Notes on Learning #11

A “Couch to 5K” programme for your learning goals?

It’s currently the summer of 2020, which means (for any future readers) that everyone’s routines have been messed up by a recent lockdown.

However, when one routine is disrupted, and any associated anguish has passed, a better routine can be devised to take its place.

For me, no longer commuting to the office, this meant working through a “Couch to 5K” running programme, changing job, learning how to apply eyeliner, studying to prep for my next term at uni and putting extra time into side projects. Also daily meditation, but I don’t like to mention that in case it’s annoying, although its also part of my bereavement recovery so maybe it’s OK.

Anyway — let’s focus on the “Couch to 5K” thing.

Using a simple timing app to gradually improve running distance is easy and effective. Could the same thing work for learning how to learn?

My main side project — Curriculum — is an app for collecting learning resources, mapping out a study plan and tracking your progress through it. I created it to track my independent studies for my job, and now am a part-time university student on track for an undergraduate degree in mathematics.

As you can see, learning how to learn can be life-changing and I’m keen to find out whether this is something I can help introduce to anyone else with untapped potential via Curriculum. Could this app become a “Couch to Degree (or whatever you want)” coach?

The simple but effective principles of a “Couch to 5K” programme are:

• Start ‘too small to fail’ and discourage over-exertion
• Encourage rest and recovery between exertions
• Make it a game with rewards that rewire the brain to seek them
• Create a new habit almost automatically over time
• Keep it simple

So these ideas are guiding my work on Curriculum at the moment.

For example: the quick onboarding tutorial (deploying later today) that will get new users completing their first short study session immediately.

We’ve also got StudyCoins in trial as a reward system.

There are a lot of other ‘learning coach’ features to consider, although I’ll do user interviews and feedback-gathering for these initial releases first.

It’s funny how, at a certain point in life or in a particular project, the desire to pursue simplicity increases. Perhaps because simple strategies — once you’ve found the right ones — work best.

Can “Couch to 5K” work for developing a study habit and learning how to learn? I think so. I think that’s what I did over the last three years, more or less, through trial and error.

Can I make my my side project into a useful “Couch to [Learning Goal]” app, to hopefully save others all that trial-and-error time?

I’m excited to find out.