense and do not let it arise. If you ever feel anger, I recommend reading On Anger by Seneca. If you ever experience a terrible misfortune, and you feel a grief, my recommendation is On Consolation to Marcia by Seneca.

Amor Fati - Accepting your fortune

We cannot fully control our situation. We are often fooled by randomness, unaware of how much we owe to and depend on the fortune. Fortune can take everything from us at any moment. We should not fear that, but instead, be grateful for what we have now. Remembering that everything we have can be lost should not be a source of bitterness, but just the opposite, a cause for happiness. The fact is that everyone will die one day. Instead of realizing it too late, be happy and use the time we have together now.

“The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.” - Homer, The Iliad

Another thing is that what is truly important is not material and the wise person is self-sufficient. It does not mean that we do not want money, love, friendship, or family. We do, but if we lost them due to an unfortunate, we could still be happy, as the true source of happiness is to be a good person and to do best with what we have.

Nevertheless, though the sage may love his friends dearly, often comparing them with himself, and putting them ahead of himself, yet all the good will be limited to his own being, and he will speak the words which were spoken by the very Stilbo whom Epicurus criticizes in his letter. For Stilbo, after his country was captured and his children and his wife lost, as he emerged from the general desolation alone and yet happy, spoke as follows to Demetrius, called Sacker of Cities because of the destruction he brought upon them, in answer to the question whether he had lost anything: “I have all my goods with me!” - Letter from Seneca

Memento mori - Embracing mortality

We can lose everything, including our lives. There is a true story that reminds me of it. It is about a person from my far family who just walked on a street, stumbled, crushed his head on a curb, and died. Something like that can happen to anyone at any time.

Reflecting on our mortality should encourage us to live our lives to the best. What would I do if I died tomorrow? What would I do if this was the last week of my life? What if it is the last month, year, a decade? Partying and losing all the money is not the answer. I ask this question to myself quite often and sometimes I decide that I want to meet with my friends or family, and sometimes I have a sense that I just want to spend some time in solitude reading a book. Nevertheless, I often fall asleep feeling that I am satisfied and if fortune wants me to die tomorrow, I will not lose anything because I used my time the best I could.

This all is about: to use your time to the maximum. Reflection on mortality is about prioritization. It is to remember that our time is limited and to concentrate on what is most important to us. We will die anyway - it is something we cannot control. So we should do everything we can to spend every moment in the best possible way.

Training your character

This is all the theory, but being a Stoic is not about what you believe, but rather about how you act. Stoics train themselves to act properly through both daily behaviors and special practices. Here are some of them:

Whenever in adversity think of it as a Stoic trial. Like Stoic gods (abstract) are testing your character. In the end, grade yourself. Did you manage to do the best you could while keeping your emotions in check? Did you manage to stay the best person for others all the time? Did you manage to keep a clear perspective of the situation? Track it, and whenever you see a problem coming, think of it as another test of your character and occasion to train yourself in being the best you can be in a tough situation.
Memento mori - from time to time, reflect on our mortality, on the possibility that we may die at any time.
Pre mortem - thinking about what might go wrong and preparing for such a situation. If, for instance, you are worried about losing your job, go deep into this scenario and you will soon see that you will be fine. Then you can prepare and store some money safely for such a situation.

We also build our discipline through intentional training, like:

running,
fasting,
living modestly.

They both strengthen out the will but also destroy the fear of bad luck.

Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: “Is this the condition that I feared?” It is precisely in times of immunity from care that the soul should toughen itself beforehand for occasions of greater stress, and it is while Fortune is kind that it should fortify itself against her violence. In days of peace the soldier performs maneuvers, throws up earthworks with no enemy in sight, and wearies himself by gratuitous toil, in order that he may be equal to unavoidable toil. If you would not have a man flinch when the crisis comes, train him before it comes - Letter from Seneca

Reading recommendations

There are many books dedicated to Stoicism I would like to recommend, but which one to choose depends on what you need and what your level of knowledge is. I have read them all and I will characterize them with my words.

