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Ten Principles

  1. Choose a loveable project.
  2. Focus your energy on one skill at a time.
  3. Define your target performance level. (!)
  4. Deconstruct the skill into sub skills.
  5. Obtain critical tools.
  6. Eliminate barriers to practice.
    • Stop misplacing your tools.
    • Don't borrow equipment, get them for yourself.
    • Environmental distractions.
    • Emotional blocks.
  7. Make dedicated time for practice.
    • Identify low-value uses of time, and eliminate them.
    • The more time you devote each day, the less total time it will take to acquire skills.
    • At least 90 minutes practice per day.
    • Hit at least 20 hours of practice because the early parts feel harder than they really are. Just get to 20 hours.
  8. Create fast feedback loops. (Game-like)
  9. Practice the clock in short bursts (20 minutes).
  10. Emphasize quantity and speed.

Learning Curve

  • You really suck at the start but you improve very quickly as you learn the most important parts of the skill. Then, your rate of improvement declines.
  • Immersion: By immersing yourself in the culture of learning, your skills will improve faster. This also makes sure that you learn the first few hours of practice faster.

Chapter Two -- Ten Principles of Effective Learning

  1. Research the skill and related topics. Spend twenty minutes searching the web. Get at least 3 resources. Skimming is better than deep reading.
  2. Jump in over your head. Remind yourself that you WILL understand this shit eventually.
  3. Identify mental models and mental hooks.
  4. Imagine the opposite of what you want.
  5. Talk to practitioners to set expectations.
  6. Eliminate distractions.
  7. Used spaced repetition and reinforcement for memorisation.
  8. Create scaffolds and checklists. Routines work.
  9. Make and test predictions.
  10. Honor your biology.

After 3 hours of research and instruction, he can practice yoga whenever he wants to, and he doesn't have to go to a structured class or studio.

To reap the rewards, he has to practice on a regular basis.

Chapter Five -- Programming

Own website: PersonalMBA.com. Hosted on Wordpress: optimised for easy installation and use, not performance under heavy loads.

Jekyll: You can produce a complete website using the files on your computer that contain your webs tie information and design template. Prereq: Ruby.

Sinatra: Like Rails, but lighter. Sometimes, a Sinatra application is contained in a single file.

"Code a Sinatra application that serves a Jekyll website."

Jekyll: Creates the finished website from local static files. Sinatra handles the requests from the website visitors, delivering the requested files.

Target: Create a basic working Sinatra application capable of delivering a simple website to an end user.

Practice checklist:

  1. Create a loveable project.
  2. Focus your energy on one skill at a time.
  3. Define your target performance level.
  4. Deconstruct the skill into sub skills.
  5. Obtain critical tools.
  6. Eliminate barriers to practice.
  7. Make dedicated time for practice.
  8. Create fast feedback loops.
  9. Practice by the clock in short bursts.
  10. Emphasize quantity and speed.

Define the application:

  • A simple reference and note-taking application.
  • The application is designed for a single user.
  • The application uses Sinatra and a database to CRUD page records.
  • The application allows the user to create pages that have fancy formatting.
  • The app looks nice.
  • The app can be easily deployed to Heroku or another similar host.

Datamapper: ORM

Review of Method Used

  • I spent time learning what programming and web applications are in general, and deconstructed these skills into smaller sub skills.
  • I set my target performance level.
  • I deconstructed those projects into smaller sub steps.
  • I made sure I had those tools that I needed to work.
  • I found a few sources of programming info, but I just jumped right in.
  • I worked on the most important sub steps first.
  • I used reference examples to get started and build confidence.
  • When I made an error, there was a fast feedback loop.

Chapter Six -- Touch Typing

Critical typing speed: 60 WPM. QWERTY has 193% more effort as a keyboard than the keyboard type Colemak.

Colemak changed Caps Lock to Delete to allow Colemak typists to correct errors faster.

Reviewing the Method

  • Create a fast feedback loop by rearranging the keyboard keys.
  • Practiced for 45 minutes/night.

Chapter Seven -- Go

  • I learned the basic rules of the game.
  • I purchased a govan, stones, and several books on Go strategy aimed at beginners.
  • I found several ways of studying the most important strategic principles by working on ranked Go problems.
  • I focused my initial practice on solving ranked problems.
  • I practiced problems and played games until I hit twenty hours.

Chapter Eight - Ukelele

Instead of pursuing material overabundance, Hodgkinson recommends being content with modest means.

  • I obtained a ukelele, strings, a tuner, and other necessary equipment.
  • I decided to begin by focusing on the most important chord progressions and strumming patterns.
  • Once I was able to play chords, I practiced until I could maintain the process.
  • I experimented with finger plucking using the same chord progression.