The world’s leading publication for data science, AI, and ML professionals.

The Complete Guide to Effective Learning in Artificial Intelligence

A fundamental and complete guide to skyrocket your growth in Artificial Intelligence (or really in any subject)

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash.
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

"Artificial Intelligence is the new electricity" – Andrew Ng

We are in the thick of a new revolution – data science and Artificial Intelligence – transforming every sector of the economy. It is natural, therefore, that many people are eager to jump onto the bandwagon or to propel themselves in the field. Also, because the field is dynamically advancing so fast, continuously learning new tools and research is paramount to catching up with unfolding technologies.

Hence, this article is written for professionals eager to break into the field of data science and artificial intelligence, or those who are already in this rapidly advancing field. On the other hand, students of other technical domains can also easily apply the recommendations in this guide to advance in their work and study.


Table of Contents

  1. Prelude
  2. Introduction to Learning – The Brain and Memory
  3. Prepping the Brain to Learn 3.1 Sleep and Naps 3.2 Novel Environment 3.3 Exercise and Working Out 3.4 Personal Time for Deep Focus 3.5 Brain-boosting Diet

  4. Modes of Thinking – Focused and Diffused
  5. Forming Mental Chunks – The Process of Learning 5.1 Focused Attention – Learning New Material (Working Memory) 5.2 Understanding (Short-Term Memory) 5.3 Practice and Recall (Long-Term Memory)

  6. Overcoming Procrastination 6.1 The Pomodoro Technique 6.2 Understanding and Rewiring the Habit 6.3 Making Learning Obvious and Accessible 6.4 Focus on the Process, Not the Product 6.5 Know the Next Goal (Habit Stacking) 6.6 Embrace Discomfort and Make Willpower a Habit 6.7 Combining Willpower with Motivation 6.8 Focus on Single Goal and Schedule Down-time

  7. Supercharge Learning – Teach What You Know
  8. Learning Pipeline in Data Science 8.1 Essential Tools – Python and SQL 8.2 Machine Learning 8.3 Deep Learning 8.4 MLOps

  9. Final Thoughts

1. Prelude

Data Science and Artificial Intelligence are budding fields. While some people have opted for formal college education, much effort to break into these fields – or to continuously advance in them – naturally comes in the form of self-learning. Self-learning can take the form of attending MOOCs, studying textbooks, online articles or research papers. Personally, I have been taking MOOCs monthly, such as Coursera and Udemy, in areas such as deep learning and software engineering. You might wonder if I am putting great effort into self-development and thus I am ‘continuously learning’. Right?

Not quite. It is one thing to put in effort, but another to actually learn effectively. Worse, you may fool yourself into the illusion of competence. Enter a Coursera MOOC— Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects.

Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects

As a practising AI Engineer myself, the time investment in learning Machine Learning is precious, but my enrollment in this course is definitely strategic because I believe it can supercharge my future learning endeavours. For more granular coverage, I would recommend any Data Scientists, Software Engineers, or in fact, people from any other professional fields to attend this MOOC. Otherwise, this article is a culmination and distillation of the important gist that I have gained from the MOOC, and further fine-tuned and researched – from online/research articles to books such as:

Take some time to savour and go through this article – there are important tips that I have personally practiced – and I am sure you will find the lessons enlightening and extremely useful, regardless of whether you will be applying them to learning data science or other technical work domains.

Without further delay, let’s get started!

Keywords: Memory, Focus, Mood/Motivation, Purpose, Willpower, Mental Exertion


2. Introduction to Learning – The Brain and Memory

We learn effectively only when our brain is healthy and primed to grasp and retain information. Hence any study of learning must involve how it relates to memory and the brain. Moreover understanding the brain helps you better appreciate and remember how effective learning occurs. You get the idea.

Three types of memory are specific to learning – working memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. A successful learning process goes through from working memory to short-term memory to long-term memory. This takes time, and we can only say we successfully assimilate or master knowledge when it has lodged in our long-term memory.

