How to Teach Yourself MORE Than You Thought Possible

You can teach yourself more than you ever thought possible by organizing your self-study methods and habits into your own university-style course. If you're an autodidact or any stripe, then you'll benefit from organizing your self-learning and this method is the best one I've found. There's a reason that universities structure their courses in the way they do. So replicate them and continue learning for the rest of your life!

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[aliciab]

For me waiting to discover what I "need to learn" based on life has worked well. I'm self taught in oncology, cancer nutrition, general medicine, and psychology. It is amazing what we can learn when we remain focused and consistent.

[mendyviola]

I'm an amateur violist having studied viola for 40+ years under a teacher. I've been teaching myself music theory and now studying the history of the viola from its origins and early music to modern violas and music & technique.

[jasminebond]

I struggled throughout undergrad to gain a degree I have barely used. I finished school because it was expected of me, but I didn't enjoy what I was learning about. Now, almost a decade later, I still find that topics that interested me when I was a kid continue to play in the back of my mind. I have a list with scores of topics that I want to either learn about or learn how to do.

I really enjoyed watching this video because it's helping me to better structure my self learning. I might never set foot back in a university classroom, but I love the challenge of creating my own curriculum, and maybe even having my own personal graduation. Thanks for the awesome videos! I love this channel!

[Solstice]

you can also ask LLM ChatGPT for a course outline... example:

create a university course syllabus for a study of philosophy, include;
- history and beginning of philosophy
- greek and roman philosophy
- comparative philosophy across easter and western cultures
- I have two hours a week plus reading time
- include any web resources, especially YouTube links
- include a week by week schedule for 12 weeks

[neofliermike]

Very inspiring! Just turned 36 and finally trying to learn how to study, hasn't ever been natural to me, but I LOVE learning and taking notes! Lacking in organize. Thank you for your style and technique!

[Fitzcarraldo]

So glad I found this channel. I am an editor in the film industry and have been starting to study AI which feels very left of field for me. But seeing people like you boldly exploring new fields is energizing and infectious.

[Leadwithlove]

I can't believe that you are doing this, you are truly someone who has true passion for acquiring knowledge. I have seen people criticize university and acquiring knowledge in general. Teaching yourself seems way more fun than university lectures haha. Just subscribed!

[Mixoberenian]

I started my master study of musicology. I want to deeply learn about the philosophy behind music. Discovering your channel was like finding treasure on youtube. Now i have a notebook everywhere i go and write down everything comes up to me. Noting what i am reading, how many pages ect. I studied trombone before so i am not familiar with the theoric aspect of learning that much. This helps a lot. So thank you😅

[drewmorrison]

This video was amazing.

I’ve thought about structuring learnings for myself but never to the point where I was essentially building a course with a syllabus.

I more or less was going the route, I’ll read x book and take notes until I’m finished. Never building quizzes and tests for myself. That’s brilliant.

There’s a reason why education was traditionally structured in the way it is and just because we don’t think the education system is optimal doesn’t mean we should throw the baby out with the bath water

[tcysafta.]

I'm a PE major and chose it because I want to teach while being fit. However, I love learning other topics from different fields and was struggling on how to teach myself while being in this course.

Thank you so much for uploading this!!!

[brilurz]

Personal fave topic? Probably biblical studies. This was insightful. I’m right at the cusp of doing this but am developing diligence to stick to things I begin and keep intrinsic motivation. I was an F student in school because of chronic depression but after I was saved my life looks so different. I’m alive and building the framework I was made to have despite things that happened to me.

[abogsshwv]

thank you for the idea, im making my fictious university that study about physics in order to boost my understanding of physics class during my high school years and get satisfying results on the examination.

[pranav]

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:

