- 2025-07-18
- From Gemini:
`What’s that rule that’s like “for every n hours spend learning, spend n hours creating” thing? there’s some ratio people talk about
Ah, you’re likely thinking of the Consume/Create Ratio, sometimes referred to as the 1:1 Rule for learning and creating.
This is a popular productivity guideline, especially within tech, creative, and self-improvement circles, designed to prevent the trap of passive consumption and promote active skill development.
Here’s a breakdown of the concept:
The Core Idea: Balancing Input and Output
The fundamental principle is that to truly learn and master a skill, you must balance the time you spend taking in information (consuming) with the time you spend applying that information or producing your own work (creating).
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Consume: This includes activities like reading books, watching tutorials, listening to podcasts, taking courses, and researching.
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Create: This includes applying the knowledge through activities like writing code, drafting an article, designing a graphic, building a business plan, practicing an instrument, or solving problems.
The rule acts as a guardrail against what is often called “tutorial hell” or “procrastination masquerading as research,” where you feel productive because you’re learning, but you never actually produce any tangible output or solidify your skills.
The Ratios People Talk About
While there isn’t one single, universally-agreed-upon rule, the most common ratios discussed are:
1. The 1:1 Ratio (The one you mentioned)
This is the most common starting point. The rule is simple: For every hour you spend consuming information, you should spend an hour creating something with it.
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Example for a writer: If you spend one hour reading a book on storytelling techniques, you should then spend one hour outlining your own story or writing a chapter.
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Example for a programmer: If you watch a 30-minute tutorial on a new JavaScript framework, you should then spend the next 30 minutes trying to build a small feature using that framework.
2. Variations and Context
A strict 1:1 ratio isn’t always optimal. The ideal ratio often depends on where you are in your learning journey:
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When You’re a Beginner: Your ratio might be skewed towards consumption, perhaps 2:1 or 3:1 (Consume:Create). You need to build a foundational base of knowledge before you can effectively create.
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When You’re an Expert: The ratio should flip dramatically. An expert might operate at a 1:5 or 1:10 (Consume:Create) ratio. Their time is mostly spent producing work, with smaller, targeted periods of learning to solve specific problems or stay updated.
3. The Alex Hormozi 1:2 Adaptation
Entrepreneur and author Alex Hormozi promotes a slightly different take: for every one “thing” you learn, you should create two “things” from it. This forces an even greater emphasis on output and application. For example, if you learn one new marketing concept, you should create two different social media posts or ads based on it.
Why Is This Rule So Effective?
The power of the Consume/Create Ratio lies in how it aligns with proven learning principles:
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Active Recall: Creating forces you to actively pull information from your memory, which strengthens neural pathways far more effectively than passively re-reading or re-watching.
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Deliberate Practice: It pushes you from simply knowing about something to knowing how to do it. True skill is built through hands-on practice, not theoretical knowledge alone.
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Produces Tangible Results: It ensures you have something to show for your efforts—a finished project, a published article, a working piece of code—which is motivating and builds a portfolio of work.
So, while the exact numbers can be flexible, the core principle is a powerful one: Stop just learning and start doing. The balance between consumption and creation is the key to moving from a novice to a practitioner.