Let us first start talking about working memory – the working memory becomes active when we get into the focused or alert mode during learning. Generally, the Prefrontal Cortex of the brain controls working memory and lights up when we are processing information. You can see working memory as analogous to the temporary RAM of the computer or a poor blackboard that quickly erases itself because it has small memory storage and can only last for around 15 seconds without any reinforcement. Because of this vulnerability and its importance as the initial window to learning, we will discuss later ways to optimize the working memory.

With focus and understanding, information then gets transferred to the short-term memory as knowledge— controlled by the Hippocampus of the brain. This typically occurs due to the interaction between Prefrontal Cortex (working memory) and the Hippocampus, as though an ‘attentional octopus’ from the Prefrontal Cortex reaches out its tentacles to form and create temporary neural connection patterns in the Hippocampus.

With continuous reinforcement and lasting practice, as we will discuss, memories and knowledge are temporarily stored in the Hippocampus and then gradually transferred to the Neocortex as long-term memory.

In addition, researchers discovered such a transfer to long-term memory also happens when we sleep, as shown in this link:

Where are memories stored in the brain?

3. Prepping the Brain to Learn – Sleep, Exercise, Environment, Personal Time, Diet

Before we step through the process of knowledge transfer from working memory to long-term memory, let us first understand how to nurture the right conditions for the brain to learn optimally. In general, there are five aspects in acclimatizing the brain for learning— Sleep, Exercise, Environment, Personal Time and Diet.


3.1 Sleep and Naps

Sleeping and taking naps might seem like almost useless and lazy activities, but in reality, they are crucial to learning. Apart from memory transfer to the Neocortex, sleep clears away toxins in the brain, allowing unobstructed information flow and allowing new synapses to be formed between neurons. This solidifies our memories and learning that we have built up the sleep before. In addition, rest, sleep and naps can also recharge our willpower that has been depleted during waking hours – willpower is a mental muscle critical for learning and will be explained later.

Experts usually suggest we have 7–9 hours of sleep each day, but because personally I find sleep so beneficial to myself, I would suggest 8–10 hours of sleep and nap to my readers.

Einstein’s genius sleeping habits

Why power naps might be good for our health

3.2 Novel Environment

Learning can also be supercharged when we immerse ourselves in physical and social environments that are novel, stimulating and supportive. Let’s talk about the social environment first. Learning is impaired (the working memory underperforms and willpower depletes) when the brain is experiencing fear, anger or stress. It’s thus crucial to cultivate relationships that are kind, motivating and not toxic and destructive. In work, social circle and family, you might encounter jealous or angry people who attempt to undercut you due to malice, or simply miscommunication. It is best to speak it out to resolve any underlying issues, otherwise develop a form of apathy and not let negative emotions creep into your consciousness. On the contrary, supportive and warm relationships with family, friends, spouses and colleagues can go a long way in boosting our learning potential.

Next, a novel physical environment is a great bonus in boosting memory and our mood. Research has shown that neurons and dendrites in our brain survive and grow in response to positive stimulation, which greatly helps in memory retention. Thus, it is a great idea to travel around places, or even overseas, occasionally. This also brings to mind that we can sometimes adjust our learning environment, or occasionally study/work in cafes, to create a sense of novelty.

Additional Tips: Occasionally tidying up and decorating our working environment can also maintain a sense of novelty, improving our mood and motivation.

