We live in an era vastly different from even just a few decades ago. Imagine graduating college thirty years ago, a time before email was commonplace and the internet, as we know it with platforms like YouTube, was nonexistent. Consider the sheer effort required to learn something new then. It wasn’t about a simple Google search or a quick online tutorial. Learning involved dedicated mentorship or poring over books, a slow and deliberate process.
While I won’t romanticize the past with clichés about uphill walks in the snow, it’s undeniable that acquiring new knowledge was a more laborious undertaking compared to today’s accessibility. Instant communication for questions, a vast library of video tutorials, and real-time interactions with experts online were unimaginable. Learning was a commitment, demanding significant time and effort, a stark contrast to the rapid learning opportunities available now. And to put things in perspective, think about hard drives costing hundreds of dollars for a mere 40MB of storage!
Are You Stuck in 1993 Learning Habits?
I once heard a fascinating story about a photography professor who conducted an experiment with their students. The class was divided into two groups, each with a different approach to learning photography.
One group, the “quality” group, was tasked with deeply studying the theory of photography – mastering lighting, composition, and all the technical nuances. However, they weren’t required to take many actual photographs, focusing instead on capturing one perfect, masterful shot by the end of the semester.
The other group, the “quantity” group, had a completely different objective. Their grades were based purely on the volume of photographs they produced. The more photos they took, the better their grade, regardless of individual shot perfection.
The results were astonishing. The students in the “quantity” group, who were encouraged to take more shots and experiment freely, consistently produced photographs of higher quality than the “quality” group.
The key takeaway? You improve, you learn, when you engage in more “at-bats.” This concept, borrowed from baseball, emphasizes that repeated attempts and practice are crucial for skill development.
Yet, many individuals prioritize accumulating theoretical knowledge (“book smarts”) before venturing out and practically applying what they’ve learned. As the insightful Mike Tyson famously said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” This highlights the importance of real-world experience in the learning process.
Today, we are surrounded by an unprecedented wealth of learning resources. Platforms like Twitter (now X), YouTube, and email provide tools that can be leveraged during the learning process, not just before we begin. This shift allows for dynamic, iterative learning, significantly accelerating skill acquisition.
Three Fundamental Truths About Learning Effectively
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Learning Deepens After Initial Attempts: You truly begin to understand what you need to know after you’ve made an initial effort. Until you encounter challenges and roadblocks, you won’t know the right questions to ask. Therefore, it’s more beneficial to dive in, get your hands dirty, and gain some practical experience before getting bogged down in excessive theory.
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Learning Accelerates with Practice: The adage “practice makes perfect” is a timeless truth. Repetition and consistent application solidify knowledge and skills. This is why, as a coach, I consistently emphasize the importance of “more at-bats” to my clients. The more you practice, the more you learn and improve.
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Challenging Learning is More Effective: There’s a cognitive science term called “disfluency” that describes the beneficial difficulty in learning. Research indicates that when learning is slightly harder, in a constructive way, retention and understanding improve significantly. Princeton University, for example, advises its students that learning is akin to weightlifting. Just as heavier weights build more strength, more challenging learning experiences lead to deeper and more lasting knowledge acquisition.
The Universal Need for More “At-Bats”
On platforms like Twitter (now X), we frequently see individuals offering coaching and guidance to others. While the desire to help is commendable, it’s sometimes surprising to see people offering expertise in areas where they have limited personal experience. Imagine someone who ran a digital agency for just three months deciding to coach seasoned agency owners, or someone selling their first product company and then positioning themselves as a business guru. When your experience is based on such a small “data set,” the advice may lack depth and practical wisdom.
The intention to assist others is admirable, but a broader base of experience is crucial for effective guidance. In essence, we all benefit from accumulating more “at-bats” – more real-world experiences and repetitions – before claiming expertise or advising others.
Practical Strategies to Learn New Things Effectively
If you’re aiming to acquire a new skill or master a new strategy, consider these actionable steps, starting with perhaps the most challenging one:
Cultivate Comfort with Making Mistakes: Remember why teachers often had us do initial math problems in pencil? It was to allow for easy corrections and revisions. Holding yourself to an impossibly high standard of perfection from the outset is counterproductive. Granting yourself permission to struggle, to make errors, is often the most significant hurdle to overcome in the learning process.
Embrace a Growth Mindset: If you haven’t yet encountered the work of Carol Dweck and her concept of the “growth mindset,” it’s highly recommended. A growth mindset is the belief that your abilities and intelligence are not fixed traits but can be developed through dedication and hard work. Adopting this perspective fundamentally transforms your approach to learning, making the acquisition of new skills significantly less daunting and more attainable.
Seek Guidance from a Coach or Mentor: It might seem self-serving for a coach to recommend seeking coaching, but the value is undeniable. Professional athletes, at the peak of their performance, routinely employ multiple coaches – nutrition coaches, strength coaches, mental coaches, and more. When you’re serious about learning something new, finding someone with expertise who can provide direction and personalized feedback is invaluable.
Infuse Learning with Interest and Enthusiasm: A compelling book I’m currently reading, “How People Learn,” highlights a crucial insight for effective learning design: personal interest and genuine excitement about the subject matter are paramount. These intrinsic motivators often outweigh other factors in the learning process.
Tailor Your Learning Path to Your Motivations: It’s important to clarify that this isn’t about learning styles, a concept that has been largely debunked. Instead, it’s about aligning your learning journey with your individual motivations. Our new Motivation Code assessment (MCode) is designed to help you understand your unique motivational map, which can then be applied to your learning strategies.
- If you are a Driver, set specific tasks and challenges for yourself to conquer as a learning method.
- If you are a Relator, conduct informational interviews and engage in conversations with experts to guide your learning.
- If you are an Orchestrator, create a learning cohort or study group to learn collaboratively.
The core idea is that understanding your personal motivations can significantly enhance your energy and effectiveness in any new learning endeavor.
The Unprecedented Importance of Lifelong Learning Today
Back in 2017, the World Economic Forum’s research highlighted that the half-life of business skills was approximately 5 years. Drawing an analogy from radioactivity, the term “half-life” refers to the time it takes for half of a radioactive substance to decay. In the context of skills, it signifies the period after which a learned skill begins to lose its relevance and applicability.
For comparison, the skills our parents learned for their careers often had a half-life of around 20 years. However, a recent article in the Harvard Business Review (HBR), which inspired this post, suggests a dramatic acceleration in skill obsolescence. The new estimated half-life of business skills is now just 2.5 years, with some technology-related skills having an even shorter half-life.
In conclusion, there has never been a more critical time to embrace lifelong learning. The rapid pace of change in today’s world demands continuous adaptation and skill development. Learning new things is no longer a luxury but a necessity for personal and professional success and relevance.
