Discussion About learning and similar stuff

I want this topic to be dedicated to discussions about learning, education and similar stuff. First of all, I'll begin with a question: do you think that's possible to learn all day withouth doing anyhing else (except eating and so on) and that for few months? For me that's impossible. No matter what I have to do, I can't learn all day, somethings distracts me or I feel the need to relax or do something else. In novels I often read that some characters train for hours, be it night or day, for weeks, months or even years but I think that that's something imposible, something exceptional. I'm not at the level where I can sacrifice everything else for learning.

 

the brain is a lazy existence, it tries to slack off all the time

 

Although it is in theory possible to spend such a prolonged period studying, but for most and in most situations it will be nigh impossible. The instincts which help drive our existence make us pay attention to our surroundings, and if we dont we feel we have to so we look around. Not to mention everything from sounds, movement in peripherals, vibrations, scents and ect. All of which cause our instincts to say, theres something over there more important then this safe, peaceful book, 'check that there, could be dangerous' Which makes us look, move investigate. Then basic human sloth nature comes in. Tv and other distractions are easier to concentrate on then studying due to the simple fact...they change. Tv screen moves, same with everything around us except the book.

 

I doubt it. Firstly there's the motivational factor, which most people will be missing. It is a very rare percentage of the population that actually enjoy learning for prolonged periods of time, so the majority of people would come into the 'learning' with a negative attitude. That in itself leads to them being more easily distracted (they want to be distracted, they want to not have to learn/study). Also, the effectivity of the learning would go down, as people would not absorb as much information, there is just too much to take in in one day. They have no time to process something after learning it, they immediately would move to the next subject or topic. With traditional US schools, there is the afternoon to do HW, study and process the new information. But if you tack on the afternoon as another schooling session, they have more information coming in, with less time to process it. So they actually learn proportionally less than they would normally. This goes for the majority here, there are obviously exceptions to every rule. We have to note that the characters you mentioned are being pushed to extremes, some are forced to do the prolonged training, some have a limited time-frame, there are usually extenuating circumstances. Take Ichigo from Bleach, for example. He did the training in Soul Society to save Rukia. He trained for hours on end because he knew he had to, to save her. If someone's life was on the line, you would do it. The ones without extenuating circumstances are just anomalies, but then again, most MC's are.

 

My concentration levels when it comes to studies is pretty low. Only can go up to 4-5 hours at best. But when it comes to reading novels I've been pretty extreme. I've spent the whole day just reading books. It became so bad that I had to be forced by my parents to go have a bath or play with my friends. Even skipped a whole week of school when I was 11, spent all the school hours in a library and returned home, pretending I had properly attended school. Fortunately, my parents threw a fit when my grades took a drop, reading time got restricted to an hour a day, and they swore they'd give all my books away if my grades did not improve. Thank god for the so called Tiger Mom's!!! Now that I have more common sense, I don't do shit like that. Not at the cost of other stuff anyway.

I think while our characters especially in our CN WNs dedication towards training is pretty exaggerated, there are people who really do sacrifice almost everything for studies, mainly due to family pressure I guess? You have 10-14 year olds completing their college degree and then some additional degree as well. No matter how intelligent a child is, its difficult to believe that they would be studying so much without being able to give up on other stuff.

 

I can at the most spend an hour a day studying or learning

 

Not trying to get too philosophical here but most things you do you end up learning something so even if you get distracted you're still learning something. For example as a kid I liked sci-fi games in exchange for go time I learned alot of useful(and very very useless) information in a fun way. Though most things these days feel brainless....

 

Learning is a lot easier if you're curious about the subject or like the subject. Only in that case can you spend incredible amount of time learning.
If not, it's just torture, and people usually don't like being tortured.

 

Someone used the word motivation. From what I know there are at least two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. Those characters, if they were forced to study how did they succed? So that'll be extrinsic motivation, no? They want to win so they'll obtain power, money.. There are few cases in novels-except those with magic and experts- when they ,,cultivate" for the sake of cultivation (intrinsic motivation). But, another interesting portray is that, in the end, some characters that started to learn because of external factors go on the rute to internal motivation. I, for example, haven't learn math when it was needed and when the lessons were many I've gave up. Do you have to give up?

 

I believe it's possible to some extent, but you do have to have the necessary amount of willpower and internal motivation. I don't think it's sustainable to spend your time exclusively learning, but yeah, for brief periods of time, maybe up to a few years, it's possible to spend a lot of time 'learning'.

My freshman year in college, I was deeply motivated to study pure math. But, I didn't consider it 'learning.' I found it more as entertainment. Solving puzzles in abstract algebra, shortening proofs I'd already done, and grinding through textbooks were what I spend a majority of my time on. Fuck going to class, fuck doing homework, and on occasion, fuck taking exams. It was a waste of time, I could do more on my own, and probably get by due to the curve (not always true). I kept it up for around a year and a half, until I lost a close friend in an accident.
Long story short, I was no longer able to find the motivation to reach the point where I could make a contribution in pure math, so I moved to another field that I found required less work.

 

It's totally possible, I've locked myself in my room for weeks on end learning to script and mod Fallout 3 and all that.. (Yea yea w/e) .
But besides that I've spent a few days where I would eat,sleep, shower, in between reading text books for my lit classes. I've learned so many words just through that (I don't use them though so bleh) but whenever I come across a word people normally get stumped on I can usually just move a long. I've learned how different authors transition into different scenes and how they managed to escalate the story to keep your attention. While It's not something important for everyday life, I find it's helped me find more hidden gem's of literature.. (Not that I don't stop reading the garbage that sometimes get through -shrug).

So Yes. I am a Believer.. hehe

 

Well I did that when I took a licensure exam. I remember studying for more than 16 hours a day on the weekends and it lasted for a month or so. Additionally, the moment I got home from work, I resumed my studies until sleep time.

Today, I'm just distracted just like anyone else. I just need a drive. Writing a story is my present drive though, but I kept coming back here...

 

Hm, so procrastination has something to do with motivation. Well, I procrastinate because I run from my fears. It happens that I have lot to learn (legal texts and interpretations) and the explanations are in several books so, if I want to understand something I have to try and search it. Also, It annoys me to see colegues/mates who take the easier way and just read and read and read and re-read from the same manual/book. When I put the question, why they do that, what's the point, how can it be that they understand at the first read and I don't? ... Usually they give a blank look or, simply, generic answers. They don't try to understand: ,,why ? For what?" or to use their imagination and so begin to question my way and ... There were moments when I've lost myself in questions and there were no answers or no one willed/wanted to give a hand.. And so, with every setback I'm farther and farther from the target: to understand and use what I read. As time passed I've found some answers but time was lost.

To sum up: why do you procrastinate?

 

I procrastinate because the things that include procrastination are more appealing than what I'm doing. Usually. Basically, my self-discipline is really weak. If I have homework or a paper or something, you may or may not find me 'forgetting' it or watching YouTube.