I have so many interests, it's sometimes crippling.
How I somehow, barely manage the situation now:
- Do what I have a deadline for.
- Start or join a study group with enough members that at least 5% of them are seriously motivated. Or ONE serious study partner.
- Learn in the public. Pick a subject, force yourself to write and share summaries, notes, etc. publicly. And promise the next "issue" on a set date.
- Rather than finding a subject, find a person who matches one of your interests and learn that with them. Having a person keeps you motivated. And not continuing makes you lose face. I always wanted to learn German and Spanish. I am finally putting effort for German because I have recently reconnected with a friend who learned German in college. I started learning Guitar recently even though I am more interested in Piano because I have a friend who came back to town who is an okay guitarist, and can teach me regularly, rather than having to rely on Skillshare courses.
- Timeblock specific days and times of the week. Hell or high water, do that.
- Having specific goals help. "Have enough knowledge about this so I can write a Quora article in it", "Know enough about Fast Fourier Transform to be able to code it in Python and explain to a college Freshman", "know enough of X to be able to do Y". This removes the initial inertia.
- Another very helpful thing is- just starting. If you just start doing something you have waited for long to start you are building more inertia, and adding newer items. My advice to you and myself is to just start. When you start, you actually stop liking ~70-80% of the topics. That way you remove clutter. When you haven’t started something, you have a rosy picture of that. Once started, you know the reality.
These are the ways I try to deal with this. Would love to know better ways.
I have so many interests, it's sometimes crippling.
How I somehow, barely manage the situation now:
- Do what I have a deadline for.
- Start or join a study group with enough members that at least 5% of them are seriously motivated. Or ONE serious study partner.
- Learn in the public. Pick a subject, force yourself to write and share summaries, notes, etc. publicly. And promise the next "issue" on a set date.
- Rather than finding a subject, find a person who matches one of your interests and learn that with them. Having a person keeps you motivated. And not continuing makes you lose face. I always wanted to learn German and Spanish. I am finally putting effort for German because I have recently reconnected with a friend who learned German in college. I started learning Guitar recently even though I am more interested in Piano because I have a friend who came back to town who is an okay guitarist, and can teach me regularly, rather than having to rely on Skillshare courses.
- Timeblock specific days and times of the week. Hell or high water, do that.
- Having specific goals help. "Have enough knowledge about this so I can write a Quora article in it", "Know enough about Fast Fourier Transform to be able to code it in Python and explain to a college Freshman", "know enough of X to be able to do Y". This removes the initial inertia.
- Another very helpful thing is- just starting. If you just start doing something you have waited for long to start you are building more inertia, and adding newer items. My advice to you and myself is to just start. When you start, you actually stop liking ~70-80% of the topics. That way you remove clutter. When you haven’t started something, you have a rosy picture of that. Once started, you know the reality.
These are the ways I try to deal with this. Would love to know better ways.