Content consumption - My methods & thoughts

If there was one thing in the world I could brag about, it would be content consumption. I am good at it. Be it watching anime, reading novels, consuming courses, or just watching random YouTube videos. Often, people ask how I learn/read something or how I know about something. The answer was always “I consume content”, which received puzzling looks. Breaking down the one-liner and diving deeper into the answer is what this blog post is all about.

Content management:

1. Having clarity helps you reach your goals faster, the same thing applies here as well. The main question that you would want to ask yourself is “How much” content will I consume in this sitting. It's like a meal, you shouldn’t undereat but at the same time, you shouldn’t stuff yourself too much either! People tend to deal with “How much” in 2 distinct patterns. There are the time travelers and the content travelers. Both seek the same destination but the journey is managed via unique approaches. Start a small pilgrimage if you haven't already and explore which side suits you better. You’ll figure out if you are the sort of person who prefers sitting “20 minutes” and then taking a 5-10 minute break, or if you are the sort of person who would say: Section 2.1 in one sitting.
2. The next important thing would be your content sources. If it’s a single source for a particular domain: You are good as long the content is easy and the source is unbiased (bias filter may not apply to many categories, but is especially important for categories like News). If it is not easy to grasp, then, time to look somewhere else! If you are consuming from multiple places then ensuring you have filters to get the best content out of them is all it takes. Retaining the information you got leads us to the domain of systems, which would be a separate blog post. If interested let me know and I’ll bump it up in the ever-growing “List of blog topics”

The Speed of consumption:

You have been warned: THERE IS NO GOING BACK. What makes or breaks a learning website (online course website ) is the availability of the speed multiplier for me. If it is a resource to learn something. A minimum of 1.5x is recommended. Initially, it might sound like gibberish to you but, you will be amazed at the cognitive abilities of humans. Over time you can train yourself for faster speed (though I would say cap it at 2x as comprehension, coz thinking and retention seem to diverge after that point). The training to reach 2x is simple. Start with 1.25x and slowly build yourself to 2x. If you are an anime watcher then by the power of Sharingan vested upon you, go to 2x directly and use the captions. By doing so you can hear the gibberish but the captions will enable you to make sense of it and before you know it, 2x will seem like the normal speed. And ” The XYZ hour course” means nothing. You can always finish it earlier than that. 1 hr course? at 2x it's just 30 min, meaning you give yourself an extra 30min to consolidate, note down your learnings, and apply them.

Beyond Consumption: The active & passive methods:

I considered passive and active consumption the same, which was a mistake. They are two separate types and need to be treated that way. One gives you 100% value while the other gives up to 200% value. So what exactly do I mean by active & passive consumption? Simply put,” Passive” means to stop at the consumption stage. “Active” means to go beyond consuming and to take time to apply or analyze what you read. Let me put it this way: Reading through a book gives you the content, but then taking notes, or pausing to think or apply or to map it in a memory model is something that will not only give you content, but also help you conceptualize, apply and retain in a way that is far superior to ‘to read and forget’ ( If you are one of those people who say: “I read this yesterday, but now I forgot” ... then I am talking to you, yes you) This applies to a lot of things. Small habits enforce active consumption, including::

• Visualizing what you read (applies primarily to fiction)
• Looking up the words you did not understand immediately.
• Asking yourself “ How would I explain this to someone else” (Going a step further, how would I explain this to someone in the simplest terms ~ The Feynman technique)
• Writing or typing condensed summaries, or even just keywords will keep you actively engaged and stop the mind from drifting.

Closing Thoughts

Everyone has their system and methods that best suit them, if you do not have one yet, it’s okay, you can start now. Explore and curate what works best for you, keep yourself open to new sources, systems, and methods.