Just like building a custom bicycle, you can craft a life that uniquely fits you by assembling common "parts" - jobs, relationships, interests, cities - according to your own specifications. The key is to actually choose some parts and start putting them together, even if they aren't all ideal or specialized.
Don't get paralyzed because you can't immediately build the "perfect" ride. You can swap out parts as you go. But you have to start with something basic that works in order to get anywhere.
Section: 1, Chapter: 5
One of the best ways to understand and internalize math and science concepts is to create visual metaphors and analogies for them. Metaphors and analogies activate visual areas of your brain and help you understand abstract ideas more tangibly.
For example, you might visualize multiplying exponents by thinking of a stack of poker chips. If each poker chip represented 10, then 3 poker chips is 103 or 1000. Stacking those on top of 2 more chips is 103 * 102, or 100,000. The stack of 5 chips represents the product. Coming up with vivid metaphors engages more of your senses and makes abstract concepts memorable.
Section: 1, Chapter: 7
Memorizing gets a bad rap in learning. But the key is to memorize material you already understand. Doing this helps internalize the core concepts more deeply and frees up mental energy to connect ideas in new ways. Memory techniques like mnemonics, visualization, and memory palaces make memorizing more fun and effective. The more you memorize foundational concepts, the easier it is to assimilate new ones. The key is to memorize after understanding, not just blind rote learning. Memorizing is a powerful tool for internalizing core concepts.
Section: 1, Chapter: 7
Chunks are compact packages of information bound together through use and meaning. They are the building blocks of expertise in math, science, and other subjects. To form a chunk:
- Focus intensely on the information you want to chunk, bringing it into working memory
- Understand the basic idea you are trying to chunk - the gist of the concept. Understanding is like a superglue that binds the memory links together.
- Gain context so you see not just how to use the chunk, but when to use it. Do this by practicing with different problem types so you see when to apply the chunk.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
"A good rule of thumb, when you are first learning new concepts, is not to let things go untouched for longer than a day."
Section: 1, Chapter: 3
Thomas Edison, one of the most prolific inventors in history, had this perspective about failure and persistence. When his attempts didn't work, he didn't see them as failures but as successful discoveries of ineffective approaches. This allowed him to keep inventing and making progress where others may have quit. In math and science, mistakes are inevitable and provide valuable learning opportunities. Embrace them as part of the learning process, and keep a positive attitude even when the going gets tough.
Section: 1, Chapter: 3
When you focus your attention on learning something, you initiate a process of building and strengthening neural connections in your brain related to that skill or knowledge. The more you focus on it, the stronger those neural pathways become.
This process, called neuroplasticity, means your brain physically changes shape based on what you pay attention to and practice. The key is to concentrate deeply and practice consistently over time. Even skills that feel challenging and foreign at first can become second nature with the right kind of focused practice.
However, the opposite is also true. When you procrastinate or distract yourself from focusing on something, those neural pathways related to it weaken over time. In this way, where you focus your attention literally shapes the physical wiring of your mind.
Section: 1, Chapter: 13
"What a wonderful stimulant it would be for the beginner if his instructor, instead of amazing and dismaying him with the sublimity of great past achievements, would reveal instead the origin of each scientific discovery, the series of errors and missteps that preceded it—information that, from a human perspective, is essential to an accurate explanation of the discovery." - Santiago Ramon y Cajal
Section: 1, Chapter: 8
Simply rereading text or staring at notes is not an effective way to study and can lead to illusions of competence. A far more powerful technique is recall - looking away and seeing what you can retrieve from memory. After reading a page, close the book and recall the key ideas. If you can't, reread.
But always push yourself to recall. The effortful act of retrieving knowledge builds long-term memory and understanding. It's like building hooks to hang your thinking on. Recalling in different environments than where you originally learned also helps strengthen and internalize the material.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
One of the most effective ways to cement new knowledge in your long-term memory is to practice retrieving it from memory, rather than just passively rereading it. The act of retrieving information from memory strengthens the neural pathways associated with that knowledge, making it easier to recall in the future. It also reveals gaps in your memory and understanding.
Some effective methods of retrieval practice include:
- Flashcards - put a question or prompt on one side and the answer on the back. Quiz yourself and check the answer.
- Summarizing - after reading a section or chapter, close the book and summarize the key ideas in your own words. Check your summary against the text.
- Self-testing - use practice problems or old exam questions to test your ability to apply what you've learned. Check your answers afterward.
Space out your self-quizzing over time for maximum retention. And don't just stick to easy questions - retrieval is most effective when it's appropriately challenging.
Section: 1, Chapter: 11
While the left hemisphere of the brain is associated with logical, sequential thinking, the right hemisphere plays a key role in generating insights and seeing the big picture. The right brain helps us:
- Get an intuitive overview of a concept or problem
- Make connections between seemingly unrelated ideas
- Engage in creative, non-linear thinking
The left brain is adept at carrying out learned procedures, but it can get stuck in a rut or miss the forest for the trees. The right brain acts as a "fact checker" to catch errors and generate novel approaches.
Engaging both sides of the brain is key to effective learning and problem-solving. After focusing intently on solving a problem (left brain), it helps to let your mind wander and look at it from a different angle (right brain). Sleep also seems to facilitate communication between the hemispheres, allowing the right brain to find hidden patterns and insights.
Section: 1, Chapter: 16
Research on musical expertise, including studies by John Sloboda, indicates that early specialization and intensive practice are not always the optimal path to success. Instead, a sampling period where individuals explore various instruments and musical styles often precedes focused practice and leads to greater creativity and skill development.
