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.
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Whether you're an artist, an entrepreneur, or CEO of a fortune 500 company, knowing how to quickly master new skills is an essential component of success.
There’s immense value in working with a coach, teacher, mentor, or someone who has more experience than us in our domain. They guide us through the process, give us valuable feedback, and help us avoid unnecessary mistakes. When we work with a mentor we are cutting down the learning curve by taking advantage of the accumulated knowledge and experience they’ve gathered. We get to learn from their past mistakes and replicate what they discovered to work best.
With today’s easy access to information it’s common that we no longer memorize “content”, but instead we make mental notes only about where to find it. We dog-ear book pages, underline paragraphs, bookmark websites, save videos. Etc.
If there’s something we need to be reminded of we know where to look for it. This creates the problem of not committing information to memory. We feel like we no longer need to, that we only need to know where to get it. Our memory has become an index. It shows us where to find the knowledge, but never holds the knowledge itself.
Most people quit their goals soon after they set them. Here’s how to stick to yours.
1. Don’t make a list. If you need to write a list of goals, it means you are trying to do too much at a time. That’s where most people go wrong and end up quitting a few weeks into their journey. It’s overwhelming.
We approach goal-setting like a wishlist when we should think of it as a budget. We have limited time, energy, and willpower to work on all our projects and new habits.