3.3 Exercise and Working Out

In addition, we need to exercise. Not only is exercising healthy for the body, but it is also great for memory retention and strengthening willpower. Even without a stimulating environment, research has shown exercising is equally effective in promoting neuron growth in our brains. Typical exercises we usually try are:

  • Jogging
  • Swimming
  • Cycling
  • Strength training (anaerobic exercise)

However, I would like to call out an exercise that is quite underrated, yet has been greatly beneficial for myself – long walks. Let me explain. Not only are long walks (30 minutes or more) considered a healthy exercise generally, it brings immense benefits to mental health, such as alleviating mood and increasing motivation. Taking long walks close to nature is even better – kills two birds with one stone – as you enjoy the extra benefit of enjoying a novel physical environment. Moreover, walking taps into the diffused mode of thinking (which will soon be explained), when wonderful creative ideas can suddenly pop into the mind. I cannot recall how many times solutions to my machine learning problem at work have been hatched during my walking trips. It comes as no surprise to me that research has found that walking is a creativity booster:

Stanford study finds walking improves creativity

Why Intelligent Minds Take Their Brains For Long Walks

Another form of exercise is a mental workout through video gaming. Counter-intuitively, while many people believe video games are addictive and may impede learning, research has shown that regular, but disciplined, gaming can stretch cognitive abilities and memory of the brain. In particular, I would like to call out a famous chess-like and real-time strategy (RTS) game – Starcraft II. The heavy cognitive demands of the game, with its high actions-per-minute executions, make it ideal for a burst of mental workout that research has famously shown to improve cognitive agility and fluid intelligence.

Playing video games may ‘enhance learning’

Study: playing Starcraft can increase your cognitive abilities

3.4 Personal Time for Deep Focus

Next, crafting solo time without social distractions is also extremely important, especially during a learning session. Although some argue that different people – introverts and extroverts – recharge themselves in different ways, the general rule of thumb is that we need seclusion for deep focus and creativity. As we will explain later, learning knowledge by forming new wiring in the brain requires focused attention for an extended period of time.

The importance of having solo time is sometimes understated, but in the midst of necessary social demands, it is critical to batch our day to incorporate time for solo learning.

"Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living" – Albert Einstein

Schedule Solo Time to Protect Your Productivity

3.5 Brain-Boosting Diet

Finally, cultivating a proper diet also goes a long way in nourishing the brain to learn effectively, by keeping it in peak working condition. In contrast, eating oily and junk food can impede the brain’s performance, especially when it contains high sugar content. Research has shown that excessive sugar consumption can lead to impaired memory. In addition, recent research also discovered that the gut and brain are connected through millions of nerves, demonstrating that digestive health is intimately connected with brain health. Hence, an oily and carcinogenic diet may also degrade brain health over time. The key to a brain-enhancing diet is thus avoiding junk food, and taking more of the memory-boosting and concentration-boosting superfoods, that contain varying beneficial nutrients as seen in the below links:

Additional Tips: Taking light meals (reducing fat and sugar), spacing out calorie intake and taking healthy meals (I would recommend superfoods, like dark chocolate, almonds, broccoli and salmon), can improve our mood, alertness and focus level throughout the day.

11 Best Foods to Boost Your Brain and Memory

10 Superfoods That Increase Productivity

4. Modes of Thinking – Diffused and Focused

After we know how to prime the brain for effective learning, now let us discuss how the brain operates, to use it more effectively for learning. In summary, the brain operates in two modes – diffused and focused thinking.

When our mind is thinking, neural connections light up in the brain. In the diffused mode of thinking, neural connections light up across sparse areas in the brain, accessing different regions of our memories. The diffused mode is usually associated with the mind wandering freely during relaxation activities, such as walking or chit-chatting. It can help to generate creativity and help with problem-solving and recalling ideas. Usually when the mind is stuck at a particular problem, going for a walk or resting the brain actually helps in producing novel ideas through diffused thinking.

(The opposite notion that the brain is stuck in a particular pattern of thinking – and cannot find a creative solution to a problem – is called Einstellung, when neural connections were more focused rather than sparse. This brings to mind the focused mode of thinking – which has another important upside.)

In the focused mode of thinking, neural connections light up in concentrated areas of the brain and are usually associated with intense concentration in working on a familiar set of problems step by step, such as going through a test. The focus mode of thinking is also especially important in learning, as the neural connections from the Prefrontal Cortex (working memory) link up with the Hippocampus to give birth to new wiring or knowledge chunks.