The classics

It is often said that there are 3 main classic sources of the stoic philosophy, and which one is your favorite says a lot about you:

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius - the set of short reflections of the famous philosopher kind. Very practical, but often also enigmatic. The author wrote these reflections to himself. Good for reflection before bedtime. More about being a good person when in power.
Letters by Seneka the younger - very practical letters from the richest person in Rome. Seneca himself is somewhat controversial, nevertheless his teachings are still very useful and very readable. I recommend it in the free version The tao of Seneka collected by Tim Ferriss. More about giving the best of ourselves.
Enchiridion of Epictetus - a collection of notes by the famous philosopher who was a slave for the majority of his life. Short but very concise and concrete. More about fighting adversity.

The daily Stoics

For readers new to the ancient philosophy, I recommend to start with a more modern position, especially the work of Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman, starting with:

The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living - one quote and a short description for each day of the year. I believe this is the best way to start Stoicism: read one reflection each day before sleep and then think about it.
The Daily Stoic Journal: 366 Days of Writing and Reflection on the Art of Living - a journal that asks you to write your reflections on a concrete topic twice a day. It deepens the idea of everyday reflection.
The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph - the best, in my opinion, position by the authors concentrated on turning every adversity into strength and a tool. Very practical.
Ego Is the Enemy - principal position about the importance of humility and the problems with ego. Eyes-opening and very important reflection.
Stillness Is the Key - the book about finding and keeping stillness, and therefore smooth happiness in both good and tough times.
Lives of the Stoics - biographies of famous Stoics.

Other positions

There are also many other positions that I would like to recommend, starting from those that I liked the most:

How to Be a Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci - a great, deep and easy to read position about Stoicism. Very practical, modern and readable.
The Stoic Challenge by William B. Irvine - a very easy to read book about some aspects of Stoicism (I finished it in 3 days). That is why I decided to buy 10 instances and send them around the world.
Stoicism: A Stoic Approach To Modern Life by Tom Miles - a concise and easy to read position.

Which one to choose?

If you are looking for a classic, you have to choose which side of Stoicism interests you most. These are concise reflections, not to read too much in one sitting. If you want to check more popular Stoicism and try to make your learning really practical, start with the Daily Stoic. If you want to understand the whole Stoic philosophy, How to Be a Stoic by Massimo Pigliucci should be perfect. If you need a short and simple position to start, The Stoic Challenge by William B. Irvine is there for you.

Learn to concentrate better

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Let’s be honest. Suppose you need to study a topic. You got a book with everything you need to know. You start reading it and… how long will you be able to keep concentrating without distracting yourself? No checking email/Instagram/Twitter/Facebook/phone, no conversations or thinking about something else. So how long? If it is around 30 minutes, it is already a good result. If you believe you can do it for longer, test yourself. There surely is a book with the knowledge that can improve your daily work.

Concentration is a skill that everyone can learn

We live in a more and more distracted world and deep concentration becomes rare. It is a hard skill to learn. However, there are ways how it can be improved. In my teenage years, I used to be the most distracted person in the class. It is still easy for me to get distracted, but I know now how to concentrate when I need to. When I was writing the Effective Kotlin book, I would often spend 16 hours in a row working on a single chapter and nothing else (with effective breaks). From morning to night, day after day. This is something unimaginable to me in my teenage years. However, it is not so unique - concentration is a skill that everyone can learn through training.

Concentration skill and deep work

Concentration skill connects to the deep work. In that article, I described the idea and how to create an environment for deep work. Here I explain how to practice concentration skill. To work and learn effectively, we need both puzzles.

Practice concentration

There are many ways how we can practice concentration. The chosen method should suit you. It is best when it pushes you a bit out of your comfort zone and gives you feedback when you deconcentrate (deliberate practice). It should also have other benefits, different from teaching you to concentrate better. For instance, reading is a good concentration practice, but it can be fun or useful. Learning gives us knowledge and skills. Writing gives us a voice. Concentration practice should be an additional motivation to do these things. So how can we improve our concentration skill?

Reading books

I learned how to concentrate by reading books. The rule is easy: spend some time every day only reading a book and doing nothing else. You can start from some easy books for 15 minutes daily, progress to 45 minutes overtime and then switch to a shorter time again but with a bit harder position. Here is an example of progression:

Level 0: Child books or comics.
Level 1: Light belletristic, like Harry Potter or The Witcher.
Level 2: Non-fiction books about psychology, like Deep Work by Cal Newport or Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
Level 3: Heavy belletristic or philosophy, like books written by Jacek Dukaj or Fiodor Dostojewski.
Level 4: Technical or scientific books from your discipline.

