Joys of Compounding Chapter 2

Becoming A Learning Machine

Creating time to Read, Learn, Think

• Avoid TV.
• Keep the commute time to work low
• Automate mundane tasks like payment of bills
• Start small but maintain consistency: If you read just 25 pages a day, you will finish two 350-page books in a month, with two days to spare.
• Keep a book/ebook/audiobook handy at all times to make the best use of time gaps, such as waiting for a bus/taxi.

What to read

• Read something above your current level.
• Read classic texts on varied topics such as psychology, philosophy, business etc., rather than daily news, which loses relevance soon.

How to Read:

1. Analytical Reading:

• Ask questions and attempt to find their answers as you go through the book.
• Engage with the books: Use a pencil to underline main points; number the sequence of points made by the author to develop an argument; cross-reference the different pages with related materials.

2. Syntopical reading:

• Do a comparative reading of several books on the same subject and compare & contrast their ideas, insights, and arguments.
• Read books on different topics simultaneously to find common patterns within them.
• Quit the books that are not engaging. Find a better one.

First Principles Thinking

• Deconstruct concepts down to their most fundamental truths, i.e. their first principles.
• Cartesian Doubt: Systematically doubt everything until indubitable truth is left.

The Feynman Technique to learn anything

• Pick a topic and study it
• Explain/write it using basic concepts which a 10-year-old child can understand.
• The points where you struggle to keep things simple indicate the gaps in your understanding.
• Reread to fill the gaps — repeat as necessary.