You might think that learning and Productivity can be maximized by always maintaining our brain in the focused mode. However, it turns out that continuously cramming and working the brain can be counter-productive to memory retention and is stressful at the same time. Worse, it may tax the willpower muscle (located in the Prefrontal Cortex) beyond its limits and trigger a slight burnout.

Instead, research has shown that learning easily and deeply involves alternating periods of intense concentration (chunking – focused mode) and then periods of relaxation (exercising, resting, napping, music— diffused mode) to maintain a positive mood, help the brain develop new neural connections and form long-lasting memories of learnt materials.

Now that we have understood the importance of the diffused mode – either to generate creative ideas or as the counter-balance to hard work – let us now turn our attention to forming knowledge chunks in the focused mode.

5. Forming Mental Chunks – The Process of Learning

Chunks are the formation of neural connection patterns when learning a new concept – using the focused mode. Normally, chunking involves piecing together separate neural connections (recall the ‘attentional octopus’) and grouping them into a compact whole that is efficient to retrieve. There are three important steps to forming a knowledge chunk:

5.1 Focused Attention – Learning New Material (Working Memory)

This is your ‘attentional octopus’ with its tentacles reaching out from the Prefrontal Cortex (working memory) to the Hippocampus (short-term memory), in the focused mode of thinking. Because working memory in your Prefrontal Cortex is so precious, as a poor blackboard that quickly erases itself, you want to reduce distractions and preoccupations that hold you back from absorption (generally I will suggest avoiding listening to music when you are learning as it will occupy your working memory, while it may be mood-boosting while doing repetitive work).

5.2 Understanding (Short-Term Memory)

This is the tentacles of the ‘attentional octopus’ stringing disparate regions of the brain (Hippocampus) to form new neural connections. Strong understanding can occur through powerful visualizations and analogies, or chaining incremental knowledge in relation to things we already know. Other techniques for understanding include handwriting notes on what we are learning to make use of our tactile memory. At this point, a weak or temporary image of the chunk is formed and is kept in our short-term memory.

5.3 Practice and Recall (Long-Term Memory)

To transfer knowledge from short-term to long-term memory, it is essential to practice through recall or test, ideally with spaced repetitions (recall alternating periods of focused and diffused thinking) every few days. It is worth noting that sometimes we fool ourselves into the illusion of competence through convenient practices. Many such convenient practices include drawing concept maps, re-reading materials and excessive highlighting. It is worth noting that true learning should be slightly uncomfortable which is why some conscious and active recall is absolutely necessary.

To further supercharge chunking, there is another process called deliberate practice, which is to focus intently on a related set of problems that are uncomfortable and harder for you. For Data Scientists, it could mean taking on a Kaggle competition instead of mindlessly going through MOOCs. Through these practices, the temporary image of the knowledge chunk is embedded deeper in the brain to form a long-lasting memory.

6. Overcoming Procrastination

While too much of a focused mode of the mind can be stressful, counter-productive and lead to burnout, on the other hand, too much of a diffused mode of the mind can lead to procrastination.

Procrastination and learning are intertwined. Habits of procrastination can prevent solid chunks of knowledge/understanding from forming long-term memories by delaying the learning schedule/process. By itself, procrastination is seemingly harmless, but its effects can accumulate and leave us underachieving and feeling less fulfilled in the long run.

If we know it is bad, why do we like to procrastinate? We procrastinate because when facing a difficult or boring task, the pain centres in our brain light up, and we divert our attention to something more pleasant to focus on, such as playing with our phones or spacing out. Understanding procrastination as such, I suggest 8 ways to break the habit:

6.1 The Pomodoro Technique

The first tip – a famous technique usually suggests keeping a timer of 25 minutes when engaging in an activity and then taking breaks of 10 minutes or so, before starting another Pomodoro. You get the idea. But personally, I find this too regimental, and instead interpret it as setting short bursts of interrupted focus (no phone, no music, no friends) subjected to flexibility of course. If you find the ‘pain’ of starting a Pomodoro too great, simply hold your breath, put off any excuse, and just start the task at hand for even less than 2 minutes will smooth yourself into the task and get into the flow. This is what I call the Two-Minute Rule. And I will leave you a great quote below:

