You learn 90% of something with 10% of the effort to learn 100% of it.

[CreamCat]

I was trying to make a build plan for a new computer. I spent days on making something work for the new build plan.

It turned out that it had negligible effects. I just gave up on it because it only had negligible effects.

If I knew it would have negligible effects, I would not have spent days on just it.

The same thing applies to learning. Practicing 50% of something makes you learn 90% of it. Finishing the other 50% of it makes you learn 100% of it but takes 10 times as much time. Thus, you can just spend 10% of the time to practice 50% of something to learn 90% of it.

In other words, you learn 90% of something with 10% of the effort to learn 100% of it.

I think it's called pareto's law. When you dive into a new field, utilize pareto's law to your advantages.

Some people are very inefficient and try to learn 100% of something at all cost. Sometimes, it can make sense. Most of the time, it doesn't make sense. Learning the last 10% is not going to make a significant difference, but it can cripple your progress.

Edited March 21, 2019 by CreamCat

[Forestluv]

58 minutes ago, CreamCat said:

The same thing applies to learning. Practicing 50% of something makes you learn 90% of it. Finishing the other 50% of it makes you learn 100% of it but takes 10 times as much time. Thus, you can just spend 10% of the time to practice 50% of something to learn 90% of it.

In other words, you learn 90% of something with 10% of the effort to learn 100% of it.

I agree with the concept of diminishing returns, yet I would say the numbers are off. 

I like this analogy: imagine throwing a kilo of rice throughout a room with a carpet. Then you have to find all the rice and clean it up. You can find and clean up half the rice quickly. Yes, the next half of the rice will take 10X as long, yet most of that time is the last 10%-1% of the rice. I would say it would actually be much longer to reach 100% - especially form 99%-100%. It gets harder and harder to find rice grains the less grains there are. For example, it may look something like this:

First 50% of rice grains = 1hr.

50-70% of rice grains = 1hr.

70-80% of rice grains = 1hr

80-90% of rice grains = 2hr

90-98% of rice grains = 3hr.

98-100% of rice grains = 3hr.

It gets harder and harder to find rice grains, the fewer there are. So going from 50%-100% took 10X as long, yet most of that time is spent trying to find the last 10% of the rice. Going from 50% to 80% only took 2X as long as going 0%-50%. 

And I totally agree regarding the last 10%. For example, when I was a student I strived for perfection. Yet trying to increase my grade average for a course from 95% to 100% took an enormous amount of time. A couple professors pulled me aside and told me I was studying too much in the course and it was not a good use of my time. I agreed to only study enough to reach 95% and use the rest of the time to develop skills and knowledge in other areas.

[CreamCat]

@Serotoninluv Yes, it is tied to perfectionism. You can get 90~95% of the result without spending too much time. Actually, 95% is pretty good.

Maintaining 95% in the long term with the least effort is more important than going above 95% at all cost in the moment.

Also, an exam is a finite game like baseball and soccer.

In any infinite game that has no boundary, going above 90% can take at least ten times as much time it took to gain the first 90%. So, gaining the first 90% might be 1~5% of the entire effort in some cases.

Edited March 21, 2019 by CreamCat

[Aeris]

10 hours ago, Serotoninluv said:

I agree with the concept of diminishing returns, yet I would say the numbers are off. 

I like this analogy: imagine throwing a kilo of rice throughout a room with a carpet. Then you have to find all the rice and clean it up. You can find and clean up half the rice quickly. Yes, the next half of the rice will take 10X as long, yet most of that time is the last 10%-1% of the rice. I would say it would actually be much longer to reach 100% - especially form 99%-100%. It gets harder and harder to find rice grains the less grains there are. For example, it may look something like this:

First 50% of rice grains = 1hr.

50-70% of rice grains = 1hr.

70-80% of rice grains = 1hr

80-90% of rice grains = 2hr

90-98% of rice grains = 3hr.

98-100% of rice grains = 3hr.

It gets harder and harder to find rice grains, the fewer there are. So going from 50%-100% took 10X as long, yet most of that time is spent trying to find the last 10% of the rice. Going from 50% to 80% only took 2X as long as going 0%-50%. 

And I totally agree regarding the last 10%. For example, when I was a student I strived for perfection. Yet trying to increase my grade average for a course from 95% to 100% took an enormous amount of time. A couple professors pulled me aside and told me I was studying too much in the course and it was not a good use of my time. I agreed to only study enough to reach 95% and use the rest of the time to develop skills and knowledge in other areas.

This is what I explained with the concept of a cartography in the game  : guild wars. ( or maybe not, but I get some sense out of it )
doing the first 90% was easy, but the more you're close to the 100% you need a serious effort to come back on your pace and line again on all borders of the map to really get it. ( and the last % can take more & more time ) that's there is a lot of spinning the more close of perfection you become.

more easy in my mind, but same idea

Edited March 22, 2019 by Aeris

[Shadowraix]

This is what sets being 'good' at something and being a 'master' at it apart.