Section: 1, Chapter: 3
"Compared to other scientists, Nobel laureates are at least twenty-two times more likely to partake as an amateur actor, dancer, magician, or other type of performer."
Section: 1, Chapter: 1
Learning environments can be categorized as either "kind" or "wicked." Kind environments, like chess or golf, have clear rules, consistent patterns, and immediate feedback. In such environments, early specialization and deliberate practice are highly effective. Wicked environments, like the world of business or politics, are characterized by ambiguity, changing rules, and delayed or inaccurate feedback. Here, broad experience and adaptability are more valuable than narrow specialization.
Section: 1, Chapter: 1
“breadth of training predicts breadth of transfer. That is, the more contexts in which something is learned, the more the learner creates abstract models, and the less they rely on any particular example. Learners become better at applying their knowledge to a situation they’ve never seen before, which is the essence of creativity.”
Section: 1, Chapter: 3
Learning deeply means embracing the struggle. The most effective learning looks inefficient, with progress that comes slowly. We all reflexively assess our progress by how we are doing right now, but this often leads us to mistake fleeting progress for deep learning. In reality, frustration is often a sign you are learning, while ease is not.
Desirable Difficulties: These are obstacles that make learning more challenging, slower, and more frustrating in the short term, but better in the long term.
Generation Effect: Struggling to generate an answer on your own, even a wrong one, enhances subsequent learning.
Hypercorrection Effect: The more confident a learner is of their wrong answer, the better the information sticks when they subsequently learn the right answer.
Spacing Effect: Leaving time between practice sessions for the same material, improves long-term retention.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
"It is difficult to accept that the best learning road is slow, and that doing poorly now is essential for better performance later. It is so deeply counterintuitive that it fools the learners themselves, both about their own progress and their teachers' skill"
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
The central lesson from Ericsson's research is that the right kind of practice makes perfect. If you want to get better at anything, you have to constantly push outside your comfort zone, try things that are hard for you, and critically analyze your performance for ways to improve. Some key elements of deliberate practice include:
- Set well-defined, specific goals and subgoals. Break the skill down and work on the hardest parts in isolation.
- Get immediate feedback on your performance. Don't just rely on your own subjective experience - use a coach, video yourself, or gather objective data to see what you're doing wrong.
- Concentrate deeply and actively. Mere repetition isn't enough. Stay focused and mentally engaged with the task, searching for areas of weakness and experimenting with improvements.
- Aim for challenges just beyond your current abilities. If practice becomes easy, make it harder again. The feeling of strain and mental effort is a sign you're in the zone of maximal improvement.
With this kind of practice, Ericsson and colleagues have shown that virtually anyone can achieve remarkable abilities in fields as disparate as violin, chess, gymnastics, and memory. Talent matters much less than how you train.
Section: 1, Chapter: 8
Chapter 2 introduces Anders Ericsson, a professor at Florida State University and the world's leading expert on expertise. Ericsson has spent decades studying expert performers, from mental athletes to chess grandmasters to virtuoso violinists, in order to understand how they achieve their incredible skills. His core finding is that expertise comes through a very specific type of practice he terms "deliberate practice" - focused, goal-directed training performed with full concentration and immediate feedback, consistently pushing past one's comfort zone. Innate talent is less important than the right kind of training.
Section: 1, Chapter: 2
In Chapter 8, Foer dives deeper into the research of Anders Ericsson on expert performance. Ericsson's core finding is the "10,000 hour rule" - the idea that true mastery in any cognitively demanding field, be it music, chess, or memory, requires roughly 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to achieve.
But equally important is the type of practice required. Ordinary practice, just doing the same thing over and over again, leads to minimal improvement in the long run. We quickly reach a basic level of proficiency Ericsson calls the "OK plateau," where continued experience yields diminishing returns. To keep improving, it's necessary to engage in deliberate practice - focused, goal-directed training at the edge of one's abilities, constantly reaching for challenges just beyond one's current level of competence. This kind of practice is hard work. It requires intense concentration and isn't always fun.
Section: 1, Chapter: 8
Foer lays out the basic technique for memorizing used by mental athletes: the "memory palace." Invented in ancient Greece, this powerful method exploits our brain's natural spatial memory abilities. To use it:
- Visualize a familiar physical space, like the layout of your house.
- Mentally place the items you want to memorize throughout the rooms, creating an associative link between each item and a specific location.
- To recall, simply retrace your steps through the memory palace. The distinctive items and images you placed will spring back to mind.
By tying information we want to remember to places and images, we take advantage of how the human brain evolved to work - not as a filing cabinet for abstract symbols, but as a way of navigating the world and remembering what's important. Even the most mundane facts can be made memorable with enough creativity in transforming them into strange, lewd, funny, or bizarre mental images and scenes.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
Chapter 9 introduces the story of Raemon Matthews, a high school teacher in the South Bronx who uses memory techniques to help his disadvantaged students succeed. Matthews teaches at the Samuel Gompers Vocational High School, where many students come from poverty and score well below average on standardized tests.
But the group of students Matthews coaches for the memory competition, known as the "Talented Tenth," regularly win honors and go on to top colleges. The key, Matthews argues, is combining memory training with high expectations. By drilling his students on memorizing facts and figures from their textbooks using visualization and the memory palace technique, he gives them a tangible way to master academic content.
Even more important are the lessons in discipline, organization, and self-belief. By showing students they can overcome mental limitations to achieve seemingly impossible feats, Matthews convinces them they have what it takes to succeed no matter their background. Memory training instills an attitude of accomplishment that carries over to all their studies.
Section: 1, Chapter: 9
One of the biggest barriers to success with deliberate practice is frustration. Constantly working on things you're not yet good at is hard. It takes grit and perseverance to keep at it in the face of repeated failures and setbacks.