"Preparing to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Scheduling time to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Making a to-do list for the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Telling people you’re going to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Messaging friends who may or may not be doing the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Writing a banger tweet about how you’re going to do the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Hating on yourself for not doing the thing isn’t doing the thing. Hating on other people who have done the thing isn’t doing the thing. Hating on the obstacles in the way of doing the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Fantasizing about all of the adoration you’ll receive once you do the thing isn’t doing the thing.

Reading about how to do the thing isn’t doing the thing. Reading about how other people did the thing isn’t doing the thing. Reading this essay isn’t doing the thing.

The only thing that is doing the thing is doing the thing."

– Anonymous

Things That Aren’t Doing the Thing

6.2 Understanding and Rewiring the Habit

For chronic procrastinators, sometimes procrastination has become too much of an ingrained habit, hence the second tip is about rewiring the habit. To understand how to successfully rewire this habit, let’s take a sneak peek into the cycle of a habit:

6.2.1 The Cue

The trigger that launches us into an activity. A procrastination trigger can be a pain centre in the brain that lights up when we want to start a learning activity and at the same time, we see the videos recommended by YouTube.

6.2.2 The Routine

This is the habitual ‘zombie mode’, which is something we are familiar with and is performed at ease. For example, after we started on the video recommended by YouTube, we marched mindlessly on, consuming video after video without realization.

6.2.3 The Reward

Usually, a habit repeats because it feels great – which is the reward. Putting away the pain of working on a task and engaging in pleasant activities lights up the pleasure centre of the brain, albeit temporarily, prompting us to seek out the habit again.

To hijack the vicious cycle of procrastination habit, we first have to pay attention to what is our procrastination cues and actively remove ourselves from the environment that contains such distractions and cues. But what if we cannot do so?

Although willpower is expensive (and we should conserve), sometimes we can apply a little willpower to divert our attention from the procrastination cue and instead launch ourselves into the 2-minute Rule. Starting from the cue, we cut off the vicious cycle and start off a productivity habit cycle, in which, after the learning routine, we can reward ourselves by self-congratulating, taking pride in our work/achievement or allowing ourselves a short relaxation, such as reading a favourite web article or eating a snack.

6.3 Make Learning Obvious and Accessible

The third tip is about conditioning the environment – oftentimes, we are shaped by our immediate environment. Research has shown that we are attracted to embark on activities in an environment that is easy to start (accessible) and has multiple cues (obvious). Rewiring a procrastination habit may be difficult if we are bathed in an environment with procrastination cues and easy distractions. Nonetheless, we can counter it:

Counter easy distractions – If we are hooked onto computer games, one solution would be to delete the game completely. When we are tempted to indulge in computer games again, the hassle and time of reinstalling the game may dissuade us from procrastinating.

Counter procrastination cues – Placing our mobile phones near us can be a huge source of distraction especially with incoming messages and ease of accessing social media. When learning in a study room, putting away our mobile phones in another room is also helpful to eliminate the cue temporarily.

On the other hand, learning and other productive habits can become easy, if they are obvious and accessible. For instance:

Accessible learning – If we are actively working on MOOCs or other online learning materials, setting our internet browser to always reopen these learning tabs immediately when we restart our session can go a long way in smoothing our attention to online learning.

Obvious productive cues – If we have set our goal to read a particular textbook every day, continuously placing it in an easily accessible and conspicuous corner of the house (instead of hiding it on the bookshelf) would frequently remind us to study throughout the day.

6.4 Focus on the Process, not the Product

The fourth tip is about mentality – it is normal to have negative feelings (fear/boredom/pain) at the start of a study session even if we like the subject or are passionate about the work, perhaps because the subject or work is difficult. However, it only depends on how we handle the feelings. One good way is to focus on the Process – bite the bullet, begin the action mindlessly and we will easily settle in the workflow. In contrast, we would not want to focus on the Product – **** focusing on completing the task, and judging ourselves whether and when we would complete the task. In this manner, it is less painful to start and continue working on our task/learning.