Reading books is fun, and it is a great way to acquire knowledge. In-depth knowledge does not fit in an article or a short video. It needs many pages to build the whole picture and present all the aspects of an idea. That is why in many ways, books are irreplaceable (except maybe by long lectures). Reading is also a great way to practice concentration, but not the only one.

Courses or lectures

Another way to learn how to concentrate is by watching courses or lectures. Many great courses on the Internet teach programming, biology, graphics, UX, … practically everything you can think of. Just be aware that if you want to improve your concentration, you should not focus on anything but this course. When you sit in front of the computer, it is much more tempting to open an email or Facebook. Discipline yourself and do not deconcentrate, because every time you let yourself do that, you build a bad habit. So this is not a perfect way to improve your concentration, but it is a great way to start learning a new skill or profession.

Puzzles

There is strong evidence that different types of puzzles can also increase our concentration and problem-solving:

sudoku,
crossword puzzles,
chess,
jigsaw puzzles,
word searches or scrambles,
memory games.

Likely some games will work as well. A 2017 review looked at 100 studies examining the effects video games could have on cognitive function. The analysis results suggest that playing video games may lead to various brain changes, including increased attention and focus. However, it is complicated because it depends a lot on the game and how you use it. Playing while watching streaming and joking with your friends may not be very useful, but playing like a pro likely will.

Writing

Even though it was over ten years ago, I remember my class’s reaction when a teacher asked us to write an essay. It seems trivial now, but back then, it was a challenge. Not because of a lack of skills - I remember that when I finally forced myself to start, I could have finished it in 30 minutes. It was hard because it needed undivided attention. Writing for others is not easy, but it is also a powerful skill. Similar to speaking publicly - both can give us a lot of voice in our community. Having a voice is powerful, but also a huge responsibility. I believe it is important to learn to write. When you do, you will also learn to concentrate better.

Other ways to practice concentration

I’ve just mentioned here the methods that I think are the most popular, but every activity that requires concentration can be used to practice it. To make learning effective, it should:

get you out of your comfort zone, which can sometimes feel like a tingling in your head,
give you feedback - you should know when you deconcentrate and what your performance is.

Reading books fulfills these criteria well. You know how much time you spent reading and how many pages you read. You can test yourself and describe what they were about. You will feel how hard it is.

Working time rarely fulfills these criteria. It can if we have one task and no distractions. But it is often required that we do many other things at the same time, like checking emails or attending a meeting. If you have trouble focusing on a single task in your job, having a passion that teaches us to concentrate can help a lot.

Working and learning

All this concentration learning is not for its own sake, but instead improves our work and learning skills. You have to transfer the still to the practical applications. It is to achieve deep work when you work and learn. Except for learning to concentrate and training the discipline of concentration, these rules are useful:

block distractions (turn off notifications, find a quiet place),
make effective breaks (spend them in silence, on a walk, meditation, exercise, a nap),
do not consume unrelated content or news before or during work,
set up boundaries.

Set up boundaries

If your concentration-time needs to be longer, make clear boundaries between working and free time. It is impossible to spend the whole day just working. It would quickly lead to burnout. Your brain and body need free time too, but it is best to do so after working time as we’ve already learned.

So the rule is: determine when to work and work at that time on 100% without distractions. Make only effective breaks during that time. Then leave some part of the day for yourself, and when the time comes, stop working and start relaxing without feeling guilty. At first, you need to learn how many hours it is best for you to work and then keep this balance by respecting time boundaries.

There are also small work-break boundaries that you can set. An effective technique is the pomodoro.

Learning debt

Mon, 31 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

TL;DR: Here I propose a new way of thinking about learning: acquiring useful skills and knowledge should be part of our lives. When we stay behind, we should treat it as a debt we made and expect from ourselves (on a personal level) to catch up. When we spend more time on learning, we can treat it as an investment. This approach should motivate us to learn what is needed in the modern world.

