Learning without thought is labor lost.

Taking information in is not the same as understanding it, though the two feel nearly identical at the time. You can finish a book or a course and retain nothing usable, because nothing was turned over, argued with, or joined to what you knew. The work that makes learning stick happens after the input, in the part most people skip. Without it the hours really are spent for nothing.

After the next thing you read, close it and write four sentences on what it claimed and whether you believe it. Say it aloud to someone if writing is not your habit. That small step is where the value lives.