This is where Foer argues that cultivating the right habits and attitude is key. Rather than just forcing yourself to work hard, the goal should be to make practice a routine, almost an automatic part of your life. Set a regular daily practice schedule and stick to it even when you don't feel motivated. Start small and gradually increase the load. Make it your default state.
Additionally, try to find ways to enjoy the process for its own sake. Take pleasure in small improvements and savor the feeling of getting better over time. With smart training habits and a growth mindset, what looks like a frustrating weakness today can become a profound strength over time.
Section: 1, Chapter: 8
Haim Ginott, a child psychologist, shares a story illustrating how adult reactions shape children's self-concept and emotional resilience:
- 5-year-old Jessica was drawing a picture but became frustrated and tore it up. Her mother's response was "Oh honey, you were doing so well! I'm so sorry you messed it up."
- This taught Jessica that success is fragile and can be ruined by mistakes. Her mother unwittingly instilled a fixed mindset and catastrophic thinking.
- If instead her mother had said "It's so frustrating when drawings don't turn out the way we want. I usually take a break and try again later. Can I help you tape it back together?", she would have conveyed that mistakes are fixable and effort yields improvement.
Well-intentioned parents often inadvertently promote fixed mindset thinking in their attempts to be supportive.
Section: 1, Chapter: 7
Many people believe in "naturals" - people endowed with abilities that unfold effortlessly. However, research shows this is largely a myth:
- Prodigies like Mozart had put in extraordinary effort and practice from a very early age. Their special status came from focused early training, not from being born special.
- Charles Darwin was viewed as an ordinary child and only became the revolutionary scientist through years of dedicated work and overcoming challenges.
- "Natural talent" perpetuates a fixed mindset that actually limits the potential of talented people by making them risk-averse and vulnerable to failure.
The truth is, great accomplishment comes through extraordinary effort and persistence, not innate ability. But the myth of natural talent persists because people prefer the idea of giftedness to the "drudgery" of effort
Section: 1, Chapter: 3
"Not yet. That's the point. You can still learn. It's not about immediate perfection. It's about learning something over time: confronting a challenge and making progress."
Section: 1, Chapter: 1
People with a growth mindset eagerly take on challenges and view failures and setbacks as opportunities for learning and development. They understand that effort and practice are the path to mastery. On the other hand, fixed mindset people shy away from challenges and feel discouraged and defensive in the face of failure. To them, failure indicates lack of ability rather than a need for more learning and effort.
Section: 1, Chapter: 2
- Redefine success as giving your full effort and using challenges to improve. Don't focus solely on winning or perfection.
- Study the greats in your field and the immense work they put in to get to the top. Dispel the myth that their success was due to innate gifts that you lack.
- View failures and challenges as opportunities to learn and grow. Focus on what you will do next time to improve rather than dwelling on the failure itself.
- Commit to daily practice and learning. Constantly look for ways to improve your craft, even in areas of strength.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist, was famous for his ability to intuit his way through impossibly complex problems. His intuition was the product of a rigorous process he used to transmute abstract concepts into visceral understanding. Whenever Feynman encountered a new idea, he wouldn't just memorize the equations or proofs. He would imaginatively reconstruct the concept from the ground up.
Through this imaginative immersion, Feynman built bullet-proof intuitions. The concepts he studied became so real and palpable in his mind's eye that he could manipulate them with ease, rotating them to expose hidden facets or recombining them in novel ways.
By refusing to be a passive recipient of knowledge, and instead constantly probing the edges of his understanding, Feynman built one of the most powerful intuitions in the history of science.
Section: 1, Chapter: 12
Srinivasa Ramanujan, one of history's most brilliant mathematicians, had an unconventional learning journey. Growing up poor in India, he had limited access to formal education or advanced math textbooks. One of the only resources he could get his hands on was a book by George Shoobridge Carr called "A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied Mathematics."
Lacking the solutions, Ramanujan was forced to derive the proofs himself. He spent countless hours not just reading the theorems, but reconstructing them from first principles. In cognitive science terms, he was engaging in an extreme form of retrieval practice - grappling with each concept until he could regenerate it from memory.
This intense retrieval practice honed Ramanujan's mathematical intuition to an extraordinary degree. Over time, he developed such a deep understanding of how numbers fit together that he began discovering new theorems the world had never seen. Despite his lack of formal training, he made breakthroughs that stunned the mathematical establishment.
Section: 1, Chapter: 8
Metalearning is the process of learning how to learn a subject or skill efficiently. By understanding how knowledge is structured in the domain you're learning, and what methods are effective for learning it, you can create a "map" that accelerates your learning. Metalearning research helps you avoid wasting time on suboptimal methods.
Take the following example: Linguist Daniel Everett can decipher the basics of a new language in just a few hours of interaction with a native speaker. He does this by using metalearning - his extensive knowledge of linguistic concepts and his practiced techniques for eliciting example words and phrases. This allows him to quickly build a "map" of an unfamiliar language.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
While most learners focus on absorbing information through reading, listening, or watching, research suggests that actively recalling information is a far more powerful learning strategy. Studies consistently show that learners who engage in retrieval practice - testing their memory of learned material - outperform those who use passive review techniques like re-reading or watching lectures.
Remarkably, this holds true even when the retrieval attempts are unsuccessful. The mere act of struggling to recall information, even if the attempt fails, seems to strengthen the memory and make it easier to recall next time. The benefits of retrieval practice stem from its difficulty. Dredging up a memory from partial cues is harder mental work than reviewing a full passage. That extra effort encodes the information more durably, in a phenomenon researchers call "desirable difficulty." So while re-reading a textbook may feel productive, flashcards that require you to strain to remember the answer will ultimately embed the knowledge more deeply.
