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I used to be a passive online learner. I’d watch a video on a new topic, nodding along, maybe taking a few notes. A few hours later, I’d realize how little I actually remembered. The information had gone in one ear and out the other. The content was great, but the learning process itself was broken. It was one-way, and a lot of the value was getting lost in the ether.
This is a problem many of us face. We have access to an infinite library of knowledge on platforms like YouTube, but we’re only consuming it, not engaging with it.
My Learning Hack: From Passive Consumption to Active Creation
I finally got fed up with the lack of retention. That’s when I found my personal hack—a little learning cycle that turns passive video watching into a powerful, active process.
It’s pretty simple: I watch a video, and the moment a question pops into my head, I hit pause. Then, I open a chatbot like Gemini and start asking it questions. Not simple, one-word questions, but deep, probing inquiries. I ask for examples, analogies, alternative viewpoints, and clarifications. I’m not just asking it to define a term; I’m forcing a conversation, almost like I’m a sadist torturing an AI for knowledge. The goal is to get to the “why” and “how,” not just the “what.”
This interaction is where the real learning happens. It’s no longer a monologue; it’s a dialogue.
How I Create a Learning Loop
But I don’t stop there. The knowledge I’ve gained isn’t just for me. The conversation with the AI becomes the raw material for something new.
- I use our chat history to create short, sharp blog posts. I’ll prompt Gemini to help me structure the key takeaways into an article.
- Next, I take those articles and use a tool like NotebookLM to turn them into podcasts in three different languages.
This entire process creates a powerful learning loop. I don’t just consume information and then stop. I process it by asking questions, synthesize it by creating a post, and solidify it by producing an audio version.
Why This Hack Works
My learning hack isn’t some magical trick; it’s a practical application of a few key learning principles:
- Multimodal Learning: I’m moving from video (visual/auditory) to text (reading/writing) to audio (listening), engaging different parts of my brain and reinforcing the information through multiple channels.
- Reflection: By pausing and asking questions, I’m forcing myself to think critically about the content and connect it to what I already know.
- Immediate Output: Creating a post or a podcast is a form of teaching. As they say, you don’t truly understand something until you can teach it to someone else.
AI isn’t a tool for laziness. You don’t just ask it to summarize a video and call it a day. That’s the passive approach all over again.
Instead, I see AI as a learning amplifier. It’s a partner in the process. It’s an infinitely patient expert I can torture with questions to get to a deeper level of understanding. By consciously and actively engaging with it, I’ve turned a simple act of watching a video into a full-fledged learning journey.
In the end, this isn’t about being a ‘sadist with AI’ – it’s about embracing the multiplier effect of active learning. By turning each video into a multi-format dialogue, I don’t just understand—I internalize. And that’s how knowledge becomes transformation.
So—what’s your learning hack? How do you use AI to go deeper, not just faster?
