Learn Fast. But Practice Deliberately
I happened to read a couple of articles reflecting on the benefits of velocity and being fast (or impatient), and I largely agree with them. Being fast makes the mind feel more engaged with the current task at hand and often opens up newer ways of doing the same thing.
I would add that in addition to learning fast, it is equally important to practise the newly acquired skill frequently enough. ( Dan luu does make this point by saying if you get faster at something, you will most likely end up doing it a lot more frequently)
At a high level, acquiring a new skill can viewed as gaining knowledge and removing some form of ignorance. In general there are three stages in conquering ignorance
1) Shravana: Becoming aware of new material
2) Manana: Reflection and contemplation
3) Nidhyasana: Meditation or being aware (assimilation/absorption/internalisation) of the acquired knowledge.
In the end, true learning is the process of learning new material, contemplating on it and finally internalizing the knowledge through deliberate practise till it becomes part of muscle/mental memory.
Typically, learning in an academic setting (school/college classes) conflates the above stages. This might explain a text book worth of material typically being taught over a four month semester, with sufficient time for reflection and practice through problem sets and exams . While this might work for academic settings, most often the expectation in the real world is that people are quick learners. While it is pretty straight forward (with sufficient time and effort) to quickly acquire new material (Shravana stage), most real world settings do not emphasize the need for deliberate practice of the newly acquired knowledge (Manana and Nidhyasana stages). It typically falls upon the individual to ensure there is sufficient and frequent deliberate practice to assimilate the newly acquired material. In the absence of deliberate practice, one does not “own” the knowledge and, worse fails to benefit from the full spectrum of expanded possibilities made possible by the acquired knowledge.