The hard problem of people loosing their jobs

A major social problem when we introduce new technologies is that people lose their jobs. A common suggestion (sometimes given in a rude way, what I do not support at all) is that they should re-qualify to some profession in need. In some cases, it is a great idea. I have observed quite a few people re-qualifying to programming. Those are ex-supermarket workers, ex-designers at the construction site, ex-factory workers, etc. They are all (at least according to what they told me) very happy with their choice to become a programmer. Most of them made it in 9 to 12 months. However, before they started their new path, they were up-to-date with computers, could use English quite well and knew how to find some content on the Internet.

Not everyone has this comfort. I can imagine that some drivers or miners might not have at least some of these skills. Without them it is hard to move forward. Here are some examples of skills that may be problematic:

Using a computer and browser - for everyone who was asked by their grandma “Can you please teach me this computer?” it should be clear that it is not an easy task to teach someone to get fluent in using a mouse, keyboard, icons, browser, etc. It might take many hours for someone to understand it. BTW Minesweeper and Solitaire were originally added to operating systems to teach precision when using a mouse.
Searching for information - it is another skill that seems obvious for those who can do it, but is terribly hard to learn for others. How should you formulate questions on Google? How do you choose the website? How do you find yourself on those websites? It takes time and it is not easy to learn.
Speaking English - not a problem for natives, but in European countries older people often do not speak English, and most materials and answers require it. Learning will probably take thousands of hours, but I can’t imagine becoming a programmer without knowing Shakespeare’s language.
Ability to learn - when we stop truly learning, we forget how to do it effectively.

It should be understood that for a person without these skills, learning programming would take thousands of hours. On the other hand, for their kids…

The beginning is where teenagers are

Imagine Bob and his son Jake. Bob is a driver with over 20 years of experience, in a situation similar to the one described above. He is worried he will soon lose his job because of autonomous cars. He knows a lot about history, politics and literature, but those skills will not help him in the labour market. He has some fellow drivers who are up-to-date with the technology and will end up well, but he is worried about himself.

His son Jake is in a different situation. He is not an ambitious guy, he is slacking off at school and prefer to play games. He uses a computer for hours every day searching on the Internet for pirated games and movies. They are all in English, but this is fine. He also met some people from other countries on games chat. Just like most of his friends, he has all the skills listed above - mostly because it was just easier for him.

Most work positions, at least in Poland, require working with modern technologies. Many also require some proficiency in English, which is often treated as a basic skill. If both of the guys mentioned before started looking for a job now, Jake would be in a much better position. And if they both decide to learn a profession in need, such as programming, data science, UX, UI design, marketing, etc., Jake will flourish even more.

Learning debt

You can call it unfair, that a person after 20 years of hard work might be worse off than a teenager. Does it mean that this teenager has some special skills and knowledge? I would rather say the other way round - the world moved forward and Bob was left behind. In my opinion (and according to many recruiters), Jake has skills that should be considered basic. Therefore, Bob knowing he does not have them, should rather treat it (on a personal level) as a debt.

A good question is why he didn’t learn these skills before? I talked to quite a few people after 50 or even 40 who couldn’t use a computer. When I asked them why they said that they do not want to invest time in something they do not need it now. It is a very dangerous way of thinking.

Lack of basic skills is like a debt:

it grows over time as the lack of one skill blocks the learning of another (like not knowing how to use a computer prevents from learning to use Photoshop),
is very dangerous in uncertain times,
it is good to pay it off as soon as possible.

On the other hand, learning new useful skills is an investment:

creates possibilities,
can improve your job performance and increase your salary,
can save your time and energy, and as a result you can spend more time on learning new useful skills,
some investments might not pay off, but some can be very lucrative.

What should we do?

It is probably not a new suggestion, but what we should do is to keep learning. This is the Learning-Driven way. To be open to changes and to use every occasion to learn something useful. If you see new promising technology, check it out and if it gets popular population-wide, do not stay behind and learn it. The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago. The next best time is now.

PS: If you do not like this article or have any suggestions, click the floating button in the right-bottom corner and send me feedback. You can also do it if you liked it 😉 I promise to reflect on it and apply it as long as it is constructive. After 3 negative feedbacks (from different users), I will remove the article - unless they are balanced enough with positive feedback.

