Practice More Often, Not Longer
Want to get notified about new posts? Join the mailing list and follow on X/Twitter.
If you have just two hours a week to do math, don’t cram it all into one single Saturday session.
Four half-hour sessions spread out throughout the week, that’s gonna get you a lot further, even though it’s the same amount of time.
And here’s why: Number 1, it builds a habit.
One of the most important elements of your habit structure is that you can keep doing it consistently.
And it’s a lot easier to fall off the wagon with something you only do once a week as opposed to every other day.
Number 2, you can stay focused way better during a short session than an hours long marathon.
Like the quality of your practice, it’s gonna be way better if you’re full-assing it for half an hour every other day instead of dragging yourself through this multi-hour marathon every weekend.
And number 3, you forget less between the sessions.
If you wait several days, a week, you know, you’re probably gonna spend a significant chunk of that next session just getting back up to where you were.
I mean, just ask any teacher how much their students forget over a weekend or over winter break and how many class periods they have to spend just spinning back up to where they left off?
If that’s what you’re doing every session, you’re basically just running in place.
So the takeaway is that short and frequent practice, that is what moves you forward.
This teaser is distilled from the following post, if you want to dive deeper: Study Sessions Should be Short and Frequent as Opposed to Long and Sparse .
Want to get notified about new posts? Join the mailing list and follow on X/Twitter.