Principles of learning

How to master any skill you want 10 times faster

In this post I will share with you my favorite principles of learning, ideas that will help you to acquire skills in the fastest and the most efficient way possible.

Massive action

First of all — take massive action. Learning without doing is like reading books about bodybuilding without ever going to the gym.

Your knowledge about the subject is like a map that shows you how to get to the goal. Action — is actually traveling the path. Don’t use learning as a form of procrastination. Gain the minimal knowledge you need to start acting, and practice it right away, you will learn the rest as you go.

Design a simple challenge, figure out the first step that you need to take, and take it. Learning with practical purpose is significantly faster and more fun, because it gives you experience instead of the abstract knowledge.

Deliberate practice

Practice doesn’t make perfect, it makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect.

Deliberate practice means intentionally setting challenges that are slightly above your current level of ability, constantly pushing yourself forward instead of just going through the repetitive motions.

You grow fastest when you are stretching a bit outside of your comfort zone, but not so far as to get confused, overwhelmed, and freak out. Set a bar that is hard to reach, and practice repeatedly until it becomes effortless and automatic.

Be process-oriented, not outcome-dependent

Quality of your work depends on your skill level. You can not directly control your level of skill, all you can control is the time you put into practice, and the quality of your practice.

Therefore, your criteria for success should not depend on reaching a certain level of quality, but on taking the right action and getting better at executing a process that works well.

Don’t be hard on yourself if you are unhappy with the outcome of your efforts, reward yourself for taking the right steps forward. Be driven by your desire to practice so you can get better at what you do, instead of rewards you’ll receive once you succeed.

Cultivate your passion

If your skill level depends on the amount of time you spend practicing it, the amount of time you spend practicing depends on the amount of joy the process brings you. Getting good at things takes a lot of time and effort, so in order to master your craft you need to love what you do. Nobody has enough will power to put 10 thousand hours into doing something they don’t enjoy.

Your brain craves to take action when it expects to be rewarded for it. Therefore, deliberately reinforcing positive associations is one of the most powerful thing you can do to motivate yourself to practice more. Reward and encourage yourself every time you make a step forward, and seek ways to make process more interesting and fun.

Understand before you automate

Don’t rely on subconsciously picking up the skill by mindlessly going through the motions, mere repetition will not make you great. Start by doing things slowly, consciously understand each step you take. When you succeed or fail, analyze the underlying reasons that caused it.

Only once you have a solid, conscious understanding of principles, once you have learned to consistently get it right, reinforce it with repetition, allowing your brain to automate and speed up the process by making it subconscious

Practice one thing at a time

Most of hard things require a constellation of skills, and it’s best to learn them one at a time. Analyze and break down your process, and then practice each step separately until you’ve mastered and turned it into an unconscious habit. Trying to do everything at once is overwhelming, and will make you learn slower than if you’d focus on getting each separate step right.

Learn to get into Flow

Flow is a state of being completely immersed in what you’re doing. When you’re in flow you’re completely focused, present, and very efficient. This state feels incredibly good, and makes you extremely productive. Read this post for tips on how to achieve it.

Pick the right metrics

You improve what you measure, so come up with a way to measure your progress in specific numbers, and make sure they reflect what’s important.

Measure smaller units of success. Instead of looking at your work as a whole, look at how well you have accomplished each separate step — smaller milestones are easier to troubleshoot and improve.

Measure things you directly control. For example, it’s better to measure the amount of words you write every day than the feedback you receive on your final work.

Learn Inner game

Every activity has an “outer game” — the specific, technical things you need to do right, and “inner game” — your internal mindsets and attitudes towards what you do, which is just as important. It includes your ability to focus and deal with stress, your state of mind, your emotional intelligence, your ability to proactively set and accomplish goals, your ability to meet deadlines. I

f you’re feeling stuck — it is possible that your problem is not in knowledge or in technical execution, but in your inner game.

Have a plan

Set large-scale ambitious goals, break them down into smaller subgoals you can accomplish in a relatively short period of time, break down the first of them into a series of specific steps that will take you from where you are now to where you want to be.

Move forward by accomplishing one manageable task after another. Be flexible and adjust your path as you move along and learn new, more accurate information.

Trust the process

Have confidence in your abilities. When things get overwhelming and your dreams feel unattainable — look at people who have done it before to remind yourself that it can be done. Don’t waste your time comparing yourself to the masters and think “I’ll never be able to do this”, it will only stand in your way.

If you do anything for 10 years straight — you will become an expert, success is almost inevitable. As long as you approach things intelligently, keep moving forward, not quitting, and not dying — you’re pretty much guaranteed to reach mastery. If failing is not an option for you — you will not fail.

Think long term and develop good habits

Path to mastery is a marathon, not a sprint. Moving forward at a steady, consistent pace is more important than moving fast. Keep in mind the big picture, and optimize for long term success.

Develop a sustainable habits and exercise regularly. When you’re learning, you’re trying to rewire your brain, and it will happen much faster if you practice for 30 minutes every day, than if you do it for 3 hours once a week.