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To Pick Up Anything
Never before has there been so much information readily available at our fingertips. Never
before has there been so many free resources to learn new skills and expand our minds. But
with this unprecedented access to knowledge, never before has there been so much
confusion about what advice one ought to follow.
More often than not, what separates the people who seem to pick things up fast and excel at
everything they try isnt that theyve stumbled on the best insights out there. Rather, its
that theyve learned how to learn well.
Here are 10 things quick learners do differently to pick up anything.
learning to walk, we would crawl and stand and fall hundreds of times, sometimes hurting
ourselves, and try again a few minutes later.
Think about all of the hobbies you had growing upyo-yo, skateboarding, drawing,
instruments, sportsevery month there was a new fad every kid had to try. We were excited
to learn, to improve, whether that meant failing along the way or not.
The greatest minds in history keep this childlike curiosity their entire lives. Thomas Edison,
arguably the greatest creative scientist of all time, was racing to invent the light bulb before
anyone else. He failed over 10,000 times.
When asked in an interview how he felt about his failures, without a missing a beat he
replied:
I have not failed. Ive just found 10,000 ways that wont work.
There can be no learning without failure. Embrace it.
3. Simplify
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication Leonardo da Vinci
The idea of the superhuman learner who reads 15 books on different subjects at once, while
learning 10 different languages and writing 3 novels, is a myth. Multitasking leads to poor
performance.
A study conducted by the University of London found that people who had their email on
while doing work that required concentration lost 10 IQ points. If you havent slept for 36
hours, you lose 10 IQ points. If you smoke marijuana, you lose four IQ points. Too many
distractions make us dumb.
Super learners, like Leonardo da Vinci, went through periods of intense immersion.
Although he is famous for being a scientist and an artist, da Vinci didnt take an interest in
maths until he was 40. Then he spent five years learning everything he could about it.
With learning, we must simplify. We must give all of our attention to one topic at a time.
Taking on too many tasks at once weakens our ability to learn.
Good learners look deeper than what is merely presented on the surface. Quick learners ask
why multiple times, even when they think they know the answer. They probe further.
Knowing is not enough, we must understand.
The next time you are presented with a subject you want to learn, ask why five times to
dig deeper.
In the stories of the greatest Masters, past and present, we can inevitably detect a phase in
their lives in which all of their future powers were in development, like the chrysalis of a
butterfly. This part of their livesa largely self-directed apprenticeship that lasts some five
to ten yearsreceives little attention because it does not contain stories of great achievement
or discovery. Often in their Apprenticeship Phase, these types are not yet much different
from anyone else. Under the surface, however, their minds are transforming in ways we
cannot see but contain all of the seeds of their future success.
The great thing about living in the information age is that there are plenty of experts to
learn from. While having one-to-one tuition from a master is useful, its not essential. We
can find mentors on YouTube, or in books that we can learn from by imitation. As an
aspiring artist I often copy the works of Leonardo da Vinci. Green sums up the
apprenticeship phase as follows:
The principle is simple and must be engraved deeply in your mind: the goal of an
apprenticeship is not money, a good position, a title, or a diploma, but rather the
transformation of your mind and character the first transformation on the way to
mastery.
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art
and science.
Both of these masters were scientific and creative in equal doses. They knew how to be
scientific, but they also knew the limits of logic when compared to imagination. To be a
quick learner you have to treat every past idea, no matter how it first appears, with a pinch
of salt, while at the same time respecting it enough to test it out.
If you dismiss an idea too quickly, you are being too skeptical. If you get sucked into an
idea too quickly and let it start dominating your life, youre being too suggestible and openminded. A quick learner takes what works, discards what doesnt, and moves on.