So if you’re doing something, and it isn’t working well enough, here’s a dozen ways to generate more dakka, and how each could apply if you’re a) exercising, or b) learning new mathematics.
A Dozen Ways
Do it again.
Instead of doing one set of repetitions of the exercise, do two.
If you read the chapter once, read it again.
Use more.
If you were lifting 10 pounds, lift 15.
If you were doing easy problems, do harder ones.
Do more repetitions.
Instead of 10 repetitions, do 15.
If you did 10 problems on the material, do 15.
Increase intensity.
Do your 15 repetitions in 2 minutes instead of 3.
If you were skimming or reading quickly, read more slowly.
Schedule it.
Exercise at a specific time on specific days. Put it on your calendar, and set reminders.
Make sure you have time scheduled for learning the material and doing problems.
Do it regularly.
Make sure you exercise twice a week, and don’t skip.
Make sure you review what you did previously, on a regular basis.
Do it for a longer period.
Keep exercising for another month.
Go through another textbook, or find more problem sets to work through.
Add types.
In addition to push-ups, do bench presses, chest flyers, and use resistance bands.
In addition to the problem sets, do the chapter review exercises, and work through the problems in the chapter on your own.
Expand the repertoire.
Instead of just push–ups, do incline push ups, loaded push-ups, and diamond push-ups.
Find (or invent!) additional problem types; try to prove things with other methods, find different counter-examples or show why a relaxed assumption means the result no longer holds, find pre-written solutions and see if you can guess next steps before reading them.
Add variety.
Do leg exercises instead of just chest exercises. Do cardio, balance, and flexibility training, not just muscle building.
Do adjacent types of mathematics, explore complex analysis, functional analysis, and/or harmonic analysis.
Add feedback.
Get an exercise coach to tell you how to do it better.
Get someone to grade your work and tell you what you’re doing wrong, or how else to learn the material.
Add people.
Have the whole team exercise. Find a group, gym, or exercise class.
Collaborate with others in solving problems. Take a course instead of self-teaching. Get others to learn with you, or teach someone else to solidify your understanding.
The LW tag is useful here: it says More Dakka is “the technique of throwing more resources at a problem to see if you get better results”.
I like David Manheim’s A Dozen Ways to Get More Dakka; copying it over to reduce the friction of link-clicking:
Thank you. Both the links to the tag on LessWrong and the dozen examples are helpful. I appreciate it.