Just in time

I recently learned about the difference between “just-in-case learning”—the idea that you should spend your time learning new skills “just in case” you need them—versus a “just-in-time” model of learning—the idea that it’s more efficient to simply learn the skills you need for your next job/task/project.

It occurred to me that you can just as well apply this concept to many other things. Consider that for a long time (the past 7 years to be exact) I’ve saved interesting courses, videos, apps, and websites that I intend to use in a database in Pocket (or, more recently, Raindrop). This not only consumes a tremendous amount of time sorting and organizing and tagging everything, but is also inefficient—since 90% of the things I’ve saved I never get around to using.

Why not instead: ditch the database entirely and only search for apps/tools when I need them, watch interesting videos when I find them, or catalogue courses exactly when I intend to take them?

The same applies to projects of all kinds: why would you buy materials when you don’t actually have the time to use them? Better to wait until you’re available, if you ask me.

Or consider learning in itself. If you’re trying to solve a specific problem, you don’t need to read all the books you can on the topic—you just need to skim a single book or watch a single video (or ask a friend, colleague or stranger), to find the answer you need.

Consuming, using, and doing things when you need to will always be more efficient than acquiring, stockpiling, or holding on to things you might think you need, but don’t.