Why I don't use LearnObit on a daily basis

The most common problem in SR programs is that someday the user will neglect using it, and the amount of learning will accumulate until the user becomes overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge they need to learn.

However, even if a large amount of knowledge is accumulated, chances are that the time to learn it will be less than 10 hours at most. Think about it. If someone is doing serious learning, spending that amount of time is just normal and common. So why do users feel overwhelmed by SR programs that take the same amount of time?

I think the reason is that users view SR programs as a sort of beneficial daily ritual. In other words, users expect to do it little by little every day unconsciously and without infringing on their everyday life.

That may be why people feel like taking time apart for SR programs is absurd. It's ridiculous to spend 10 hours on a daily ritual. But if another learning activity takes 10 hours, people tend to think that’s fine because that is what they expect.

What I suggest is looking at SR programs as tools to help you do serious learning rather than viewing them as a daily ritual. In other words:
  • Use SR programs in situations where learning is truly needed rather than resolving to use them on a daily basis forever.
  • Notice that learning through an SR program will take time. You must assume that you will need to consciously dedicate quite a bit of time to it, just like you would with any other serious learning activity.

e.g.
Let's suppose that someone has put his knowledge of design into LearnObit.
If he doesn't need design skills, he completely neglects it.
If he starts a project that requires design skills, then he can start reviewing his design knowledge using SR.
If the project takes two months, he maintains that design knowledge for two months using SR, and when the project is over and no design knowledge is needed, he can completely neglect it again.
In everyday life, he will be okay with having vague and blurry design knowledge, just like normal people.
I was embarrassed to write this example because it seems so obvious.

So, if the subject is not the design, but every contents in the SR program, the user can be comfortable even though he neglects the use of the SR program itself.

The advantages of doing this are clear:

1. Taking time apart and doing many things at once is much, much easier than do something little by little every day.
This is a really important issue. I think ALL problems of SR happen due to it.
The reason people don't use SR programs is that they know it's too painful and difficult to do something little by little every day. And the reason people quit SR programs is because they feel obligated to do it little by little every day.

2. You can save time.
For example, studying design when you don't need that particular knowledge is a waste of time.
Perhaps some people do it little by little every day because they want to have effortless access to that knowledge at any given time. And actually, if you neglect what you want to learn, when you need it later on you will have to learn a lot at once, which will leave you exhausted. However, after all it will take less time than learning a little bit every day. And that's what we want.

3. You can see that all other alternatives to SR programs suck.
Even if you don't use SR programs, if you need some knowledge, you will still be learning a lot at once with other methods, and learning a lot at once is always exhausting. In addition, if SR is not used, it will take more time.

4. This approach allows for more active management of knowledge
It's better to actively choose what knowledge to remember, forget, and re-remember than to remember everything simply because you put it into the program. I like the idea of turning expertise "on and off" according to current needs.

So, I don't use LearnObit as a ritual and I don’t use it on a daily basis. Instead of being overwhelmed with having to do this every day, I consciously take the time to use it if I need to master some knowledge I have learned before. Perhaps this is a more sustainable way of using it.