Every new thing you learn shows you three more things you didn’t know existed. That’s how you know it’s working.

The map of your ignorance gets bigger as you learn, not smaller. Someone who knows nothing about a field can see no gaps in it, so beginners often feel more finished than experts do. The expanding sense of how much is out there is not a sign of falling behind. It is the only honest measure that you have moved.

When a subject starts to feel larger and more intricate than when you began, take that as progress and keep going. Write down two of the new questions it opened. Chase one of them next.