We'll be talking about it in class. I hope you find it interesting.
Mattew
7 ways to quickly become a master at anything
There's a right way to learn: Want to be more
successful? Actually that's not ambitious enough — want to be the best? I do. So I called my friend Daniel Coyle, author of the best books on getting better at
anything: The Talent Code and The Little Book of Talent.
Dan knows that the "10,000 hour rule" is nice, but you need to align your
effort with the way your brain was designed to learn. Hours are vital but you
can get to mastery faster — much faster
— by practicing the right way. So how can you and I do that? Here are seven
steps experts use:
1) Be uncomfortable - You learn best when you're reaching. "Flow"
is great. But flow is not the best way to learn. You want to be stretched to
the edge of your ability. It needs to be hard. That's how your brain grows.
Here's
Dan: We
learn when we're in our discomfort zone. When you're struggling, that's when
you're getting smarter. The more time you spend there, the faster you learn.
It's better to spend a very, very high quality ten minutes, or even ten
seconds, than it is to spend a mediocre hour. You want to practice where you
are on the edge of your ability, reaching over and over again, making mistakes,
failing, realizing those mistakes and reaching again.
2) Stop reading. Start doing. - Keep the "Rule of
Two-Thirds" in mind. Spend only one third of your time studying. The other
two-thirds of your time you want to be doing the activity. Practicing. Testing
yourself. Get your nose out of that book. Avoid the classroom. Whatever it is
you want to be the best at, be doing it. The closer your practice is to the
real thing, the faster you learn.
Here's
Dan: Our
brains evolved to learn by doing things, not by hearing about them. This is one
of the reasons that, for a lot of skills, it's much better to spend about two
thirds of your time testing yourself on it rather than absorbing it. There's a
rule of two thirds. If you want to, say, memorize a passage, it's better to
spend 30 percent of your time reading it, and the other 70 percent of your time
testing yourself on that knowledge.
3) The sweet spot - You want to be successful 60 to 80 percent of
the time when training. That's the sweet spot for improvement. When learning is
too hard, we quit. When it's too easy… well, we quit then too. Always be upping
the challenge to stay in that 60 to 80 percent zone.
Here's
Dan: You
don't want to be succeeding 40 percent of the time. That's flailing around. You
don't want to be succeeding 95 percent of the time. That's too easy. You want
to constantly be toggling, adjusting the environment so that you're succeeding
60 to 80 percent of the time.
4) Commit to the long term - Asking someone "How
long are you going to be doing this?" was the best predictor of how
skilled that person would end up being. Merely committing to the long haul had
huge effects.
Here's
Dan: The
question that ended up being the most predictive of skill was "How long
are you going to be doing this?" Commitment was the difference maker. The
people who combined commitment with a little bit of practice, their skills went
off the charts. Commit to the long haul. Don't give up. Even works for mice:
5) Find a role model - Watching the best people work is one of
the most powerful things you can do. It's motivating, inspiring and it's how
you were built to learn. Study the best to be the best.
Here's Dan: When we stare at
someone we want to become and we have a really clear idea of where we want to
be, it unlocks a tremendous amount of energy. We're social creatures, and when
we get the idea that we want to join some enchanted circle up above us, that is
what really lights up motivation. "Look, they did it. I can do it."
It sounds very basic, but spending time staring at the best can be one of the
most powerful things you do.
6) Naps are steroids for your brain - Napping isn't for the
lazy. It's one of the habits of the most successful people in any field. Sleep
is essential to learning. Naps are a tool that will make you the best.
Here's Dan: Napping is a high
performance activity. If you looked into the habits of highly successful people
you would see a lot of naps, a lot of recovery. It's sort of our brains'
janitorial service. It helps us clean out the stuff we don't want. It also
helps us work on ideas while we're asleep. Top performers use sleep as a tool.
7) Keep a notebook - Eminem keeps a journal. Peyton Manning keeps a
journal. Top performers track their progress, set goals, reflect, and learn
from their mistakes.
Here's
Dan: Most
people who are taking an ownership role in their talent development use this
magical tool called a notebook. Keep a performance journal. If you want to get
better, you need a map, and that journal is that map. You can write down what
you did today, what you tried to do, where you made mistakes. It's a place to
reflect. It's a place to capture information. It's a place to be able to track
your progress. It's one of the most underused yet powerful tools that I could
imagine anybody using.
If you only remember two words from this…
Dan says the two key words are "Reach"
and "Stare."
Reach: Always push yourself
to the edge of your ability.
Stare: Look at those better
than you and emulate them.
Here's
Dan: I
would say, "Reach. Get out on the edge of your ability. Get into your
discomfort zone and reach past that." And I would say, "Stare. Find
somebody you want to be in two years, three years, five years, and stare at
that person. See what they're doing. See exactly what they're doing, and steal
that. Steal from them."
Sum up
Sadly, you weren't born an expert.
But you can become one with practice and time. Start now. You'll be amazed at what you can achieve:
By Eric Barker, Barking Up The Wrong Tree – THE
WEEK - 15 April 15, 2014
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