6.5 Know the Next Goal (Habit Stacking)

The fifth tip is about goal-setting. Despite our best efforts, procrastination cues may be lurking at every corner of our day. Oftentimes after we have finished a task at hand we happily take a break. This is okay, but sometimes we end up taking a long break. This is because we don’t have a clear goal of what is productive to do next, and when we finally hatch a plan, it becomes painful to extract ourselves from the pleasure of relaxing. The result – procrastination starts again. Hence, having a mental structure and schedule of activities (including rest time) to batch your time as the day unfolds can be very crucial in staying productive. In fact, once we develop the habit of consciously stacking several productive activities (alternating with rest time) together, it becomes a virtuous cycle for learning and productivity.

6.6 Embrace Discomfort and Make Willpower a Habit

Finally, I have to admit: If you are reading this article, chances are you want to become a better version of yourself and learn effectively. Nonetheless, sometimes the root of procrastination could stem from our attitude towards life in general, i.e. we seek too much comfort in our lives. Here, we have to realize that deliberate learning is part of growth, which itself can be uncomfortable.

Some of us seek out novelty in learning, and this is true – learning should be fun and motivating. However, the entire process is not always bright and sunny. When motivation to learn is not strong – perhaps because the subject is dry – embracing some form of discomfort (especially during the start) is absolutely necessary and may bring us far in our learning journey. To do so, we need to train the brain and make discomfort (applying willpower) a habit.

Recent studies have shown that the brain is plastic and, like strength training, willpower (controlled by the Prefrontal Cortex) is like a muscle that can be developed over time. It is no wonder that some studies have found out that regular exercise like jogging and strength training is a Keystone Habit – a virtuous habit that synchronously improves self-control in other areas of life. Hence, we can build willpower by focusing on one aspect of our lifestyle at a time – starting consistent habits such as eating healthy or exercising regularly. Slowly, but surely, these small wins would snowball and we could more easily muster the willpower to start productive learning sessions.

Additional Tips: Developing the daily ritual of making our bed in the morning, especially immediately after we wake up, can be a strong Keystone Habit that research has shown to raise willpower and increase productivity throughout the day. Other rituals can also include taking cold showers frequently.

In addition, personal experience also tells me that, apart from building Keystone Habits, there are also 2 other critical ingredients to build willpower as a habit:

  1. Being mindful of purpose and short-term goals – Having a vague idea of our purpose and goals is not enough. We need to have strong daily goals, which we need to be mindful of in the midst of distractions or other digressing activities.
  2. Cultivate a go-getter mindset in the morning— When we start our day on the right note, half the battle is won. Apart from having a regular morning routine (making bed etc), getting hyped for the day by visualizing progress and practising mindfulness of our goals in the morning can give our willpower a significant boost.

Another piece of advice on managing discomfort and willpower is about cycling through the uptime and downtime throughout the day. We have already mentioned this in the section on habit and goal stacking about batching our time (including rest time). However, on many occasions, even distraction cues can deviate us from our goals, which is especially true when we are enjoying our downtime. Imagine that you plan to spend the night studying on a Masters program’s course after a day’s work in the office. But when you unwind during dinner time, you get comfortable in your relaxed mode, perhaps scrolling through social media. Then, returning to the hustle mode – transiting from comfort to discomfort again – can be quite uninviting. This is the critical moment when we must summon our willpower habit, remind ourselves of our purpose and goals, and psyche ourselves into the hustle mode.

Finally, this brings to mind the importance and idea of mental exertion or ** applying** mental efforts. Fundamentally, our mental efforts are elemental to the change we bring into our lives. We can be driven by our natural tendencies that go against our purpose and goals in life, such as oversleeping in the morning, indulging in food, mindless chatter and doom-scrolling on social media. These are easy tendencies that can turn into unconstructive and repeating habits. Applying willpower to direct these tendencies into constructive habits is about having mental exertion. In addition, developing the willpower habit is about mindfulness and frequent awareness of mental exertion.