Section: 1, Chapter: 8
When it comes to developing expertise, not all practice is created equal. Amateurs tend to spend their practice time on what they already do best. In contrast, top performers are relentless about attacking their weakest points. They view practice as an opportunity to widen bottlenecks in their performance, not just reinforce existing strengths. This is where drills come in. Drills are high-intensity practice sessions designed to rapidly level up lagging aspects of a skill.
Drills adhere to a three-stage cycle:
- Identify the subskill that's holding back your overall performance - your rate-determining step.
- Design a drill to attack that weakness head-on. Break the skill down to its components, then focus ruthlessly on your sticking point. Crucially, a drill should challenge you just beyond your comfort zone.
- Integrate your improved subskill back into the whole. Drills deal in deconstructed skills - once you've strengthened a weak piece, practice folding it back into the complete skill.
Section: 1, Chapter: 7
"Transfer, the ability to apply classroom learning to real-world problems, is startlingly rare. In many studies, students with years of classroom learning failed to transfer basic concepts to new situations. Even small changes in problem formats caused students' learning to break down. Transfer is the "Holy Grail" of education that is seldom achieved through standard classroom instruction."
Section: 1, Chapter: 5
Many people have internalized the idea that learning should always feel smooth, easy, and pleasurable - a constant flow state. But this conception is misleading and counterproductive. Challenging learning often involves struggle, even a sense of being lost and confused.
Embrace a degree of struggle as not just normal but desirable for growth. Focus on creating conditions for focused concentration - blocking distractions, working on one thing at a time, and giving your full effort. But don't put pressure on yourself to always feel perfectly locked in.
Trust the process. Throw your focus fully into the task, even when it feels hard, and trust that with time, the concepts will clarify. Skill development is a cycle of challenge and mastery. Embrace both phases, knowing that the discomfort is temporary but the competence you're building is long-term.
Section: 1, Chapter: 5
On its surface, the Polgár sisters' story reads like a typical child prodigy tale - three precociously gifted girls destined for greatness from birth. But a closer look reveals a different story - one of relentless hard work, strategic training, and a fanatically focused learning environment.
From the outset, the Polgár parents set out to mold their daughters into learning machines. They homeschooled the girls with an obsessive focus on chess, stripping away conventional subjects in favor of intensive drilling and practice.
But it wasn't just the volume of practice that set the Polgárs apart - it was the quality and design of their training. László, the mastermind father, instinctively grasped the principles of deliberate practice and ultralearning. He broke chess down into its component skills, and drilled each one to the point of automaticity. He immersed his daughters in the culture and lingo of grandmasters, so they would feel at home in the world they were entering.
Looking back, we can see the Polgár experiment as a blueprint for integrating ultralearning into education. By frontloading their training, specializing ruthlessly, and gamifying the learning process, the Polgár parents created an environment perfectly tuned for rapid skill acquisition.
Section: 1, Chapter: 14
To reap the benefits of metalearning for your own learning projects, create a metalearning map by asking yourself three key questions:
- Why am I learning this, and what do I want to do with this skill/knowledge? Get clear on your purpose and the specific situations in which you want to apply what you're learning. This will help you zero in on the highest-value knowledge to focus on.
- What concepts, facts, and procedures do I need to learn to reach my goal? Deconstruct the skill into its component concepts, identifying which ones are most essential. Not everything is equally important.
- How can I learn this most efficiently? What learning resources and techniques work best for mastering this skill? Research the experiences of experts and past learners to uncover what methods work best. Adopt their strategies while tailoring your approach to your own situation and needs.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
Achieving transfer - the ability to apply abstract classroom learning to messy real-world problems - has been called the "Holy Grail" of education. Yet research shows that even top students frequently fail to transfer their knowledge to new situations.
The issue stems from how formal education is structured. Classroom learning is often abstract and de-contextualized from real-world applications. It prioritizes memorizing facts and procedures over practicing skills in context. This trains students to execute set problem types but leaves them ill-equipped to transfer that knowledge to novel situations.
Enter the directness principle. Directness is ultralearning's answer to the transfer problem - learning a skill by doing it in the context you want to use it. The closer your practice matches your target environment, the more readily your skills will transfer.
Section: 1, Chapter: 6
Most people avoid negative feedback like the plague. For ultralearners, though, constructive criticism is like gold. They actively seek out tough feedback because they know it's the fastest way to improve.
Research by psychologist K. Anders Ericsson shows that immediate, accurate feedback is essential for achieving expert performance. Without it, even seasoned professionals can see their skills stagnate or regress.
Ultralearners reframe negative feedback from an attack on their abilities to a roadmap for improvement. They reject feedback that's too vague or sugarcoated, knowing it won't give them actionable intel. Instead, they mine criticism for specific, granular insights on where and how to get better. The more precise the feedback, the more quickly they can iterate and improve.
Section: 1, Chapter: 9
Scott Young undertook the MIT Challenge, attempting to learn MIT's 4-year computer science curriculum in just 12 months using their freely available course materials. He aimed to pass the final exams and complete the programming projects. This self-directed learning project demonstrated the potential of intensive, focused learning outside of formal education.
Similarly, To prepare for Jeopardy!, Roger Craig downloaded tens of thousands of questions and answers from past shows. He analyzed the data to uncover common topics, patterns in where Daily Doubles appeared, and studied using spaced-repetition software. This data-driven, systematic approach led him to break records on the show.
