Week 3: Fitting it all in: Balancing Learning and Life. And sleep.

Hello again,

Week 3.  It's been a pretty rough week.  I always knew that holding down a full time job AND engaging in studies was going to be difficult.  Reality didn't disappoint me.

I work 5 days a week, 8 or more hours a day.  The novelty of hitting the books after work and at weekends when you're a recovering procrastinator wears off pretty quickly.  Then there's the creeping resentment of missing out on time with the family or hobbies.  The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Learner, you might say (an expression many others have used).

Still I know it's worth it - and after all, I have to do this.  And besides, I have strategies.  My anti-procrastination measures are doing their level best to ensure my study sessions are tight and distraction free. And through a combination of rewards (snacks, down time and a few gaming sessions) and concrete Finish Times, I'm able to keep myself motivated

The MOOC recommended Journal Planners - both Weekly and Daily - as this  something that reminded me of the Study Planners I used to draw up way back when I was at school and University.

Writing up the Daily planner the night before, just before going to sleep, aims to free up working memory and enlists my now helpful subconscious Walking Dead chums to figure out how I'm going to achieve them.  What's really funny is that my lovely wife is always going on at me about making lists.  She's been extolling their virtues for as long as I can remember.  Note to self: Wives are ALWAYS right.

The key thing I've learned about these lists - and it's something we covered in the lectures - was to make the goals realistic and achievable.  'Wiping out World Hunger' on a Wednesday evening was never going to happen, so scaling back what can be realistically achieved takes some productivity tuning.

Pomodoro's are alive and well, along with the ever important Finish Time.  And mixing in time for some diffuse mode breaks (legal web surfing, watching a short TED video on a longer break to focus on something completely different to my subject area, maybe a quick blast on Pinball Arcade or Fruit Ninja) is a welcome break.

As Mark Twain said, "Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day."  Mark Twain never experienced Nested Loops.  That said, he was absolutely right in principle; getting the really gnarly study stuff out of the way is very satisfying.

As I may have mentioned, I'm a huge game fan.  If it's got buttons, joysticks or scoreboards, I'm all over it.  I'm also a huge proponent of gamification (still one of the bigger influences in learning design).  I'd read about gamified productivity tools earlier this year on Lifehacker and have tried a couple out.  The one I've currently got installed is a free Android one called Task Hammer (there are similar paid apps for iOS like Doable and EpicWin).  Pick an avatar, load up your tasks to the app - then as you complete them, you get notifications and congratulatory messages. The best thing (for me anyway) about this is the way that you experience permanent 'levelling up', visually representing how you personally are growing in terms of your productivity.

Using this, I'm trying to tap into that little dopamine hit that I get when I achieve each goal (Psychology Today).  Granted, I could get that just by ticking something off a list, but hey, it's 2014 and I'm a total sucker for Achievements :-)

And then, there's sleep.  Lovely, restorative sleep.  As we know, when we drift off to the land of nod, we're not neurologically inactive at all.  As Xie and Nedergaard have proposed (in separate papers), the glymphatic systems in the brain run the 'rinse cycle' (although the same thing happens during anaesthesia, trivia fans), resulting in a 60% increase in interstitial space in the old brain.  That allows the cerebrospinal fluid to exchange with the interstitial fluid in the brain, which removes those nasty toxic beta-amyloids. On waking, the brain has that lovely 'new car' smell (not literally, but you get where I'm coming from).

This fact - along with a really fascinating talk I found on TED - has totally changed my views on sleep, much to my wife's delight.  She's always banged on about how important sleep is - and now she's got science on her side, I'll never hear the end of it.  As I said before, wives are always right.  So I'm aiming for a good 7-8 hours a night (as per Kripke) and as the National Sleep Foundation put it, 'making sleep a priority'.

So far, this is working.  I'm maintaining a flow.  The Pomodoro's are less prone to interruption.  I'm getting stricter about blocking out distractions and as a result, I'm getting into the study habit without the resentment.  And my wife and dog get to see me.  And I still get to play games.  Result.

Until next time...

