P: The more you know, the quicker you learn

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Reference: R: How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens

The more connected information you have in your brain the easier it is to learn because new information can dock to that existing information. The best thing about this is that this ability to understand things increases exponentially (PN: The size and density of a network determine its creativity: the size and the interconnectedness of the network determine its productivity).

It's like a tree. The bigger it becomes, the more sunlight it can absorb. The more sunlight it can absorb, the quicker it grows.

Or seen differently, each new idea acts as an additional lens through which you can observe reality. This means that the bigger your network of ideas, the more ideas you're able to notice and understand (it's similar to the adjacent possible). It's a virtuous cycle.

For example, you can observe this process whenever you reread a great book after a couple of years. Usually—provided that you've learned new things during that period—you will see the book in a new light. Suddenly, you will understand things you haven't during your first read; you will notice concepts to which you were previously blind; you'll see meaning where previously

"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." - Heraclitus

Building a broad network of ideas through proper learning, one in which you connect new ideas to previous information (i.e., internalization), prevents you from being the "man with a hammer for whom every problem looks like a nail" because you have more tools (or lenses) for understanding reality (PN: The first principles: Each tool can be derived from carefully examining principles that rule existence).

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