How To Make Willpower A Habit

6.7 Combining Willpower with Motivation and Purpose

Yet relying on willpower alone may be counter-productive. Research has shown that everyone has a limited reservoir of willpower and stretching ourselves too much can lead to burn-out. Hence, if we do not pace ourselves or find our natural drive, one moment we may be a productivity junkie and another moment, we may turn into a couch potato again.

As such, it is also important to find our motivation and purpose in the learning or work we are undertaking. Different learners have different purposes and goals. Perhaps, we find purpose in contributing to our companies, and learning the subject at hand can allow us to deliver work more efficiently. Tapping into our inner source of motivation can give us the initial natural drive and energy to complete our learning, without zapping our willpower or causing us discomfort.

Nonetheless, as time wears on, we may lose our focus or get discouraged by a difficult subject matter. This juncture is when we need to complement our inner motivation and willpower to continue making progress. Relying solely on willpower to complete a learning session is distasteful. But more often than not, it is the beginning of a learning session that is the hardest, which is when willpower is the most important. As we hang onto willpower initially, this is when we get into the groove and momentum. Subsequently, our natural motivation takes over and allows us to cruise through the rest of the learning session.

In another scenario, we simply have to hang onto our willpower in between distractions and remind ourselves of our learning goals and motivation for completing our learning. Or perhaps we are not satisfied with the little progress we are making and feel like giving up altogether. In this case, we have to apply patience as part of our willpower, reflect on our inner motivations and celebrate our progress no matter how small. Being patient, making gradual progress and doing what is best possible every time will incrementally lead to compounded learning results over the long run.

In summary, it is often the interplay between willpower, motivation and taking breaks, while learning intelligently during study sessions, that optimizes our learning productivity.

6.8 Focus on Single Goal and Schedule Down-time

If all the above tips are not effective, the last reason why we procrastinate is that we are stressed and burnt-out. Previously we mentioned that having clear goals are important to remain engaged. But if we over-do it and have too many agendas on our minds can be very distracting, confusing and stressful, which gives us more pain to begin action and leads us to even more procrastination. While is it good to plan ahead, it may be even more crucial to be mindful of an immediate single goal/task, while putting the rest of our desires and goals at the back of our minds.

Additional Tips: To calm our minds, and direct our focus onto a single super-task, sometimes it is beneficial to take a deep breath and do a simple 5-minute breath meditation to re-orientate ourselves.

The notion of relieving ourselves from stress brings to mind the importance of down-time. As we have mentioned previously, it is counter-productive to constantly have our minds in the focused mode, and naturally we craved for relaxation. In addition when we schedule rest time, we reward ourselves for our learning efforts, which will reinforce our virtuous habit cycle of productivity. As the motto says:

"Work hard, play hard."

Hence, I suggest that during any scheduled, or even impromptu, down-time, we should totally let go of ourselves and bask in the joy of the moment! The more we relax ourselves during break, the more we are ready for the next round of Pomodoro session!


7. Supercharge Learning – Teach what You Know

After we understand all these techniques to learn deeply and overcome procrastination, there is one last point to supercharge our learning – teach!

Many people view learning as an internal, isolated process, in which you withdraw into your quiet, personal space to cultivate knowledge. This is often true, as you need a secluded environment with as little distraction as possible to absorb information. Nonetheless, learning has another interactive dimension – that is to teach as you learn! On top of performing recall in learning, the idea of teaching makes you focused and forces you to explain concepts as methodically as possible, thus strengthening our clarity of understanding, which is another form of deliberate practice. One famous paradigm that supports the idea of teaching as a form of learning is called the Feynman Technique:

How to Use the Feynman Technique to Become an Expert in the Most Complicated Concepts in Data…

The Feynman Technique: How to Learn Anything Quickly

The Feynman Technique mentions 4 steps to mastery of any subject, with the core of it being teaching the subject to someone else:

  1. Choose a concept to learn
  2. Teach it to yourself or someone else.
  3. Return to the source material if you get stuck
  4. Simplify your explanations and create analogies.