Week 2: Memories are made of this: Chunking and Memory

Hi All,

Welcome to Week 2.  My studies have shifted up a gear now and I'm due to attend my first classroom course at the end of the week.  In the meantime, I've been engaged in doing some pre-join studies.  I knew I had a lot to learn, but 'Wow'.

Concentrating my efforts and making use of my Focus thinking mode has been key to getting the first few learning chunks built and giving my pre-frontal cortex a good workout. I've been using the Pomodoro techniques to learn a a couple of key coding concepts each day.  I've also been mixing in coding drills on sites such as Codecademy and W3 Schools.  I can say with some certainty that the repetition is helping to strengthen the neural pathways and increase my chunk library.

Making notes from my textbooks and self-tests to see how much I could retain has been surprisingly effective and reflects the encoding effects that handwriting notes can have (although I have read one study that suggests typing notes is even more effective.  Go figure).  It reminded me that I used a similar technique about 20 years ago when I was revising for my university degree.  Seems Karpicke et al were bang on the money with their retrieval based findings in August 2012.

Another technique was my 'blank page' memorisation approach; in short, after covering a specific chapter or watching a tutorial movie, I take a blank page and try to recall as much as possible from memory.  It's brutal, especially when you don't feel you can retrieve much - but this is a perfect antidote to the illusions of competence that I was suffering when I was just reading books, passively watching tutorials and making mindmaps.  Again, Karpicke was totally right with this paper on concept mapping versus testing

To make use of my diffuse mode, I take a few moments prior to turning the lights out reviewing my learning from that day.  So far, I've had some pretty weird dreams about webpages.  The oddest thing was that one morning last week, I woke up and figured out why a page I'd built wasn't working.

Every few days, I return to my mini-tests and do some recall, making us of a spaced learning approach.  It amazes me how much of this stuff is sticking.  I've started a Learning Planner in which I'm making a note of stuff that works and stuff that doesn't.  So far, it's mainly 'stuff that works'.

Another real win for me has been the use of the Memory Palace technique.  I've tried a couple of things using Post It notes.  Lots of Post It notes.  Laying out the structure of a webpage along a flight of stairs was pretty helpful, as it combined the physical act of climbing the stairs with the structure of the page.  Fortunately no trips to the Emergency Room so far :-)

I've started leaving leaving notes around the house - or as my wife calls it - littering.  (in retrospect, maybe I should've told her I was adding 'context' to my learning chunks).  But now, when I think <body> tag, I think 'Kitchen'.  After all, stuff that happens here causes the 'body' to get bigger :-)

I've hit a couple of bumps in the road (some things, like JavaScript functions, are a bit tricky to grasp).  To engage my diffuse mode, I've taken to walking with my dog or jumping on an exercise bike.  The change of pace and opportunity to 'zone out' is really powerful.  I've had at least one Dali 'diffuse-to-focus' moment whilst out with our Spaniel when an idea clicked out of the blue.  It was a beautiful moment.

Anyway.  I'm still on the journey.  But a combination of some procrastination-busting habits, good study habits, techniques that promote effective chunking and keep illusions of competence at bay are paying off.  Long may it continue.

Week 1: Breaking Bad (Habits) - Procrastination and Pomodoro

Welcome to Week 1, dear reader.  If there was one thing that was going to totally torpedo my chances of learning success, the most likely suspect was going to be my almost mystical ability to procrastinate and get sidetracked.

There were more than a few 'lightbulb moments' when we covered the mechanism of procrastination in our course.  The mental twinge felt in my insular cortex at the outset of a less-than-appealing piece of work is exactly the same as those felt at the start of a study session (or at least the tougher, duller parts of the subject).  And that's usually when I do anything that isn't study or work.  Hey presto - temporary relief, followed by a side order of guilt and self-loathing.

Yes - I am weak.  But at least now I'm weak and informed.

When we covered the section of the course which outlined the anatomy of a habit, I could fairly easily check off each one against my usual modus operandi:

The cue ("OK. I'm logged on.  But just before I get into this, I'll just check this website.").
The routine ("I'll just check a couple of my favourites.  Might as well grab a drink whilst I'm at it.")
The reward ("Well that was fun.  Plus I've unlocked a few more levels on <insert game>).
The belief ("Is that the time?  Have I really just wasted over an hour doing nothing?  I'll never learn.")

