Play!
Who are the most efficient learners?
No, it's not your classmate who was always getting an A+ on every test. It's small children. They learn foundational, sophisticated things -- how about a completely new way to move around in space (it's called "walking"), or a new way to communicate thoughts ("speaking")?
And well, babies don't watch tutorials on YouTube (Baby Shark doesn't count) -- they just play, using the world outside them as a giant playground, and it works.
Also, have you noticed how often your team lead will say, "this is a new framework, just play with it to see how it works"? Of course, they don't mean that you speak with the classes and methods in a funny voice while copying the code around (hmmm, but, actually, why exactly not?). They mean that you tinker, experiment, do whatever comes to mind -- just like a little child would play with something new.
There's actually a theory that explains how this works -- it's called Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle.
- You start by playing with something -- it's free-flow experimentation, just do what seems most fun.
- You reflect on your experience. Sometimes consciously (a chat with an LLM might be a good idea here), sometimes subconsciously, somewhere in the back of your brain.
- As you play and reflect, your brain builds abstractions. That's how you form skills and knowledge.
- Then, you play more -- now, in a more informed way. The learning cycle repeats.
So, next time you need to learn something -- a framework, a tool, or a programming language -- do not start with a YouTube tutorial. Instead, install the thing and start tinkering; then, just go where the "fun" takes you.