[T-988] Zero

Dear Rine,

A reminder for myself about how (not) to use SRS to learn Japanese or anything else:

The more time you spend on your daily SRS reviews trying to bring the number of outstanding items to zero, the more does the actual value of your collection approach zero.

By actual value I mean real world utility.

Yes, clearing out all your daily items does ensure that the spaced repetition algorithm is operating at peak efficiency.

But what’s the point?

You will never know everything you want to know.

You will never even know enough to make key decisions in your life.

So the real number of your outstanding items is never zero.

The zero items remaining in Anki and SM is just a virtual zero you like seeing for emotional comfort.

Deriving comfort from that zero is a terrible abuse of perhaps the greatest learning tool known to man.

It’s like you bought a car at a time when everyone else still rode horses. Suddenly you are able to get from A to B five times faster. But you nullify all those gains by becoming a gearhead who spends all his available time polishing the car with a toothbrush.

To maintain the vehicle at peak efficiency, you sacrifice your personal effectiveness across the board.

What I’m saying is, don’t use your SRS beyond whatever is a reasonable amount of time at this point in your life. Don’t let it spill over in a way that leaves you too drained to energetically attend to other activities. Don’t let your SRS habit deprive you of the time you should use on creating something and serving others.

Don’t worry if the day ends with a positive number of outstanding items.

Pay more attention to whether you were able to accomplish something positive by applying a few of those items you did remember.

Don’t serve your SRS. Let the SRS serve you.

What I planned/did today

What I plan tomorrow

Obstacles