So what have I done to try and rewire my habit?  Well as suggested, I've looked at the cue.  Why was I letting myself get sidetracked?  I was focusing on the product (completing an exercise, making notes an entire chapters etc.) as opposed to the process (spending X time working on something).  So what could I do to help focus on the process and try to block out the temptations which were infinitely more appealing than my studies?  Answer:  Pomodoro.

I started to follow the Pomodoro technique once we'd covered it on the MOOC.  Setting aside 25 minute blocks of intense, uninterrupted activity, interspersed with 3-4 minute breaks wasn't easy at first.  In fact it was a bit of a disaster as I was still getting sidetracked.  Removing distractions had to be key - so I started to switch off my phone, log out of Facebook/Twitter etc. and leave other game devices outside of my study haven.  I've even switched to FireFox and use an internet blocker extension called Leechblock to stop me from straying.

To keep time, I'm using the actual kitchen timer pictured here. According to Cirillo (father of the Pomodoro technique), physically setting the time emphasises the intention to start the task (Wikipedia). Plus if I use my phone as a timer, there's just too much potential for distraction.  Doing a set of four (current personal daily goal), followed by a longer break (and a nice cup of tea) is tough, but the feeling of getting into an uninterrupted flow is amazingly satisfying.

What's really made a difference in my fail:success ratio when it comes to uninterrupted study is my 'contingency plan' for when temptation comes knocking.  I know I'll regret it if I allow myself to fall off the wagon, so I'll actually tell myself out loud, "No - Just get on with it" or less repeatable phrases to that effect.  I'm trying (gradually) to change my reaction to the cue that was causing the issues.  So far, it's working pretty well - and because I'm just using willpower to nip things in the bud before things start to go awry,   I've only got a few abandoned Pomodoro sessions on record.

Focusing on the process of committing to 25 minutes of sacrosanct study time has definitely changed my mindset.  It's a manageable goal, something even I can manage (well, most of the time).  I'm also looking into gamified productivity apps which I can use to 'reward' good behaviour (I'm a total sucker when it comes to achievements. Don't judge me).

What's really odd is that I'm starting to see the benefits of this 'flow state' outside of study.  Applying it to work is doing wonders for my Work-Life balance.  By blocking out distractions in the workplace, restricting Instant Message, Email and Phone chat, I'm feeling more productive and don't need to take so much work home.  So not only am I less stressed at work, I have more time for study in the evening and I get to spend more time with my lovely wife.  Epic win. Now let's see how Week 2 goes.

Week 0: And so it begins...

Hey there...

Welcome to my blog, which aims to document my long and probably painful journey back from being an academic couch potato to a mentally buff student.  Well that's the plan anyway.

The short version:  I'm an instructional designer working for Virgin Media here in the UK (translation: I design training modules, programmes and solutions).  I've previously used what are known as 'rapid authoring tools' to build online learning solutions in the past (translation: software that makes stuff happen on screen without having to write code).  That's about to change.

I've been tasked with learning how to write HTML, CSS, JavaScript and JQuery from scratch, within the next - ooh - 4-6 months. That means I've got some pretty serious studying to do.  My managers are being amazingly supportive and they're not expecting miracles in minutes (which is a relief).  I've booked onto some courses, bought some manuals (went for the not-so-scary ones), that kinda thing.

But here's the thing: the last time I did proper studying was 1992.  My University degree.  For those of you doing the maths, that's 22 years ago.  Back then I had hair - and I'd been studying full time.  Now I've got two decades' worth of brain dust and cobwebs to contend with.  And less hair.

Sure - I've taught myself stuff since then, but it's always been at my own pace.  No deadlines.  No pressure. Sadly, that approach isn't going to cut it here.  

Then along comes this MOOC, Learning How to Learn.  And pretty soon, I realise that my 'soft around the middle brain', bad study habits, my abject lack of focus and superhuman powers of procrastination are what's standing between me and being able to achieve my goals.  In short: I've got to get my learning mojo back.

So, dear reader, join me on my journey.  Failure's not an option here.  My wife and I like hot food and regular baths and I really don't want to let my employers - or myself - down.  So - bring it on.