What is it?

Fractalizing is breaking down topics/concepts into their independent, mutually exclusive parts.

Why it works

Topics, ideas, and skills are always made up of smaller topics, ideas, and skills.

For example, if you wanted to learn about investing, you could fractalize “investing” into:

• Technical analysis
• Security analysis
• Market cycles
• Etc.

Each of these individual topics could be further fractalized into more granular topics and concepts.

In the same way you reach a book one chapter at a time, you should learn larger concepts by understanding their component parts first. This gives you a macro view of the concept and gives you a deeper understanding of how the parts work together.

How to use it

You can fractalize concepts/topics using:

• Numbered lists - These work best when you’re fractalizing a sequence of steps or stages for a skill or process. The numbering helps you understand the parts in sequence from start to finish. Start by writing the skill or process at the top of the page and creating a numbered list with all of the steps/states in sequence.
• Bulleted lists - Bulleted lists work great when the sequencing doesn’t matter. Start by writing the skill or process at the top of the page and creating a bulleted list of all the individual fractalized parts.
• Mind maps - Mind maps work best when you’re dealing with more complex systems with fractalized parts that relate to each other. If you’re trying to understand the causes and effects of parts and the relationships between them, mind maps would be your method of choice. Start by creating your first mind map bubble with the topic/concept in the center. Then, draw an arrow connecting to a second bubble with the first fractalized concept. Continue this process for each fractalized concept, and if necessary, add additional arrows between any related ones.

<aside> 💡 For a simple note-taking database with pre-loaded templates for fractalizing, download the LearnChangeDo Accelerated Learning Notes Database.

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