Learn

I am obsessed with learning. I’m fascinated with the fact that we go from not knowing something to becoming world class at something. If we put in the work of course. And if we put in the right work. 

Most of my day is learning and skill development. I spend my time on things I am not good at. If I don’t see a way to get better at a thing, I will spend less time on it or take it off my schedule.   

Are you spending your time learning? How are you challenging yourself and pushing your cognitive limits? 

To me, learning is the spice of life. The fact that we can get better at something is fascinating to me. And I take full advantage of it. 

I take advantage of it with my kids. My kids are blank canvases. With the right guidance they can be world class at something by the time they finish high school. I have a five year old who is ripe for learning. He is in school, yes. But unfortunately, school is only going to make him better at school. With training, he could be a professional entrepreneur by the time he is fifteen. It’s simply a matter of putting in the time. And he has a lot of it.  

This is something I missed. Not until my forties did I understand that in order to get good at something, all that was required was time and effort. Skill and talent have little to do with the final outcome. It’s a matter of time put into the skill. As an example, my daughter is the best water polo player on her team. But it has nothing to do with talent and everything to do with how much time she has spent on the sport. She has the most hours of training out of all the kids on her team. And she continues to put in more hours. She will practice with her team and her older brother’s team. If she keeps this up, she will be an Olympian by the time she finishes college. As a side note, she will be very hard to drown. 

I’m playing catch up. I still have the time to become world class at something, but I have too many obligations vying for my time. Most notably my family. I have a wife and kids (thirteen, eleven, five) and I want to give them some of my time/life. I have chosen this. So I have to make do with the remaining time I have.

To learn, be wrong. Or, don’t be right.    

I will commonly ask myself, “how do I know I am right?” I feel this is a useful question. Because it keeps me in beginner’s mind. And this keeps me open to learning new things and adapting to new situations.

How do I know I am right? To ask another way, how right am I? Because the key to learning is understanding we are never 100% right. But at some point we need to take action. If we doubted everything we do for fear of fucking up or looking stupid we would never accomplish anything. So at some point we need to tell ourselves, what I know is sufficient enough to attempt this thing. I heard a great quote the other day: a life full of mistakes is better than a life full of inaction. 

Learning and confirmation bias 

Do you find yourself watching the same news network? Following the same politicians? Eating the same foods? If so you are not alone. Humans stick to things they know and follow information that reinforces their ideas and beliefs. Physiologists call this phenomenon, confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is the human tendency to search out information that will confirm beliefs. This hinders learning. If you believe Ford makes better trucks than Chevy, you will bias Ford over Chevy, regardless of the facts. If you are a Democrat, you will believe the Democratic party is correct no matter the policies. Confirmation bias is something we are all afflicted by. It closes us down rather than opening us up to more possibilities. But now that you are aware of it, you can attempt to fight back and regain the beginner’s mind. 

Learning and illusory superiority

A condition of confirmation bias is called illusory superiority. This is a condition wherein a person overestimates their own qualities and abilities, in relation to the same qualities and abilities of other people. 

I absolutely do this. When I am driving I am constantly on my soap box of superiority and looking down on all the shitty drivers surrounding me. But how do I know that I am better? I’m using my own criteria to determine what makes a good driver. It is not a proven and unbiased method. So how do I know I am a better driver? The answer is I can’t know.

Meet John’s illusory superiority

John is a standup guy with a beautiful wife and kids. He pays his taxes and volunteers at the local homeless shelter. He is well liked by all. John attributes his luck and popularity to his ability to “read people” and know someone just by looking at them. John actually puts a lot of faith in this “ability.” But what if he actually was an incredibly poor judge of character? Then he is blind. He would not be able to improve in this area because of his illusory superiority. So the lesson is no matter how good you think you are, no matter how much information you think you know, there is always stuff you don’t know. Some angles you haven’t explored. And it would be good to find a mentor or take other action to help you get better.  

Find the joy in learning

I don’t know what you will gain from reading this post. If you have made it this far, I appreciate your time. 

