I enjoy reading, observing, and researching. Whenever I need to learn something, those are the activities I choose.
Hands-on practice has always ended up as a secondary priority. I understand the importance of learning through doing, but for whatever reason I’ve given it less emphasis than I should.
This shortcoming is especially painful when I’m developing skills such as programming. I can’t learn to code just from reading a book or watching a video. In fact, I wonder if I’m better off taking a reversed approach by focusing on exercises and projects, and turning to research only when I’m stuck (update: the top-down philosophy has similarities to what I’m describing).
I’m still learning how to learn.