Section: 1, Chapter: 1
To harness retrieval practice, start testing yourself early and often. The testing effect works even when you're struggling to recall the answers. In fact, that productive struggle is key to retrieval's power. So start quizzing yourself almost as soon as you've learned something.
Vary your retrieval techniques to keep your brain on its toes:
- Use flashcards for quick, drill-style retrieval of facts or vocabulary.
- After each reading session, write down everything you can remember without checking your notes. Then fill in the gaps you missed.
- Turn your notes into a series of questions to answer later.
- Solve practice problems without consulting worked examples.
- When you can't recall something, try to remember the context in which you learned it - where you were, what else you were thinking about. These extra memory cues can help unlock the information.
Most importantly, embrace the struggle.
Section: 1, Chapter: 8
Not all feedback is created equal. Understanding the three levels of feedback - and how to leverage each one - is key:
- Outcome feedback: It tells you whether you succeeded or failed at a task, but not why. Grades, sales numbers, and scoreboards are all examples of outcome feedback. To use: Track key performance indicators and look for patterns. If you're consistently missing the mark, that's a red flag that your approach needs tweaking. Use outcome feedback to set a benchmark for improvement.
- Informational feedback: This is feedback that tells you specifically what you're doing wrong, but not how to fix it. A language partner who points out your grammatical mistakes, or an art teacher who critiques your brush technique. To use it: Pay close attention to where you're making mistakes. Look for trends - what errors crop up again and again? Use this intel to zero in on high-impact areas for drilling and deliberate practice.
- Corrective feedback: Guidance on not just what you're doing wrong, but how to do it right. A tennis coach who demonstrates how to adjust your serve, or a coding mentor who shows you a more efficient algorithm, is giving corrective feedback. To use it: Whenever possible, seek out experts who can give you detailed coaching on how to improve. Make sure you understand their advice, then drill it until it sticks. Keep practicing until the next round of corrective feedback.
Section: 1, Chapter: 9
"Each project you do will improve your general metalearning. Every project has the opportunity to teach you new learning methods, new ways to gather resources, better time management, and improved skills for managing your motivation...Ultimately, this effect far outweighs the effect of doing a specific project."
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
Ultralearning projects follow 9 universal principles:
- Metalearning - draw a map by learning how to learn the skill effectively
- Focus - cultivate deep concentration and make learning your primary focus
- Directness - learn by directly doing the thing you want to become good at
- Drill - attack your weakest points through targeted exercises
- Retrieval - test yourself to learn, don't just passively review
- Feedback - don't avoid negative feedback, use it as valuable data to improve
- Retention - understand what you forget and why, learn to remember
- Intuition - play with concepts to develop intuitive understanding
- Experimentation - explore outside your comfort zone, don't stick to preset methods
Section: 1, Chapter: 3
For many, the hardest part of learning is simply summoning the focus to get started and maintain concentration in the face of distractions. There are three main enemies of focus that you need to conquer to learn effectively:
- Failing to start due to procrastination - This "start friction" often stems from an aversion to a challenging or boring task, or an attraction to more instantly gratifying distractions. Make starting as easy as possible with techniques like the 5-minute rule (commit to focusing for just 5 minutes, then see if you want to continue) or the Pomodoro method of timing focused work sessions.
- Failing to sustain focus due to interruptions - External distractions like noise or notifications can derail your focus. Eliminate these interruptions as much as possible by controlling your environment and devices.
- Failing to engage the right type of focus for the task at hand - A scattered, reactive focus works for creative tasks, but analytical work requires deep, narrow concentration and reflection. Match your focus type to the demands of the task - whether it requires more open awareness or narrow precision.
Section: 1, Chapter: 5
Tristan de Montebello went from no public speaking experience to finalist in the World Championship of Public Speaking in 7 months by following the 3 steps to become an ultralearner:
- Do your research - benchmark how others have learned the skill and gather resources
- Schedule your time - decide how much time to commit and make a consistent learning schedule
- Execute your plan - start learning, notice when you deviate from ultralearning principles, and course-correct
Section: 1, Chapter: 3
Many of us view skill development as a linear progression - a gradual climb up the proficiency ladder, from novice to master. In reality, experts are often strikingly different from each other, even when equally accomplished.
What explains this divergence? The answer lies in experimentation - the willingness to explore unorthodox approaches, venture down uncertain paths, and develop distinctive ways of tackling problems. This experimental mindset is what separates true innovators from skilled-but-conventional practitioners.
Only by exploring off the beaten path can you find the hidden side doors to rapid growth and creative expression.
Section: 1, Chapter: 13
- Project-based learning: The quickest route to applicable skills is to learn by doing a real project. Identify a project that uses the skills you want to develop, then learn what you need to complete it. For example, building an app that uses programming concepts you want to learn.
- Immersive learning: If you want to learn a language for travel, book a trip and force yourself to navigate using only that language. If you want to master public speaking, join Toastmasters and speak regularly. Frequent, high-stakes practice embeds skills rapidly.
- Simulation: Sometimes, practicing directly isn't feasible. In these cases, create practice situations that simulate key elements of the real environment as closely as possible. Focus on matching the cognitive conditions, even if the physical environment differs.
- Overkill: To stress-test your skills' transferability, up the stakes beyond your target context. If you want to learn a language for travel, practice by debating complex topics with native speakers.
Section: 1, Chapter: 6
What does an ultralearning-friendly environment look like? There are a few core principles to consider:
- Frontload the fundamentals. Early in the learning process, it's crucial to prioritize the bedrock concepts and skills that everything else builds upon.
- Make practice a game. The Polgár sisters clocked thousands of hours of chess practice - but much of it felt more like play than work. Their parents turned drills into puzzles, matches into adventures.
