Neat article. Few things I myself have been struggling with and would like some insight into are:
Were you able to address the issue of ankifying the algorithms? If yes, how?
How do you handle the Anki burnout(or for that matter Anki inertia)? I am guessing with multiple subjects at a time, you at least have to review 100-200 odd cards per day(maybe more), and based on the non-atomic nature of your example cards, it seems to me that getting yourself to review that many cards every day is not a sustainable activity?
How do you preserve your sanity between learning new things and practicing new cards? It seems to me that it can be taxing to spend time revising on your own while also learning new things.
How do you handle the inertia that comes with creating new cards or editing cards for so many concepts and subjects?
Does the SM-2 algorithm suffice your needs in terms of frequency, priority, scheduling, etc?
Finally, have you found ways to avoid things like wrist issues, back issues, cognitive exhaustion, etc? Like maybe good computer etiquettes or something?
Sorry for the long list of questions. I am curious to know more because I have been struggling with getting my way into auto-didacting for more than 2 years now due to issues like being unable to differentiate between wanting-to-want and really want, burnout, haphazardness of it all etc. Any pointers on it would be really appreciated.
Algorithms can be Ankified with the same strategies that work for other subjects: chunk the basic intuition into a short overview card, use diagrams, and hit the “basic idea” of how it works before adding more details cards for particular tricks & minutia. As always, most cards should take <15 seconds to review (including time spent reading the card).
Personally, I avoid burnout a few ways: A) pair Anki with activities like taking a daily 1-mile walk or doing dishes (iOS voice commands help with the latter, so you can review hands-free), B) don’t be shy about reviewing my professional development cards during work hours, C) deleting social media from my phone, so Anki is the go-to gap-filler app, D) always be learning a few new cards in each deck (since decks with 100% old material are less fun to review), E) refactoring: I set a reminder to work on marked cards every few days, so I can break down difficult cards into higher-quality material. A little maintenance goes a long way. F) card design, card design, card design. Well-designed cards are far less fatiguing to review than hastily made ones.
Not sure I understand. Anki kind of abolishes the line between reviewing and learning: you do both with the same system. If you mean motivating yourself to study old material—my trick is to review from large, combined superdecks, so there is no pause between “Oh, I finished my learning decks, time to move on to old decks.” If I give myself that break, I’m more likely to procrastinate, but if I treat it all as one big deck there’s motivation to finish it all in one go.
I actually find it motivating. Learning complex subjects is usually hard, because when you hit something hard there’s an urge to procrastinate rather than figure out what’s blocking you. Anki removes these energy barriers for me: I can always learn a little more about quantum mechanics or whatever by adding a card or two. It makes hard subjects easy, and makes it possible to say “I’ll just study a little topology for 10 minutes” and actually make progress (which is usually impossible outside of SRS).
I very rarely try to tweak the algorithm. 90% of the usefulness of SRS is just being able to handle the spacing schedule for you. Tweaking it doesn’t lead to much gain in efficiency (with a few exceptions: adding learning stages to avoid ease hell, and changing the reset interval to something like 20% or 50% instead of 0% both help avoid a lot of unnecessary reviews).
Voice commands for everything, and audio cards for languages. Hands-free, eyes-free reviews!
Neat article. Few things I myself have been struggling with and would like some insight into are:
Were you able to address the issue of ankifying the algorithms? If yes, how?
How do you handle the Anki burnout(or for that matter Anki inertia)? I am guessing with multiple subjects at a time, you at least have to review 100-200 odd cards per day(maybe more), and based on the non-atomic nature of your example cards, it seems to me that getting yourself to review that many cards every day is not a sustainable activity?
How do you preserve your sanity between learning new things and practicing new cards? It seems to me that it can be taxing to spend time revising on your own while also learning new things.
How do you handle the inertia that comes with creating new cards or editing cards for so many concepts and subjects?
Does the SM-2 algorithm suffice your needs in terms of frequency, priority, scheduling, etc?
Finally, have you found ways to avoid things like wrist issues, back issues, cognitive exhaustion, etc? Like maybe good computer etiquettes or something?
Sorry for the long list of questions. I am curious to know more because I have been struggling with getting my way into auto-didacting for more than 2 years now due to issues like being unable to differentiate between wanting-to-want and really want, burnout, haphazardness of it all etc. Any pointers on it would be really appreciated.
Not the OP, but got a few opinions there:
Algorithms can be Ankified with the same strategies that work for other subjects: chunk the basic intuition into a short overview card, use diagrams, and hit the “basic idea” of how it works before adding more details cards for particular tricks & minutia. As always, most cards should take <15 seconds to review (including time spent reading the card).
Personally, I avoid burnout a few ways:
A) pair Anki with activities like taking a daily 1-mile walk or doing dishes (iOS voice commands help with the latter, so you can review hands-free),
B) don’t be shy about reviewing my professional development cards during work hours,
C) deleting social media from my phone, so Anki is the go-to gap-filler app,
D) always be learning a few new cards in each deck (since decks with 100% old material are less fun to review),
E) refactoring: I set a reminder to work on marked cards every few days, so I can break down difficult cards into higher-quality material. A little maintenance goes a long way.
F) card design, card design, card design. Well-designed cards are far less fatiguing to review than hastily made ones.
Not sure I understand. Anki kind of abolishes the line between reviewing and learning: you do both with the same system. If you mean motivating yourself to study old material—my trick is to review from large, combined superdecks, so there is no pause between “Oh, I finished my learning decks, time to move on to old decks.” If I give myself that break, I’m more likely to procrastinate, but if I treat it all as one big deck there’s motivation to finish it all in one go.
I actually find it motivating. Learning complex subjects is usually hard, because when you hit something hard there’s an urge to procrastinate rather than figure out what’s blocking you. Anki removes these energy barriers for me: I can always learn a little more about quantum mechanics or whatever by adding a card or two. It makes hard subjects easy, and makes it possible to say “I’ll just study a little topology for 10 minutes” and actually make progress (which is usually impossible outside of SRS).
I very rarely try to tweak the algorithm. 90% of the usefulness of SRS is just being able to handle the spacing schedule for you. Tweaking it doesn’t lead to much gain in efficiency (with a few exceptions: adding learning stages to avoid ease hell, and changing the reset interval to something like 20% or 50% instead of 0% both help avoid a lot of unnecessary reviews).
Voice commands for everything, and audio cards for languages. Hands-free, eyes-free reviews!