Focused and diffused mode

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Imagine effective learning for an important exam. A typical picture is a person focusing in front of a computer or a book, making notes, looking for answers. But would you consider a productive learning time sitting, looking at the void and doing nothing? Surprise surprise, it works.

Focused mode

When we focus, we direct our brains to a concrete problem. Thanks to that, we can comprehend more elements at once and solve more complicated problems. This is an important skill in most professions. On the other hand, the focused mode has its weaknesses, for instance:

kills creativity - the more we concentrate, the less creative we are, and as a result, it is hard to generate original answers or solutions,
does not consolidate new information with the rest of our knowledge,
can be maintained only for some time without a break.

Example: There was a great experiment showing how being focused too much stops us from making a creative answer. It was first conducted by prof Sam Glucksberg in 1966 and after that, confirmed many times by other researchers. Random people were asked to solve The Candle Problem. The solution is not hard, but it requires some creativity. Those who were offered a reward needed more time to solve it. The higher the reward for solving it fast, the longer it took to do it. People were forcing themselves to concentrate on the solution, but it is hard to find a creative answer when we are in a focused state of mind.

When we learn or when we do our job, it is essential to be able to concentrate. When we work on demanding tasks, it should be our primary state of mind, but not the only one. There is another extreme we should switch to from time to time - it is called the diffused mode.

Diffused mode

The diffused mode is when we are not trying to think about anything specific, but we let our brain wander around. This is an essential time because our brain can process the knowledge and relates it to that we already know (see Deep Work). As a result:

creative ideas appear - creativity requires space for thoughts, making connections with our experiences and ideas from other disciplines,
we organize our thoughts well - without time to process new information it is hard to understand it deeply, and as a result, we don’t use it and quickly forget it (this process is known as cramming),
we clean up our head and get ready to concentrate better in the next focused mode session.

A screen from [Learning How to Learn course by dr. Barbara Oakley and dr. Terrence Sejnowski](https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn?). It presents a metaphor of focused and diffused mode of thinking: Pinball machine with either bumper placed very closely (focused mode) or far from each other (diffused mode). In the first case, they concentrate in a small area, so the pattern is predictable and bumps are fast. In the second instance, the ball bumps widely and much more unpredictably. It uses our whole brain and based on that it can create a creative answer or big picture understanding.

Make an experiment: When you learn, note what you don’t understand or problems you need to solve. Take a break and go for lonely walk in quiet. But before that, take a look at the unanswered problems and questions. After the walk, take a look at the list again. It is likely that many of those questions will be answered after the break, or that the concepts that seemed hard will now be more clear. It is because of your diffused mode working on those tasks when you were walking and enjoying your break. No wonder many great thinkers like Steve Jobs were known from making long walks when they needed to think.

Use focused and diffused modes alternately

The focused mode should be the primary mode we use when we learn or do cognitively intensive work (like programming, reading, making important decisions). When you are in focused mode, the more concentrated you can be, the better. But we should always find time for diffused mode as well. An effective way to do it is by first concentrating on a single task and then making an effective break.

Make effective breaks

Effective breaks are those that do not consume your attention. It means:

no social media,
no news,
no emails,
no games,
no movies,
no podcasts,
etc.

Any of those might disturb your brain’s attention. Some good ideas for an effective break are:

make yourself a tea or coffee,
go for a walk,
sit down and relax for a few minutes,
make a short stretching,
meditate.

Pomodoro technique

One of the known techniques that may help a lot is the Pomodoro technique. It is very simple:

Decide what you want to work on.
Set a timer for 25-45 minutes and, at that time, concentrate only on the single task (focused mode). Ignore disruptions. If you got a great but unrelated idea, just note it and continue concentration on your task.
Once the time is done, set another timer for 10-15 minutes. This is your break. Make it effective - relax, avoid content, do not think about your task.
Jump to step 1. Every 4 pomodoro, make your break longer (15-30 minutes).

This technique uses to the maximum the advantages of both modes. You can track your efficiency by counting the number of pomodoros. You can make your pomodoros longer or shorter. Make it work best for you.

