The secret to learning any skill faster
date
Sep 24, 2021
type
Post
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secret-to-learning-faster
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Published
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personal-growth
productivity
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Notes on some steps to mastering any skill.
Last updated
May 6, 2023 09:01 PM
This is also published in Substack and can be read here.
We always wonder at how experts in a particular field that we aspire to become one ourself have reached that stage which they are currently on. More often our steps to reach such expertise would have resulted in something resembling a botched up attempt at keeping up with a new year resolution on the 3rd week of January.
Even though we might have been exposed and grown up with the notion that:
Practice makes a man perfect.
There are few more factors at play which will help you learn and eventually master any skill faster.
Learning with Intent
Always keep in mind the intent of your learning. There are infinite possible fields for an individual to gain expertise in. Yet you might have chosen a particular area of interest to pursue. Always keep in mind of this reason or the eventual outcome of you becoming a master in that field, be it before any practice session or anytime you sit to learn about that particular skill.
Making yourself well versed in the Fundamentals
You can’t be proficient in something whose fundamentals you are not aware of. This might sound so obvious, but most of the time people lack patience and on route to mastery, they try to find shortcuts to reach the coveted top 1%. They fail to understand that those who are already there in the top position did not reach there by taking any shortcuts or within a short period of time. One must take time to understand the fundamentals and the building blocks of any field or skill. Once you have gained an understanding of the same, you now possess a flexible means of playing around with what you are going to learn.
Watch and observer others
Many experts in their field spend time not just by studying or practising their skill, but also observing the works of others. No amount of self-learning and practising will account for the experience gained by someone who has already been an expert in the field. Watching, observing and in the best case being mentored by such an individual will help us in knowing about their thinking process in how they do their job.
Practice the works of others
By practising we make ourself exposed to the works of others thereby making us knowledgable about their vocabulary. The main goal is not to copy their work, but to expose ourself to the nuance of their work, so that we can take what we want from them and use it in our own style.
Our minds are fickle beings. Even after knowing what to do and follow, there comes a time when we are faced with hindrances directly posed by our mind. One must understand them to know how to overcome these hindrances.
Check Hindrances to mastery