December 13, 2019

How to Be Good at Everything (The Rapid Skill Learning Process) – College Info Geek Podcast

Check out The College Info Geek Episode Page & Show Notes

Key Takeaways

• The definition of mastery is fluid, and some people pick up skills faster than others, so don’t take the 10,000-hour rule as gospel
• 5 tips for skill-building:
  • Deconstruct the skill into the smallest possible subskills 
  • Practice > theory
    • Watching or reading about a craft is helpful, but practice is the main ingredient when it comes to skill acquisition
  • Space out your practice sessions
  • Practice in short bursts
    • Learning a new skill can be difficult at first, so you’re more likely to practice if you commit to just 10 minutes at a time
  • Remove the barriers standing between you and practice

Intro

• Thomas Frank (@tomfrankly) is the creator of College Info Geek
• Martin Boehme (@yomartholomew) is the Head Developer at College Info Geek, and co-host of the College Info Geek podcast

Books Mentioned

• The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland by Catherynne M. Valente
• The Kingkiller Chronicle Series by Patrick Rothfuss   
• Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
• The First 20 Hours by Josh Kaufman
• The 4-Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss
• Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

Let’s Talk Books

• Thomas and Martin both love to read
  • Martin claims to have once read 100 books in one summer
  • The Kingkiller Chronicle Series by Patrick Rothfuss is one of Thomas’ favorite fictional series
• It’s estimated that it takes 10,000 hours to become a master at a specific craft
  • This idea originates from the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
  • That said, the definition of mastery is fluid, and some people pick up skills faster than others, so don’t take the 10,000-hour rule as gospel
    • And, to add: “Sometimes you don’t really need to be a master at what you’re doing to get the purpose you want out of it” – Martin Boehme
• To learn more about how to rapidly acquire skills, Martin recommends reading The First 20 Hours by Josh Kaufman and The 4-Hour Chef by Tim Ferriss
  • You really only have to read the first chapter of The 4-Hour Chef to learn about skill acquisition; the rest of the book is about cooking

The Rapid Skill Learning Process

• Tips for rapidly learning a skill from The First 20 Hours:
  • Deconstruct the skill into the smallest possible subskills 
  • Learn enough about each subskill to practice it intelligently; be able to self-correct
  • Remove the barriers standing between you and practice
  • Practice the most important subskills for at least 20 hours
• Tips for rapidly learning a skill from The 4-Hour Chef:
  • Deconstruct the skill into subskills
  • Determine which 20% of subskills are most important
  • Sequence the subskills (determine in what order you need the learn the subskills)
  • Set up stakes to make sure you keep practicing

Additional Tips for Learning New Skills

• Choose a loveable project – if you care you’ll go faster and farther
• Focus your energy on one skill at a time
• Make sure to define your target performance level
• Create fast feedback loops
  • Humans are able to adapt quickly, especially when there’s feedback
• In the beginning, practice in short bursts
  • Learning a new skill can be difficult at first, so you’re more likely to practice if you commit to just 10 minutes at a time
• Emphasize high quantity over high quality
  • The more you do something, the better you’ll get at it
• Practice > theory
  • Watching or reading about a craft is helpful, but practice is the main ingredient when it comes to skill acquisition
  • “In theory, theory and practice are the same, but in the practice, they’re not” – Martin Boehme
  • An example: Thomas spent hours studying figure skating on YouTube, but when he got on the ice, that knowledge didn’t translate well into actually being able to figure skate

An example: Mastering the Piano

• If you wanted to master playing the piano, here’s what you would need to do:
  • Make time for deliberate practice
  • Removes barriers to practice
    • Find a place where you’ll have easy access to a piano or, better yet, buy an electronic keyboard
  • Make learning the piano a priority (this means sacrificing leisure time or other activities)
  • Define your target performance level (like learning a specific song that they’ve always wanted to be able to play)
  • Deconstruct the skill of playing the piano into subskills. For example:
    • Learning how to play a C-scale with your left hand, and then with your right hand
    • Afterward, learning how to play the C-scale with your left hand while playing a note with your right hand
    • Then, learning how to play scales simultaneously with both hands
    • Lastly, learning how each pedal works
  • Find songs to learn that are out of your zone of comfort, but not so difficult that it makes you want to quit
    • “People don’t like to be terrible at stuff for extended periods of time” –  Martin Boehme
  • Create a positive feedback loop – once you learn how to play an easy song, take that as a win and use it as motivation to move onto a harder song
    • One useful app: Yousician
  • Create stakes, such as booking several piano lessons at once so you’re more likely to follow through on your commitment
    • Use apps such as Beeminder or Habitica 
    • Another good idea is to have an accountability partner
  • Space out your practice sessions
    • Example: You’re more likely to remember a learned skill, and be happier in the learning process, if you practice for 30 minutes a day for one week (instead of 3-4 hours straight just one day a week)

Not Every Skill In Life Requires Mastery

• You don’t have to be a master at every skill to derive joy from it
  • Martin has been learning woodworking and wants to get good enough to be able to create simple items, but has no intention of becoming a master at it
• But, know this: “There’s a very big difference in the amount of progress you make with deliberate practice versus playing around” – Thomas Frank
  • If you don’t care about the rate of improvement, play to your heart’s content

Anxiety is a Part of The Process

• Don’t be surprised if you encounter anxiety while learning a new skill; it’s part of the process
  • Remember that the anxiety you’re feeling is more mental discomfort than physical discomfort
  • “Everyone who’s ever done the thing you want to do has probably dealt with some form of anxiety when they were at your level” – Thomas Frank