- Cultivate a culture of mastery. Surround yourself with people who share your passion for growth - peers, mentors, coaches, friendly rivals. Marinate in the jargon and customs of your chosen field, until they feel like a second skin.
- Calibrate challenge and encouragement. The sweet spot for learning lies at the edge of our comfort zone - not so hard that we get discouraged, but not so easy that we coast. Aim to hover in that Goldilocks zone, where you're stretched just beyond your current abilities.
- Embrace the meta-game. Learning is itself a skill - one that requires its own form of practice. As you build your ultralearning environment, pay attention to what works and what doesn't. Tinker relentlessly with your habits and routines, always looking for ways to optimize.
Section: 1, Chapter: 14
In 2015, New Zealander Nigel Richards shocked the Scrabble world by winning the French-language World Scrabble Championships. Richards didn't speak a word of French. His winning secret? Phenomenal retention through strategic overlearning.
He achieved extraordinary retention through principles that any ultralearner can apply:
- Overlearning: Richards practiced French Scrabble far beyond basic proficiency. By drilling words and letter patterns to automaticity, he made them nearly impossible to forget.
- Active recall: Rather than passively reviewing word lists, Richards constantly tested himself. He pushed his brain to retrieve words from memory, even when cycling or doing other activities. This effortful recall strengthened his retention far more than mere re-reading.
- Spaced repetition: Richards spread his practice over months, cycling through word lists again and again. By returning to words at regular intervals, he exploited the spacing effect to maximize long-term retention.
- Mnemonic devices: To make abstract letter combinations memorable, Richards used memory palaces, visualization, and other mnemonic techniques. By converting raw information into mental images, he gave his brain vivid hooks to latch onto.
Section: 1, Chapter: 10
- Impose artificial constraints. Sometimes, the best way to spur creativity is to embrace limits. Give yourself an arbitrary restriction - a shorter time limit, a smaller toolset, a narrower range of options - and see how you adapt. Constraints breeds resourcefulness.
- Hybridize distant domains. Many powerful innovations emerge from the collision of seemingly unrelated fields. So look for ways to cross-pollinate your core skills with unexpected influences. If you're a programmer, take an improv class to see how the principles of "yes, and" could enrich your code.
- Randomize your variables. To inject more serendipity, try randomizing your inputs. Pick a key element of your craft, and assign a random value to it - a color, a tempo, a rhetorical device, a coding language. Then build your next practice session around that variable.
- Reverse-engineer your heroes. Pick a master practitioner you admire, and study their work like a forensic scientist. What hidden patterns, quirky habits, or unorthodox methods set their style apart? Then experiment with incorporating those elements into your own practice.
- Seek out discomfort. Our instinct is to practice what we're already decent at - to hone our strengths and shy away from our deficiencies. But true growth often lies at the edge of discomfort. Embrace the beginner's mindset, and let your fumbles and missteps be your guide.
Section: 1, Chapter: 13
Due to computerization, automation and outsourcing, the job market is facing "skill polarization" where middle-skill jobs are disappearing and high-skill, technology-focused jobs are in demand. To succeed, individuals will need to develop specialized skills through aggressive self-education. Ultralearning provides a path to rapidly acquiring the skills needed to thrive in this new landscape.
College tuition costs are skyrocketing, saddling students with debt, while often failing to teach in-demand job skills. For those unable to attend college, ultralearning provides an alternative path to gain career-relevant abilities. Even college graduates often have skill gaps that ultralearning can fill. The self-directed nature of ultralearning makes it adaptable to a wider range of life situations compared to formal education.
Section: 1, Chapter: 2
The human brain is hardwired to forget. Without active countermeasures, even our most intense learning efforts will fade over time. Here are four proven strategies to make any skill or knowledge stickier:
- Spacing: To truly lock in learning, strategically space your review sessions. As you practice, gradually increase the time between sessions. This spacing effect leverages your brain's natural forgetting curve to make memories last.
- Proceduralization: Our brains are masters at automating frequently-used skills. By drilling the component procedures of a skill to automaticity, we create a kind of muscle memory that resists decay. So when learning, focus on ingraining procedures, not just memorizing facts. Make it automatic.
- Overlearning: To overlearn, keep practicing beyond bare-bones competence. Drill those conjugations, practice problems, or chord progressions until they feel effortless. That extra layer of mastery will buffer against future forgetting.
- Mnemonics: Our ancestors cultivated memory into an art form, complete with baroque techniques like memory palaces and vivid associations. These ancient mnemonics can still juice up retention for modern learners. By converting abstract information into memorable images, mnemonics give your brain vivid hooks to latch onto.
Section: 1, Chapter: 10
As a teenager, Ben Franklin was an ambitious writer with a problem - his writing lacked polish and persuasive power. To fix his deficits, he pioneered a drilling tactic still used today: copywork.
Franklin would take well-written essays from his favorite publication, The Spectator, strip out key words and phrases, then attempt to reconstruct the original argument using his own words.
To sharpen his storytelling, he'd jumble his notes on an article, then aim to recreate the most logical flow. To expand his vocabulary, he'd rewrite essays as poems, forcing himself to find words that fit the meter and rhyme. To hone his persuasive writing, he adopted the Socratic method of making arguments through questions rather than statements.
By relentlessly targeting his greatest writing weaknesses through strategic drills, Franklin transformed himself into one of history's most influential authors.
Section: 1, Chapter: 7
In a study by psychologist Carol Dweck, seventh-grade students were taught about the brain's ability to grow and change through learning. They learned that intelligence is not fixed but can be developed through effort and practice. Compared to a control group that received only study skills training, the growth mindset group showed significant improvements in motivation and math grades over the course of the year.
