Iterating on my learning system

I find it challenging to retain the things that I learn. In most cases is because I don’t need that learning daily. I have many examples of this. I take German lessons, but then I don’t have the opportunity to use them. I’ve learned the basics of Rust several times, and I keep forgetting it because I don’t need it. Part of me thinks it’s okay to learn new things, even if I’m aware I’ll forget them, because I’ll be able to create connections with other pieces of knowledge, and ideas will emerge. It’s indeed one of the reasons why I like to learn new technologies and programming languages. I learn things that I can apply to other domains or make better tradeoffs when making decisions. The connection of multiple pieces of knowledge gives me unique perspectives.

However, my ability to retain and connect things will degrade over time. Hence, I think it’s essential to build a system to dump knowledge off my head, making connections with existing knowledge. I’m building that system on the Logseq app. I decided on it for a few reasons:

• It’s open-source
• It uses standard formats (e.g., Markdown)
• It doesn’t create vendor lock-in (I own my knowledge)
• It’s extensible via plugins
• It has a great community around it

Dumping knowledge in an app is unnatural, especially when knowledge happens anywhere and anytime. But I’m starting to make it feel natural. Whenever I have an idea or learn something, I open Logseq and dump it there, ensuring I tag it properly. I’m also refraining from using integrations with platforms like Readwise to prevent dumping stuff without manual processing. Another thing that I’m doing is reading about the Zettelkasten method, which Logseq takes inspiration from. Once I’m interiorized the knowledge capturing, I’ll move on to working on that knowledge and making connections using the tools that Logseq provides — for example, throwing myself into a part of the graph and navigating it from there, filling knowledge gaps and learning new things along the process.

If knowledge systems are a topic that interests you, I’d love to hear about your system and processes. Drop me a DM