00:00 🎓 Creating Your Own University Courses
- Learn how to teach yourself effectively through creating your own university-style courses.
- Make your own syllabus, find like-minded peers, and discover content for self-study.
- Utilize Brilliant, a platform for interactive learning in math, data science, and computer science.
02:47 📚 Parker's Autodidactic Journey
- Parker shares his personal journey of self-learning philosophy using iTunes U.
- Developed a history of philosophy course, combining lectures and assigned readings.
- Emphasizes the importance of setting goals and tracking progress in self-study.
05:17 🎓 Transition to Academic Studies
- Entering grad school after five years of self-study, Parker continued creating his own courses.
- Highlights the concept of guided readings and how it allows for personalized research.
- Stresses the importance of self-study in both informal and formal academic settings.
07:10 🌐 Choosing Your Topic
- Guidance on selecting a topic of personal interest for your self-created university course.
- Encourages viewers to explore diverse subjects beyond traditional academic choices.
- Emphasizes the significance of genuine curiosity for an engaging learning experience.
08:48 📝 Planning and Assignments
- Discusses the importance of planning course credits, schedule, and assignments.
- Recommends creating a course description, syllabus, and setting clear objectives.
- Suggests writing papers as a method of synthesizing and applying acquired knowledge.
11:24 📚 Sourcing Reading Material
- Provides strategies for finding recommended books and papers for your course.
- Advocates seeking advice from peers, professors, or online communities.
- Recommends leveraging social media platforms for crowdsourcing reading lists.
12:31 🎥 Choosing Lecture Material
- Advocates using YouTube for finding lectures corresponding to your course.
- Suggests creating playlists to organize and structure your lecture content.
- Highlights the abundance of educational content available on YouTube.
13:55 🧠 Incorporating Brilliant in Your Course
- Introduces Brilliant as a valuable resource for math, data science, and computer science.
- Recommends integrating Brilliant into your course for interactive problem-solving.
- Emphasizes the flexibility of Brilliant's content for customization in self-study.
14:51 🗣️ Facilitating Discussions
- Encourages engaging in discussions on platforms like Discord, Facebook, or Twitter.
- Recommends forming a study cohort or inviting others to take the course with you.
- Emphasizes the importance of interactive learning and sharing ideas with peers.
15:46 📆 Structuring Your Learning Time
- Guides viewers on planning the duration and schedule of their self-created course.
- Stresses the importance of weekly meeting times, mimicking traditional university courses.
- Emphasizes the psychological benefit of setting a clear start and end date for the course.
16:44 📓 Taking Effective Notes
- Recommends dedicated notebooks for taking notes during lectures and podcasts.
- Advocates for a structured approach to note-taking, including annotations and reflections.
- Shares preferred notebook choices for effective and organized note-taking.
17:28 🌐 Lifelong Learning
- Concludes by emphasizing the limitless potential for self-learning throughout life.
- Encourages viewers to continue planning and organizing their self-study journey.
- Highlights the commencement of one's education beyond formal academic programs.

Made with HARPA AI

[umrah_luqmarn]

This is exactly the video I needed, because I'm huge on self-learning, but doesn't have the proper motivation/ways to properly get into it!

[JACyBoyz]

I'm really hoping to use this for Apologetics, Creative Writing, and even learning new languages. I'm really glad you went over this. I've been struggling since I have finished under-grad how to structure my time to keep on learning about topics that will both interest and benefit me

[CaptainWumbo]

I think learning as a hobby, especially about a wide range of topics, is great and expands your world and your ability to connect ideas and be inspired. I would caution there are few things you can learn to a high level that don't get put to practical use and tested by repeated failures during attempts to put them to practical use. Applying knowledge is critical to really understanding it. As the saying goes, "knowing just enough to be dangerous."

[Rayowag]

I'm currently speedrunning high school math because I'm actually trying to write my a-levels as an adult and math is a mandatory exam. My entire watch later list (which I access the most) has all the math videos I found relevant listed in the right order and I have to scroll past all of that to get to the more fun videos if I wanna watch them. It's my way of creating friction with the ways I procrastinate haha.

As for other topics I wanna learn about...I have longtime suspected ADHD, so: Programming Languages (Python, HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc.), the history of several Latin American countries, the history of how Islam spread, the African continent before colonization, socialism (gosh, that is a lifetime worth of books), continued study into mental health and therapies, some basics of music theory, a bit more physical geography, a bit more about how cities can be built efficiently, getting my Spanish to fluency, learning MSA and the Levantine Arabic dialect to a point where I can at least understand it, learning why a computer works the way it does, learning a ton about my local nature and which plants are useful for which things, and this list never ends and didn't even include physical learning things like crocheting better or baking like a demigod.

Some of these I learn naturally through the algorithm handing me the right videos, others will probably need entire playlists (especially the languages, whew is it hard to watch stuff in your target language when you're tired) and books.

[UnscriptedLanguageNerd]

I want to learn everything i can about languages. My passion has always been learning languages. I want to be a polyglot, and this video really helped. Thank you for changing my life!

I want to learn a looot about forests functional ecology.
Always love your videos, they're making me fall in love with learning all over again every time, thanks !

[shugyosha]

The most difficult part is the time. There's no time in the day where I both have control over my schedule and also have energy to really study. I'm thinking to try 7pm-8pm every day but I know from my Japanese classes at that time that it's really hard for me to focus, I'm just not in learning mode anymore.