How do we learn faster?

[Skys]

I believe this thread can become a thread full of great content about learning.

There are books like Robert Green - Mastery, that describes exactly how you become a master and there has been ton on books about how to learn and how to get good at something.

Still, wouldn't you want a life where you develop at a faster pace?

It's all about the process. But what if we can make this process a lot quicker?

"Take more action" seems to be the general answer, or to "fail faster". And I agree, On the other hand you also need to give the process some time to develop.

If you develop a new pitch for your product, are you going to stop using the pitch if you don't see any results after 10 calls?
If you haven't grown 5 inches on your bicep within 2 months, are you going to leave that fitness program?
If you don't see any succes by doing mentally healthy things (like reading, meditating), are you going to quit and try something else?

So how do we fail faster? How do we know if we are on the right path? What "market analyses" do you need to make before taking of on your journey? When do you "aboard ship"? When do you quit? When do you turn directions?

Obviously mentors come into play here. Listening to the people who already did what you want to do so you can learn from them, copy, and then take your own approach. However, isn't everybody different? How can you copy somebody while knowing that nobody has exactly the same life situation so what applied to him or her, might not apply as well to your situation?

Are we just "doomed" for years of trying and in the end... Still "reinventing the while", recognizing that the mentors where right? (but you didn;t see it because your reality was so different)

These are lots of question and it's def. a bit philosophical. I wonder how a forum full of people living a life of self development, thriving for succes feel about these questions.

 

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[cristian tello]

Read "moonwalking with einstein"
it is about mainly memorization techniques and deals with how a journalist became the US memory champ within a year

Robert Green

i have read his 48 laws of power and he is a great author

 

[HappyFighter]

Being motivated enough is the key to learning something effectively. If for example someone gave you a 500 page book and told you after a month he's going to give you a test about the contents of that book. If you get at least 90% of the answers correct, he promised to give you a million.

I bet most people, even those who doesn't like reading books will be motivated enough to study the contents of that book.

But what if hypothetically the knowledge you gained from that book will lead you to making millions or more, wouldn't you motivated to study its contents? Of course we'll never know until it happens. That's why I think that motivation is the primary driving force in learning anything effectively.

 

[Skys]

To stay in my fitness metaphor.

Lets say a guy is 100% motivated to lose weight. He doesn't know how, so he has to find a way.
In the meantime, he does 1000 crunches a day.. or runs on a daily basis.. or any other suboptimal way to get to his preferred outcome

That's my "deeper" question. How do you get onto the path of "best practice" ASAP?
Or do you need all the bad first steps to get your roots deeper in the passion you are going after?

 

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[SteveO]

Are we just "doomed" for years of trying and in the end... Still "reinventing the while", recognizing that the mentors where right? (but you didn;t see it because your reality was so different)

This is going to be different for everyone. Your perception is a main ingredient. Some people are more perceptive than others. There are many variables that affect this.

You are not doomed to anything. There is no doom. Enjoy all the experiences that you have on your journey.

Some people will hit right away and others never will. Some people will never gain the weight in the first place and may not know why. They have already met the goal of being trim and fit without fully understanding how.

Mentors are not always right. There are many people with large amounts of wealth that would not be mentors worth following. Also, some people have had success without even realizing how they did it.

I don't have an answer for your questions. Pick a path, learn what you can and enjoy the trip.

 

[Beth Hewitt]

Mastery is a great book. Although I cheated and listened to it quicker on Audible

I think patience is a virtue, although if you want to speed up the process, you just have to take more actions, more often.

I think it comes down to people being able to enjoy the journey or life and experience.

People that are successful prematurely, tend to have to have no foundation so when it all starts crumbling they are back to square one.

Whilst those who are diligent and learn their craft and have success and then set back and then success and then sect back etc. Seem to manage longevity.

Interesting topic

 

[SteveO]

That's my "deeper" question. How do you get onto the path of "best practice" ASAP?
Or do you need all the bad first steps to get your roots deeper in the passion you are going after?

Another way to ask this would be "Do you need all the experiences to help alter your perception?"

Defining them as "bad" already sends you in the wrong direction.

 

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[Skys]

On purpose I made the question more "negative". It's food for thought. A lot of the time people look at their journey as just that. "All that work until I finally get what I want". It becomes overwhelming. So they don't enjoy the trip. I did that for a long time with poker. No longer enjoying the game and only focusing on moving up levels to make more cash

I love your question, by the way. "Do you need all the experiences to help alter your perception?"

 

[snowbank]

There are many people with large amounts of wealth that would not be mentors worth following. Also, some people have had success without even realizing how they did it.

Agreed x100

There's so many newer entrepreneurs who will blindly follow advice of people they assume are extremely successful, and sometimes are. However, sometimes the people either aren't actually as successful as they seem/claim to be, or they don't necessarily understand exactly how they did it as Steve said, so they'd be guessing with the wrong variables on how someone could re-create the same success they had.

That's why it's so important for newer entrepreneurs to do two things.

1. Ridiculous due diligence. Not the type of due diligence that says, "other people think they're legit, my due diligence is done". Find out specifics on EVERYTHING.

2. Find out the thought process behind why they're doing what they do. Do you agree with their thinking? If not, keep asking questions. If they're good questions, it's not annoying.

 

[snowbank]

How do you get onto the path of "best practice" ASAP?

A lot of people are so focused on just finding the 'best practice' answers, that they end up working substantially less than the people who don't. Oftentimes, the person who waits to work hard to find the best practice method ends up taking longer to reach whatever the goal was than the guy who just worked hard.

