How You Can Learn Anything Faster

The Meta-Skill Behind Everything I Do

If there’s one ability that’s changed the trajectory of my life more than anything else, it’s learning. And not just what I learn, but how I learn.

Learning how to learn effectively is what allowed me to manage full-time software engineering, a full-time CS degree, fitness, Japanese learning, writing a weekly newsletter, and building digital products, all without burning out.

And once you understand the mechanics of learning, everything in life becomes easier. University becomes manageable. Languages become fun. Difficult technical topics stop feeling like walls and start feeling like puzzles.

Today I want to break down the exact principles I use. The same ones that let me:

• stay top of my CS class

• pick up technical systems at work rapidly

• learn Japanese consistently as a fourth language

• move quickly into new domains like fitness science, writing, finance, and more

These aren’t theories. They’re systems I rely on every single day.

Let’s get into it.

1. Sharpen the Axe: Meta-Learning First

If you gave me six hours to learn something new, I’d spend the first hour understanding how the subject works, how people actually master it, and which methods produce outsized results.

Most people skip this step. They just start grinding.

This is the equivalent of chopping wood with a dull blade.

When I entered university while working full-time, I quickly realized this wasn’t sustainable unless I built systems. So I stepped back and studied:

• how memory really works

• how spaced repetition compounds

• why active recall outperforms passive review

• how to structure deep-work sprints

• how to make learning frictionless

That foundation paid off immediately. My learning curve flattened. Hard topics stopped feeling chaotic and started feeling solvable.

This principle also shaped everything from my CS coursework to my commute systems (where I use train time for Anki and Japanese immersion) in posts like Stop Wasting Your Commute .

Sharpen the axe first. It saves hundreds of hours later.

2. Remove Friction, Not Add Motivation

Learning is less about “trying harder” and more about “removing resistance.”

A few examples:

• Physical timer → instant focus

Turning a 30-minute study sprint into a ritual makes the task non-negotiable.

• Japanese only for entertainment

Contextual rules: if I watch TV, it must be in Japanese. That turns entertainment time into immersion.

• Apps on my home screen:

Anki > Instagram. Audible > TikTok.

• Train = study zone, car = audio learning

This simple rule alone gave me ~500 hours of extra learning per year .

Once your environment aligns with your goals, learning stops being a fight. It becomes automatic.

3. Immerse Yourself in the Arena

You learn fastest when you operate in the environment where the skill actually lives.

For Japanese, immersion isn’t optional. It’s the fuel.

For coding, you learn fastest by building.

For communication, you improve by speaking, not theorizing about speaking.

When I started Japanese, I didn’t just memorize vocab. I threw myself into:

• listening immersion during commutes

• reading signs, menus, NHK Easy News

Immersion is uncomfortable — it exposes your weaknesses instantly.

That’s the point.

Every time I learned a new system at work, I asked senior developers to walk me through real code and production logic. Straight into the arena.

4. Attack Your Weak Links First

One of the fastest ways to accelerate learning is brutally simple:

Find your weakest point and drill it.

This is uncomfortable. It feels inefficient.

But it compresses months of progress into days.

When I started my CS degree, I noticed early the courses and topics that were the hardest. So instead of “warming up” with topics I already understood, I spent entire sessions attacking the exact concepts I was struggling with.

Same with Japanese: I struggled with listening. So I doubled down on listening immersion instead of escaping into grammar videos.

Weakness → spotlight → drill → strength.

Repeat.

5. Test Yourself Relentlessly (Active Recall)

If I had to choose one learning technique for the rest of my life, it would be active recall.

You don’t learn by reviewing.

You learn by retrieving.

This is the engine behind my entire Japanese routine, my university studying, and how I onboard new tech quickly at work.

Anki is my daily ritual. It’s the backbone of my memory system.

Test → fail → test → succeed.

That’s how memory works.

6. Seek Fast Feedback Loops

Feedback is the accelerant of mastery.

When I mentor junior developers at work, the difference between someone who learns quickly vs. slowly is usually simple:

How quickly they expose their work to correction.

For Japanese, this means writing sentences that native speakers correct.

For coding, this means sending merge requests early instead of hiding drafts for weeks.

For fitness, it’s why I film my lifts repeatedly to adjust form.

Fast feedback = fast progress.

Slow feedback = slow progress.

7. Space It Out: Let Your Brain Breathe

Learning is biological.

Your brain needs time to consolidate.

Cramming creates illusions of understanding. Spacing creates actual understanding.

This is why my Japanese routine is spread across:

• morning vocab repetition

• afternoon immersion

• evening reading or grammar

• weekend long sessions

The same thing applied during my most intense exam periods: spacing turned overwhelming subjects into manageable chunks.

Spaced repetition is the backbone of long-term retention.

8. Teach What You Learn — Immediately

Nothing clarifies your thinking like trying to explain it.

This newsletter is one giant feedback loop for my own learning. Writing forces me to:

• simplify

• find clarity

• remove contradictions

• understand at a structural level

When I write about personal finance, productivity, psychology, or fitness, I’m not teaching from a pedestal. I’m rather reinforcing my own learning, similar to what I described in 5 Ideas From Naval .

Teaching makes everything stick.

If you want to learn fast, teach early. Teach often. Teach imperfectly.

The Real Reason I Can Talk About This

My journey — combining full-time work, full-time university, language learning, fitness, content creation— forced me to drastically improve the mechanics behind learning.

I had to become efficient.

I had to create systems.

I had to iterate fast.

I had to make learning fit a life, not replace one.

And if there’s one thing I’ve realized, it’s this:

Anyone can learn fast if they learn intentionally.

Learning is a skill.

And a skill can be trained.

Final Thoughts

If you want to learn anything faster, focus on this:

• Sharpen the axe

• Remove friction

• Immerse yourself

• Attack weaknesses

• Use active recall

• Seek fast feedback

• Understand deeply

• Space it out

• Teach early

And above all:

Don’t make learning harder than it needs to be.

Design your system, then trust it.

That’s how you learn faster — in university, at work, in languages, in fitness, in life.

Thanks for reading!

See you next Saturday

— Tobi