A lot of replies here talk about short term memory, needing to truly understand information on a deep level and have the "why?" question answered, using software to externalize information and a lot more that I can't really mention right now on a phone in the middle of the night browsing HN and coming across this gem.

A lot of this stuff seems highly related to ADHD. I exhibit them, and have done quite some amateur research myself on these behaviors and others seem to relate as well.

P.S: I am also an i3wm user btw ;)