However, what is one good way to teach someone else, especially when you do not have an audience? Very simply, one of the easiest ways is to write an article, on Medium! As you hone your writing skills, and your flair for explaining concepts clearly, you start to gain followers and earn a monthly fee from Medium, which gives you a further incentive (reward for the habit) to share your knowledge with the world. This powerful virtuous cycle can go a long way in super-charging your learning.

8. Learning Pipeline in Data Science

While this article is generally beneficial for all learners across different disciplines, it is written with aspiring and working Data Science and AI practitioners in mind. Applying the insights to learning effectively, one can be confident of successful continuous learning in Data Science and AI. Here, let me conclude by giving a few cents worth of my experience in a great MOOC learning pipeline for budding Data Scientists and AI Engineers.

8.1 Essential Tools – Python and SQL

8.1.1 Python

  1. 2021 Complete Python Bootcamp From Zero to Hero in Python (Udemy)
  2. The Modern Python 3 Bootcamp (Udemy)
  3. Python 3 Programming Specialization (Coursera)
  4. Data Structures and Algorithms – Python (Udemy)

8.1.2 Structured Query Language (SQL)

  1. Master SQL for Data Science (Udemy)
  2. Learn SQL Basics for Data Science Specialization (Coursera)

8.2 Machine Learning

  1. 2021 Python for Machine Learning and Data Science Masterclass (Udemy)
  2. Machine Learning (Coursera)
  3. Machine Learning Specialization (Coursera)

8.3 Deep Learning

  1. Deep Learning Specialization (Coursera)
  2. DeepLearning.AI Tensorflow Developer (Coursera)
  3. Tensorflow: Advanced Techniques Specialization (Coursera)
  4. Tensorflow: Data and Deployment Specialization (Coursera)

8.4 MLOps

  1. AI for Everyone (Coursera)
  2. The Git and Github Bootcamp (Udemy)
  3. Linux Mastery: Master the Linux Command Line (Udemy)
  4. Docker and Kubernetes: The Complete Guide (Udemy)
  5. Introduction to Cloud Computing on Amazon AWS for Beginners (Udemy)

9. Final Thoughts

Phew, congratulations on making it here! You have gained invaluable and exhaustive insights into learning effectively in this comprehensive guide. You have learnt a lot about:

  1. How Learning Occurs (Memory, Understanding and Active Recall)
  2. How the Brain operates (with the Diffused and Focused mode) and how to tap into them for optimal learning
  3. Priming the Brain to Learn (Sleep, Diet, Environment, Exercise and Solo Time)
  4. Overcoming Procrastination to Learn Continuously
  5. Teaching as a Form of Learning

To make full use of this knowledge, you should revisit this guide frequently and practice learning habits. In the future, if you have learnt something new, I would encourage you to pay it forward by writing a blog post on avenues like Medium. Notice that by writing this article, almost entirely in my own words, I have practised the Feynman Technique which allows me to learn more deeply.

Finally, thanks for learning how to learn! Please leave your ideas in the comments section, and share this knowledge with anyone who wishes to learn more effectively! I look forward to your input and please follow me on LinkedIn.

Cheers! /

P.S. You have now learnt a lot about the Art of Learning, and you may also be interested in the Art of Well-Being. Hence, I would strongly urge you to explore the following article on Happiness:

The Art of Happiness and Personal Well-Being

Thanks for reading! If you have enjoyed the content, pop by my other articles on Medium and follow me on LinkedIn.

Support me! – If you are not subscribed to Medium, and like my content, do consider supporting me by joining Medium via my referral link.

Join Medium with my referral link – Tan Pengshi Alvin


Related Articles