A lot of my audio is FSI drills, but it applies to audiobooks mp3s as well.
Normal approach is "I'm good enough at this bit right now", or "I've listened to this", so remove it from the memory stick. That's always been with me. Even non-cave people understand why you'd do this, even if they don't get why you'd use a thumb drive and copy files in the 2020s.
I'll get to my new realization shortly. Just creating the backdrop here.
Two things that came to me over the last few days...
- I can create multiple folders with the exact same content but with different objectives.
This is where I figured I could have an "understand" folder and a "can repeat" folder. That may seem like a silly distinction, but it's what I came up with. You can use any distinction you want though if you have more than one goal for the same mp3. - I can save difficult stuff in another folder, instead of deleting them with a small sense of guilt because I'm not quite where I'd like them to be.
So the realization here, which seems so obvious, but has taken decades to figure out and is why I'm self-identifying as "caveman". I'm assuming us cavemen are not as smart as the rest of you.
I've often had and used notion, "I'll just repeat the whole thing (course, book, whatever) again at a later date and the harder stuff will be easier and I'll do the 'cleanup' on understanding or whatever at that time". I've done this. Have had thoughts like, when I finish unit 30 of 55 in FSI Basic Spanish, maybe I should repeat the whole shebang again, or should I just press on? The realization du jour solves my dilemma. Instead of reluctantly removing the last mp3 or two from the folder I've been working on, just copy it to a "review" folder. (yes, cavemen know a little French. We needed it to communicate with our neighbors back in the day).
Tiny additional bit of background. My typical FSI unit has 40-60 mp3s. I edited the audio a long time ago for organization, procrastination, standardization, and now, realization. Typical drill has enough time to respond if I know what to do pretty well, but there isn't much "think" time. I removed the excess think time all those years back.
My method goes something like:
- Each FSI unit has a folder (directory). The mp3s and folders are named in ASCII order to match the manual.
- Start on the first mp3 in the folder. Generally repeat the mp3 until comfortable or bored or frustrated. (comfort is the goal).
- Repeat step 2 on to the next mp3.
- If a drill was pretty easy today and was pretty easy yesterday, and I feel quite comfortable, delete it. Otherwise, it will still be in the drill folder for tomorrow. I usually don't get through an entire unit on the first day. Sometimes it takes a few days to get to every exercise in the unit.
- The next day, I just start back with the first file in the folder.
- If a drill lingers around and is one of the last few in the folder and still isn't a breeze, move it to the reviewN folder. (N there is the unit number. Just decided now that will be helpful, so the "review" stuff can be organized and repeated at longer intervals.