Optimize studying for learning, not task completion.

Rote completion of a task is best done by specialization and division of labor. The classical example of division of labor is the making of pins — by dividing the making of a pin into many simple tasks and assigning a worker to each task, pins can be made more efficiently than if every worker were to go through all the steps of making a pin.

In the quest for greater efficiency in my studies, I have fallen into the trap of specialization of labor. If I’ve already watched two or three lectures, I’m in a lecture-watching and note-taking frame of mind. If I’m studying with flashcards, it’s easy for me to continue studying with flashcards. When I’m “in the zone,” the least effortful study task is to continue doing what I’m already doing. This feels more efficient because I’m rapidly checking more things off my to-do list, but it’s not the most effective way for me to learn.

Learning is not the same as checking tasks off a to-do list. Watching four lectures instead of one in a single sitting doesn’t mean that I’ve learned four times as much. On the contrary, I might experience information overload by trying to absorb too much information in one sitting.

Learning needs to happen incrementally because new information and memories decay quickly. Self-testing and reflection shortly after the first exposure help consolidate ideas for long-term storage. Although task-switching while learning is less efficient in terms of time used studying in a given day, information will be better retained.

Learning is the cultivation of an interconnected garden of information and ideas that live in your brain. Plants don’t grow, die, or bear fruit all at once. Neither do ideas. Effective study requires doing the right study tasks at the right time, not just as quickly as possible.