Section
Learning Hard Things
Patient, step-by-step approaches to skills and subjects that feel out of reach.
Entries
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01
Learning Hard Things
9 min Newest
Learning to Read a Chart Without Fear: A Beginner's Path
A chart is a small piece of writing in a different alphabet. Three plain questions about what the axes say, how the scale is set and what is missing will get you through most of them.
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02
Learning Hard Things
10 min
Explain It to a Ten-Year-Old: An Old Habit for Finding the Gaps in What You Know
Try explaining something in plain words, as if to a curious ten-year-old, and the places where you stall show you what you don't yet understand. It's an old habit, with roots in Plato, Seneca and Franklin, and a humble fridge makes a good practice run.
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03
Learning Hard Things
10 min
Getting Unstuck on a Maths Problem: A Patient Method
When a maths problem won't budge, four plain steps can help: say it in your own words, shrink it, draw it, and walk away for a while. Here's why each one works, and why being stuck is simply the middle of the job.
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04
Learning Hard Things
9 min
Learning a Language as a Grown-Up: Small, Cheap, Daily
You don't need an expensive course or a free year in another country. Ten minutes a day, a second-hand children's book and a willingness to mutter at the dishes will take you further than you'd think. Here is why it works, and why the bumpy patches are normal.
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05
Learning Hard Things
9 min
Learning a Hard Thing in Twenty-Minute Pieces
A hard subject usually yields to small, regular sessions better than to one heroic weekend. Here is why that works, how I run a twenty-minute session, and where the method might not suit you.