Finding the best practice is great. It can be done by finding a good mentor.

However, I notice a trend with entrepreneurs that a lot of them are becoming incredibly lazy/4-hour workweek'ish. I get emails all the time asking me how to do relatively long/complex things but wanting me to tell them exactly how to do it as if in a 3 minute paragraph I can tell them what I learned in the last decade.

"Hard work" is not a bad best practice IMO. I went the 4-hour workweek route at one point, and regret it.

Best way to path of best practice: Take advice from those you aspire to be like. Ignore EVERYONE else.

 

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[SteveO]

I feel a need to stay on track with what you are asking. My mind is telling me to alter the direction.

You are asking how to be more efficient quickly and achieve your goal as rapidly as possible.

The problem I have in answering this is that I view goals a little differently than I did in the past. Why not make to goal to enjoy life, remove negativity, embrace our relations with people, and live a life of "plenty"?

I have my share of negativity. But I also have a goal of eliminating ALL of it from my life. That does not mean that tough challenges and situations will not happen. The goal is to not allow them to consume me.

I have plenty of money. Of course I want more and am taking the steps to gain more. More or less is not going to hurt me though.

Keep taking the steps forward. Keep learning from your experiences. You are your best teacher, listen to yourself and your intuition. What you are defining as success may or may not come. We live in a world of abundance. That abundance is driven by your mindset.

 

[Skys]

great words SteveO.

I am talking about quickly achieving goals. However, that also comes across like I am looking for a magic pill. Which I am not.

Let's try to put it in the spectrum of "getting wealthy". There are lots of book that talk about abundance. About freedom. About how to live a life you deserve. You feel the urge to explore that area. The area of money, entrepreneurship and what not. So, you start reading. You come across terrible books, but you spend hours in them because it's your first touch of the subject you are now interested in. Then, you start to get more knowledgeable. You start to understand the subject better and all of a sudden you are reading a book called 'the fastlane millionaire' and that really shows you the right direction. Now you need to undo all the knowledge previously gained because you start to understand that that knowledge is crap.

Same with fitness. If you are overweighted, know nothing about sport but you do want to change. Then the first thing you might do is google, where you will find fitness programs. They look good because you have no knowledge, and you do them. You start to read Mens health and things get better. It just is not there. It doesn't click, yet. Then, you come across T-nation. Or you read a book called "Starting Strength" and all of a sudden your progression goes faster because you got the core of things.

You start to understand the principles of a certain area and now you can build on that.

Where I was getting at, is, do we really need that beginfase? Why don't we find that information / those mentors from the get go?

It's not really about 'best practice', it's more about getting to the 'truth' sooner. If you could call it that. You get to the core of things. You all of a sudden see the simplicity and see where you need to lay your focus.

 

[SteveO]

That is like a magic pill.

Your perception starting point vs your end point. How do you get there faster? Trial and error. Keep a positive attitude and keep plugging along.

It would be great if you could find a mentor. The cost of one is often too high if you can find one at all. They want something for teaching. It may delay you for a few years also. Another option is to get a job in the field that you are interested in.

I read books on how to do apartment transactions to get started. They were helpful. More importantly, they gave me a starting point. I did not refer to them much after I had done a deal or two.

 

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[Skys]

Hm, not sure if I agree on the magic pill.

If you have money enough from the get go to hire a good personal trainer to help you with your fitness goals, is that a magic pill too?

That's probably the strength of a strong network. Since you a lot of people, you also know lots of experts on certain subjects. Which make you grow quicker. I don't think that is a magic pill either.

If you don't have that network, then your phase of trial and error becomes a lot longer then somebody who has better opportunities for mentoring. Both work hard, both have the ambition. Neither really uses a magic pill. They both just use the best resources they have.

With a magic pill I always think of taking a diet pill to get faster results. Or use plastic surgery to fix your tummy fat. Or believe in those get rick quick type of books.

 

[SteveO]

Hm, not sure if I agree on the magic pill.

That was my attempt at humor.

 

[Enki]

How do you learn faster?

By being conscious more often. In the beginning of learning anything new, you learn the fastest. Than as you continue with that particular subject learning tappers to a crawl.

Experience and repetition allow you to master the subject.

You want to learn the groundwork of a subject with lightning fast speed?

Get all your study materials together, then rearrange all of the furniture in your house. Move everything in your house around. Silverware draw to the right of the sink? move it to the left.

Now when you sit down at home to study the subject, it will feel brand new and you will have a high level of enthusiasm. There is also something else that is profound. You will be forcing yourself to remain in full consciousness as you move around your house. All of the automatic behavior, like reaching to the right of the sink for a spoon will no longer work.

The key to learning is getting rid of all automatic behavior. Automatic behavior facilitates mental distraction, its easy for your mind to wander. The more conscious decisions you have to make, the easier it is to learn. Essentially you are trying to keep your frontal lobe online as much as possible.

 

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[SteveO]

Automatic behavior is why we get annoyed with people, why we raise our arms when we are startled, why we don't take action....

 

[stranger]

Keep taking the steps forward. Keep learning from your experiences. You are your best teacher, listen to yourself and your intuition. What you are defining as success may or may not come. We live in a world of abundance. That abundance is driven by your mindset.

I found it's the great answer on those all questions in the 1st post. You might be your own teacher on how make big bucks.

 

[cristian tello]

the key to learning any skill faster is to keep challenging yourself,to not go into autopilot(or zombie mode) while practicing
it's about finding the right outcome, one which is above your current expertise(you will get bored) and below your panic point(you will consider the outcome to be unrealistic and give up on it)

 

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