#10. Key Lessons From My Learning Mistakes

Hi,

I'm happy you want to invest in your brain. That's a smart choice. As always, I've got 4 Brain Nutrients for you:

• One Short Article: Key Lessons From My Learning Mistakes.

• Two Quotes.

• One Neuroscience Fact: Eat Leafy Greens for Your Brain Longevity.

Enjoy!

One Short Article: Key Lessons From My Learning Mistakes.

"Don't fool yourself. And you are the easiest person to fool." Richard Feynman.

Here's the story of how I used to fool myself.

In 2019 I took over the responsibility for my education. I decided to switch careers to become a Machine Learning Engineer. It combines my skills: math and programming.

To start learning, I took Andrew Ng's course that teaches the fundamentals of Machine Learning - the primary subfield of Artificial Intelligence. It focuses on math. Each section ends with a short coding assessment to apply the essentials.

I rushed through the course!

But after finishing it, I had no clue what to do next.

"Shouldn't I know more by now?" I asked.

I should have. But I mastered fooling myself. At the time, I sucked at learning.

Let me give you the mistakes I made and the lessons I learned.

I underestimated the difficulty.

Basic math met the requirements for the course. As a graduate of the university of technology, I was way above the threshold. Because it was for almost everybody, I felt overconfident.

I memorized.

"There is no knowledge without memory." Jim Kwik

Memory is crucial, but it cannot substitute for understanding. Unfortunately, my learning relied mainly on my memory. My mindset: I remember this equation now, so I'm ready to move on. So I did. But it lead to another problem.

I didn't master the fundamentals

As the course progressed, it presented more equations. They got longer and more complex. Andrew explained how they derive from the previous equations. But because I didn't get the basics, I relied on my memory even more. After several sections, I had no idea what I was doing.

I looked up the solutions for coding exercises

Yes, I did. At the time, I believed that understanding the solution was equal to solving it. I wish I knew that seeing and finding the results are two different sports. How you get to the solution is crucial.

Key Lessons.

1. Focus on fundamentals. Although it's obvious, we commonly overlook this part. We rush for the shiny things. I certainly did. Every day Artificial intelligence presents new, fun applications. Compared to them, learning fundamental math is tedious.

2. Test your understanding. During the course, I knew the equations and how to solve them. But I didn't understand:

• what they represented

• how these equations worked

• how they relate to each other

3. Solve it yourself. You will never truly understand unless you get your hands dirty. Only then you'll find all the gaps and missing pieces.

In the following episodes, I'll show you how not to fool yourself. I'll present you the proven methods, including The Feynman Technique.

PS. I haven't become a Machine Learning Engineer.

Two Quotes

• "Who you are is defined by what you're willing to struggle for." Mark Manson, The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F.ck

• "The purpose of knowledge is to be shared." Tiago Forte, Building a Second Brain.

One Neuroscience Fact: Eat Leafy Greens for Your Brain Longevity.

Leafy greens support memory and slow down cognitive decline. Enrich your diet with the low-calories but vitamin-, minerals-, and fiber-dense products.

• kale

• endive

• arugula

• spinach

• cabbage

• watercress

• beet greens

• microgreens

• romaine lettuce

The end of the year is kale season!

Thanks for reading. See you next week.

Keep your brain in mind.

Kris

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