On one of my usual walks, with earphones plugged in, I was engrossed in a Blinkist book summary. As I wandered, I realized that my mind wasn’t fully absorbing the words I was hearing. “Time for a little breather,” I thought. With a flick, Spotify replaced Blinkist. Music has this magical way of rejuvenating me. Energized by the music, my walk continued with a spring in my step, but that intended break? It never happened. Instead, I found myself lost in the world of tunes.
Returning home, frustration hit me. I had yet to finish what I had started on Blinkist. There was a tinge of regret – I knew deep down that revisiting and completing that session was unlikely, meaning I’d have to start from scratch. It was a missed opportunity, a lost moment of learning and growth.
I knew deep down that revisiting and completing that session was unlikely, meaning I’d have to start from scratch. It was a missed opportunity, a lost moment of learning and growth
Later on, an epiphany dawned on me. Though comforting, this pattern of drifting from books to music hindered my learning journey. It was like treading water – lots of effort but no progress. This insight sparked an idea, a solution to break the cycle. What if I could design something that seamlessly blended my listening sessions with music breaks, guiding me back to the text afterward? A tool that kept my learning structured and active and tracked my progress, boosting my motivation to dive deeper into the realms of knowledge.
What if I could design something that seamlessly blended my listening sessions with music breaks, guiding me back to the text afterward?
This wasn’t just about changing a habit; it was about transforming how I learn.
Learning af learning
For the past decade, I have repeatedly attempted to enhance my learning with minimal success. It wasn’t until I identified my learning disability that I understood why various techniques were ineffective for me, and how I needed to adapt them to my needs.
Listening to music has always aided my concentration and retention of information, as I detailed in my blog post “How Alternating Between Music and Audio Textbooks Can Enhance Learning.” However, it only recently occurred to me that its effectiveness might be attributed to the focused and diffused modes of thinking, as outlined in “Oakley, B. (2014). A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra).”
Other sources for focused and diffused mode
Focused and diffused mode in learning is also mentioned by Weinstein and Horvath.
Weinstein, Y., Sumeracki, M., & Caviglioli, O. (2018). Understanding How We Learn: A Visual Guide. Routledge.
Book:Â https://www.routledge.com/Understanding-How-We-Learn-A-Visual-Guide/Weinstein-Sumeracki-Caviglioli/p/book/9781138561724
Learning Scientists website:Â https://www.learningscientists.org/book
Horvath, J. C., Lodge, J. M., & Hattie, J. (Eds.). (2016). From the Laboratory to the Classroom: Translating Science of Learning for Teachers. Routledge.
Book:Â https://www.routledge.com/From-the-Laboratory-to-the-Classroom-Translating-Science-of-Learning/Horvath-Lodge-Hattie/p/book/9781138649347
How I adapted different learning techniques
Various learning techniques such as focused/diffuse mode, note-taking, teaching others, spaced repetition, active recall, goal setting, and chunking are all highly effective. However, when faced with mental challenges, one must adapt.
I concluded that focusing on just one technique would not suffice—I needed to integrate all techniques. I also encountered difficulties in getting started with any technique, such as writing questions for flashcards when using active recall and spaced repetition. I always drew a blank when trying to come up with questions and answers. Chunking required understanding the material well enough to organize it into chunks, which seemed like a catch-22. Note-taking often resulted in a verbatim copy of the text. Distilling the essence of a paragraph or chapter seemed impossible to me, as did determining which parts were most important.
Thus, I returned to the beginning of this post—I devised an idea to create something that would assist me with all techniques, including the structure of how and when to use them. This led to the development of the Commute Learner app.