They were more likely to see difficult problems as opportunities to learn rather than threats to their self-image. This simple shift in mindset led to measurable changes in academic performance.
Section: 1, Chapter: 7
Having to generate an answer or solution to a problem rather than being presented with it leads to stronger learning and retention, even when the generated answer is wrong. Generation can take many forms, such as trying to solve a problem before being shown the solution, writing your own summary of a text after reading it, or mapping out a chapter from memory. The effort to bring knowledge to mind strengthens the memory trace and creates more versatile connections to what you already know.
Section: 1, Chapter: 1
Many common study habits turn out to be counterproductive. Highlighting, underlining, and rereading textbooks feels productive, but these methods create an illusion of mastery. In reality, they lead to shallow learning that fades quickly. Similarly, cramming for exams often produces better short-term recall but poorer long-term retention compared to spaced practice. We are poor judges of when we are learning well, so becoming adept at self-quizzing is key to calibrating our understanding and breaking these illusions of knowing.
Section: 1, Chapter: 1
Massed practice (cramming, single-mindedly focusing on one skill at a time) feels more productive than spaced, interleaved, or varied practice, but that feeling is deceptive. Massed practice produces quick gains that also fade quickly. In contrast:
- Spaced practice: Spacing out study of the same material over time
- Interleaved practice: Mixing practice of different but related skills
- Varied practice: Introducing variation into how you practice a skill
These methods are more effortful and feel less productive in the moment but lead to more durable, flexible learning. The effort required to retrieve the learning after a little forgetting has set in is what builds habit strength.
Section: 1, Chapter: 3
We often have a false sense of how much we know and how effectively we will perform. Some common illusions include:
- Fluency illusions: Mistaking ease of reading for mastery of the content
- Familiarity illusions: Confusing recognition of a concept with understanding of it
- Rereading illusions: Believing that multiple passive exposures equate to learning
To avoid these illusions:
- Test yourself frequently, especially on material you believe you know well
- Summarize key ideas in your own words without looking at the source material
- Ask yourself questions that probe your understanding, not just your memory
- Calibrate your sense of what you know against objective feedback like quizzes
Section: 1, Chapter: 5
Mnemonic devices are memory aids that help organize and recall information by making it more meaningful, structured, or accessible. Common mnemonic techniques include:
- Imagery: Creating vivid mental pictures associated with the material
- Acronyms: Forming a memorable word from the first letters of a list
- Rhymes and songs: Setting information to a familiar melody or rhythm
- Method of loci: Visualizing items to be remembered in specific locations
While mnemonics are not a substitute for understanding, they can be powerful tools for memorizing large amounts of factual information such as medical terminology, foreign language vocabulary, or historical dates.
Section: 1, Chapter: 7
Structure building is the process of extracting key ideas from information and organizing them into a coherent mental framework. Some students naturally focus on the high-level structure of what they're learning, while others get caught up in disconnected details. In one study, students read a passage on car brakes:
"Poor structure builders tended to recall small, isolated, and sometimes unimportant details about the passage ('the brakes were made of a ceramic material'). Good structure builders were able to provide a more organized and meaningful summary ('brakes transfer the kinetic energy of the car into heat energy, which is dissipated by the ceramic materials, slowing the car down')."
Instructors can help students build better structures by providing advance organizers, outlines, and guiding questions that highlight the key points and relationships. Students can help themselves by looking for main ideas, making concept maps, and explaining the material in their own words.
Section: 1, Chapter: 6
Retrieval practice, such as quizzing yourself on what you've learned, is a powerful learning strategy. Retrieving knowledge from memory strengthens the memory trace and interrupts forgetting. Testing also helps you identify gaps in your understanding for further study. To apply this:
- Incorporate frequent low-stakes quizzes into your study routine
- Create flashcards to test your memory of key concepts, not just facts
- After each class or reading, write down the central ideas from memory
- Test yourself again on old material to keep it fresh
Section: 1, Chapter: 2
Establishing a regular habit of practice is crucial for mastering any skill. Some tips for making practice a habit:
- Set a specific, regular time for practice in your schedule
- Start small, with sessions as short as 10-15 minutes, and build up gradually
- Remove distractions and temptations during practice time
- Practice in the same place each day to build associations
- Track your practice sessions to create a sense of progress and accountability
- Celebrate small wins and milestones along the way
Section: 1, Chapter: 7
The theory that individuals have different "learning styles" (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc.) and learn best when instruction matches their style is popular but unsupported by empirical evidence. While people have learning preferences, catering to these preferences doesn't appear to enhance learning. A better approach is to adopt proven study strategies like retrieval practice, spacing, interleaving, and generation, and to match instruction to the nature of the material being learned (e.g., visual aids for geography, hands-on practice for motor skills).
Section: 1, Chapter: 6
Learning that is easy often doesn't stick. Difficulties that feel counterproductive, like spacing out practice, interleaving different topics, varying practice, and generation, actually lead to stronger long-term learning. The increased effort required to retrieve the learning after a lapse or to apply it in varied contexts strengthens memory traces and builds mental models that are more versatile for later application. Effective learning strategies tend to be more effortful than unproductive ones.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
Mia Blundetto, a US Marine Corps officer, had to learn parachute training on the job to lead a platoon in parachute operations. The training was difficult and sometimes scary. On one jump, Mia collided with another jumper, their parachutes tangling. Mia relates: "I realized that I was on top of the first jumper, so I just sort of swam out of his parachute and steered away from him."