Practice

The Pomodoro technique requires self-discipline, but is also very powerful. If you don’t use it, remember about taking effective breaks. Also, if you need to solve a problem, try to look at the void or take a short walk - it helps a lot. Use the power of both the focused and diffused modes.

RCSBProteinDataBank YouTube channel

Thu, 13 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Protein Data Bank (PDB) is a database for the three-dimensional structural data of large biological molecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids. RCSB PDB is a very important one. It contains over 164 391 biological macromolecular structures and shares them for free in a variety of formats. This is not cheap, neither easy, but it is really important for science. It helps us all indirectly as it is important for many biological research studies.

A fun fact is that this organization has it’s YouTube channel. It is not well organized as it blends protein visualizations, educative content and some lecture recordings. But among those videos, you can find some gold. For instance, this video explaining how soap works is marvelous:

What initially got me to the channel was an interest in how enzymes work. This video truly touched me as it not only explains it, but also visualizes it well:

If I had such visualizations, maybe now instead of being an engineer I would be a biologist :P They are interesting, live and speak to our imagination.

Another great explanation by RCSB PDB is what proteins are, again with great visualizations:

Here is a playlist of all the educational videos by the channel (on the upper-right corner you can find a video switch):

RCSBProteinDataBank contains nice and mind extending content suitable for non-scientists who just want to learn some reliable date. Watching all these educative videos would take less than half an hour (although I suggest making some breaks in between), but it might give you a better understanding of the biology and the content that might be important for you (like how your drug works, or why it is important to use soap when washing your hands). It also inspires for learning more and this is what we love here on Learning Driven.

Let me know in the comments what do you think about the channel and the videos.

How to write: The critic hat

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Whenever I write an article, I am trying to remember to take a few hats. When I finish each fragment, I put on the first one: The critic hat. So I think like a person who is not going to like this article and find the arguments and objections. If I have more time, I imagine that the text was written by someone I don’t like and I try to bend him with a good point.

There are more hats I wear - for instance, a hat of the resentful. I imagine being a person who might be offended. It doesn’t mean I necessarily change my text to annoy him less. Truth needs to be told and offending is sometimes the best way to help someone (rarely though). Though I think about how it might influence him.

I sometimes wear different hats as well. I think what my authority, my parents, fiancé, brother, or even my grandma would say about it. I am not trying to make them all happy at the same time, as this is the perfect recipe for failure. Though I am trying to be aware of what they would say and feel, and based on that make the best decisions.

I think that we all should remember to have those hats with us, especially when we:

write texts,
make decisions that influence others,
create things that might influence others.

This is being responsible.

The final test of not being ashamed of your text in front of these people is sending it to them and listening openly to their thoughts about it. From my experience, before we send any text to someone important to us, we will review it again and change some things until we are sure we will not be ashamed of it.

Make yourself proud of your text. Then be proud.

Learning Driven

Lepszy miecz i lepsza tarcza

How to write: A friend's vision

Immersion - The golden Graal of learning

It is natural for us to concentrate on actions

Concentrating on actions and concentrating on skills

Writing to-learn list

Deliberate practice

Summary

Learn to like

Growth mindset

Shaping your attitude

Immersion - The golden Graal of learning

Subconscious is essential

Immersion and practice

Healthy immersion

Immersion examples

Immersion in foreign language learning

Immersion in learning chemistry

Immersion in learning to draw

Immersion in running

Stoic philosophy tl;dr

Morality as the highest goal

The dichotomy of control - What we can and cannot control

Embracing obstacles

Follow nature

Live without anger or grief

Amor Fati - Accepting your fortune

Memento mori - Embracing mortality

Training your character

Reading recommendations

The classics

The daily Stoics

Other positions

Which one to choose?

Learn to concentrate better

Concentration is a skill that everyone can learn

Concentration skill and deep work

Practice concentration

Reading books

Courses or lectures

Puzzles

Writing

Other ways to practice concentration

Working and learning

Set up boundaries

Learning debt

The hard problem of people loosing their jobs

The beginning is where teenagers are

Learning debt

What should we do?

Focused and diffused mode

Focused mode

Diffused mode

Use focused and diffused modes alternately

Make effective breaks

Pomodoro technique

Practice

Further reading

RCSBProteinDataBank YouTube channel

How to write: The critic hat