Sometimes, practice sessions fall flat. Picture a violin player slouching through rehearsal, struggling to remember the notes and summoning the minimum amount of energy necessary to get through it. At the end, the violinist walks out of the room no more skilled at playing than when they entered.
What separates the productive practice sessions from the busts? How can you, regardless of what skill you’re trying to improve, make sure practice doesn’t wind up a waste of time?
Usually, to learn how to cook a delicious soufflé, you’d pick up a French cookbook. To learn how to play guitar, you might watch a video on YouTube. To learn how to speak Mandarin, maybe you’d take a class. What you don’t do is spend time learning how to learn in the first place — and that’s a mistake.
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We’ve all heard, “Oh, I’m no good at math. I’m right-brained!” Similarly, someone might say, “I can’t learn by listening. I need to see the information.” Or even, “Don’t bother. Old dogs can’t learn new tricks.”
These three statements have one thing in common: they’re all myths that can limit our learning potential if we believe them.
When we learn new skills, whether it’s speaking an unfamiliar language, dribbling a soccer ball, or playing the violin, we experience more than a metaphorical shaping of the mind—the brain physically adapts, too.
If you are new to my work, here’s an interview I did recently about my new book Learn, Improve, Master: How to Develop Any Skill and Excel at it. It will give you a better idea of what I write about, why it matters, and how it can help you improve your life. Feel free to jump to any question that catches your attention.
If you want to read the first chapter of the book for FREE, you can get it here.
I’ve always wanted to learn too much, but learning anything takes time. It looked like my choices were to cut down on the things I wanted to learn or to become a better learner. I chose the latter. I began studying learning science, cognitive psychology, and skill acquisition in search of ways to optimize the process.
After years of research, I had enough information to create a learning guide I could use for my life. Then I thought, “If I’m going through all this trouble to create a learning guide, why not turn it into a book and solve the problem for other people.” Had I known what I was getting myself into, I’m not sure I would have done it. I’m glad I was ignorant of the amount of work in front of me, and that I was so passionate about the subject, otherwise I don’t think this book would exist.