Jumping out of an airplane is an extreme example, but learning by doing, even imperfectly at first, is often more effective than trying to perfectly prepare through bookwork alone. Mia's training gave her the skills to operate under pressure and adapt to difficulties. Getting into the field, making mistakes, and learning from them is often the fastest route to competence.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
Introducing difficulties into learning helps long-term retention and transfer. Some desirable difficulties are:
- Generation: Trying to solve a problem before being shown the solution
- Reflection: Reviewing what went well and what could be improved after a practice attempt
- Spacing: Distributing practice over time, allowing some forgetting between sessions
- Interleaving: Mixing up practice of different but related skills or topics
- Variation: Practicing the same skill in different contexts or variations
These difficulties feel less productive than straightforward studying or repetitive practice, but they are more effective at building durable, flexible knowledge and skills.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
Generation, or actively attempting to solve a problem or answer a question before being shown the solution, is a powerful learning strategy. Some ways to incorporate generation into your learning:
- When reading a textbook, pause at the end of each section and try to summarize the key points from memory before moving on
- After attending a lecture or workshop, write down the main takeaways and action steps without consulting your notes
- When working on a math or science problem, try to solve it on your own before looking at the solution or asking for help
- Engage in reciprocal teaching by taking turns with a study partner to explain concepts to each other and ask clarifying questions
Section: 1, Chapter: 8
Psychologist Robert Sternberg proposed that there are three types of intelligence:
- Analytical intelligence: The ability to solve problems, think critically, and analyze ideas (similar to traditional IQ)
- Creative intelligence: The ability to generate novel ideas and adapt to new situations
- Practical intelligence: The ability to navigate real-world situations effectively (i.e., "street smarts")
Successful learning and performance require all three. Traditional education tends to focus heavily on analytical intelligence at the expense of creative and practical intelligence. A more balanced approach is to provide opportunities to develop all three through problem-solving, open-ended assignments, real-world applications, and reflection.
Section: 1, Chapter: 6
As we develop greater expertise in an area, we lose awareness of what it's like to be a novice. This "curse of knowledge" can lead teachers to omit explanations of key concepts that they now take for granted. It can cause us to overestimate how well we have communicated an idea and underestimate how much exposure a learner needs to master a skill. Recognizing and compensating for this expert blind spot is essential for effective teaching and knowledge sharing.
Section: 1, Chapter: 5
After a challenging surgery, the neurosurgeon Mike Ebersold reflects on what could have gone better:
"A lot of times something would come up in surgery that I had difficulty with, and then I'd go home that night thinking about what happened and what could I do, for example, to improve the way a suturing went. How can I take a bigger bite with my needle, or a smaller bite, or should the stitches be closer together? What if I modified it this way or that way? Then the next day back, I'd try that and see if it worked better."
This mental rehearsal is a potent form of retrieval practice. By imagining alternatives and connecting them to his previous knowledge, Dr. Ebersold is expanding his mental models. Reflection works memory traces from different angles, strengthening mastery and preparing him to handle future variations.
Section: 1, Chapter: 2
"When you space out practice at a task and get a little rusty between sessions, or you interleave the practice of two or more subjects, retrieval is harder and feels less productive, but the effort produces longer lasting learning and enables more versatile application of it in later settings."
Section: 1, Chapter: 3
Nathaniel Fuller, an actor with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, uses spaced practice to memorize his lines. He breaks his script down into small, manageable chunks and practices them over time, rather than trying to cram all at once. He starts by reading a scene and highlighting his lines. Then he covers the page and tries to recite his lines from memory. If he makes a mistake, he uncovers the script, re-reads the line, and tries again. He repeats this process until he can recite the scene fluently.
Fuller spaces out his practice sessions over days and weeks, allowing time for forgetting and retrieval. This approach not only helps him memorize his lines more effectively but also deepens his understanding of the character and the play.
Section: 1, Chapter: 8
In a study of surgical residents learning microsurgery skills, one group crammed their training into a single intensive session, while another group had the same training spread out in smaller sessions over multiple weeks. When tested a month later, the residents who had spaced out their practice significantly outperformed those who had crammed. Some of the crammers even permanently damaged the nerves of the rats they were operating on due to lack of skill.
Section: 1, Chapter: 3
Books about Learning
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The Defining Decade Book Summary
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The Defining Decade is a insightful guide to making the most of your twenties, the most crucial years for building the personal and professional foundations that will shape the rest of your adult life.
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A Mind For Numbers Book Summary
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"A Mind for Numbers" by Barbara Oakley reveals the science-backed techniques and insights that can transform anyone's ability to excel in math, science and complex subjects by harnessing the brain's innate learning abilities.
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Range Book Summary
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Moonwalking with Einstein Book Summary
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Joshua Foer chronicles his journey from covering the U.S. Memory Championship as a journalist to becoming a competitor and ultimately winning the event himself, all while exploring the history, science, and techniques of memory training and the untapped potential of the human mind.
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Mindset Book Summary
Carol Dweck
Mindset reveals the power of our beliefs to shape our lives, and shows how adopting a growth mindset - the belief that abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work - can help us achieve more than we ever thought possible in every area of life.
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Ultralearning Book Summary
Scott Young
In "Ultralearning," Scott Young reveals the powerful principles and strategies used by elite self-directed learners to rapidly master hard skills and tackle ambitious projects, showing you how to create your own custom learning journeys to accelerate your career, expand your knowledge, and maximize your potential.
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Make It Stick Book Summary
Peter Brown, Henry Roediger, Mark McDaniel
Make It Stick offers powerful, evidence-based strategies for deeper, more durable learning - spacing, retrieval, interleaving, elaboration, generation, and reflection - that challenge conventional study habits and unlock our full learning potential.