I’m in the process of learning how to write better. But it never ends. There is always room for improvement. I suppose that is the point of all this. It is a reminder to myself that I will never be done. Maybe that is why people climb mountains. Because there is an obvious end. And the harder the mountain is to climb the more satisfaction is gained when it’s summited. And this is what I am struggling with. I struggle with the end. But I also struggle with what to learn. I can’t learn everything so I have to be selective. Currently I am pursuing writing, business, guitar, Spanish, chess, hand to hand combat, family and myself. Family and myself being overall self-improvement. I have included a brief description of each discipline in the appendix.

The Takeaway

I write these blog posts for two main reasons. One is to help me understand the world better. There are simply too many things I don’t know and writing helps me think it out. And second, I write to be better at writing. Having said that, I want other people to consider learning as a worthwhile pursuit. But be selective with what you learn. Because you can’t learn it all. So pick areas that you can dedicate some time and effort to. I should drop some off my list but I feel I am organized and have enough support to be able to pursue them all.

I am currently working on a system to help people organize their day. It is called FMM or The Fifteen Minute Marvel. I expect I will begin to roll it out very soon. I will be letting my readers know more about it as I progress. 

Thanks and have a great day. 

Appendix 

Writing

I’m doing two forms of writing. This blog is one form. It’s self-guided training. I select a topic and then I write about it. I theorize that over time I will get better at writing this style through repetition. Further, I am killing two birds with one stone. Because really these writings help me reflect. So I am learning how to write and improving myself at the same time.

Along with the blog I am teaching myself how to write fiction. I am doing this by setting aside thirty minutes a day to work on a book. I use masterclass.com to help me learn how to be a better writer. The best piece of advice I have received on writing is… start. And the shittier the better. Because it will get better. Everything starts out shitty. All great works of art were created by someone who was a newbie at some point. They didn’t start out as a brilliant artist/musician/entrepreneur etc. Thus, what is required to create a great work of art, is starting. 

Business

I will start another company. But let me be clear, I will have a company that makes me an income of thousands of dollars an hour. Or millions of dollars an hour. I want to get the greatest amount of reward for the least amount of effort. This means that I am working only when I want to and only on the stuff I want to work on. 

Through all my research, mistakes, energy and effort I put into business, I have developed a way of thinking about business. It’s important to think a certain way. The way concepts and ideas are thought about makes a great deal of difference. 

Guitar

On October 25, 2021, I decided to start practicing the guitar, and I have been consistent ever since. On average I practice 35-45 minutes per day. I don’t know where this will go, but I do know that if I can stand in-front of a group of people and play a song on the guitar, and maybe even sing, it would be a great thing. I would get someone’s attention for that brief moment, and trick them. Being good at something is a trick. It’s a trick because no one saw you practicing. One day you show up and sound amazing. It’s like magic. But it isn’t. It’s a human learning. 

Spanish

I have wanted to learn Spanish for many years. I have started and stopped many times. But I feel I have finally made it into a habit. Duolingo has made learning Spanish fun and engaging. So I do that everyday. I have also hired a teacher. This is an important part of the process. By paying someone I feel more accountable to myself, my family, and my teacher. My goal with Spanish is to be able to talk as well as a five year old. 

Chess

I have been learning chess for about a year and three months and what I have learned is that there is so much to learn about the game. I have a teacher for chess as well. I don’t know where chess will take me and sometimes I question whether I should continue to pursue it. But as I am writing this, I feel learning chess will teach me to look at problems and to make decisions in a unique way. 

Hand to hand Combat

I train with a team called Injury Dynamics It’s by far the best hand to hand combat training available. I was training with them for about a year before covid hit. And then I stopped. It was a relief, I admit, when I stopped. It was hard work even though it was only one day a month. I would drive down to San Diego and train with them for 6 hours on a Saturday. It was a brutal 6 hour class. Being thrown on the mats all day killed my back. And then driving home for two hours made my legs cramp up. 

Now, they are back up and running again and so am I. Currently I’m dedicating fifteen minutes a day to the training. I can’t go back to San Diego yet because I have school on Saturdays. If they are still around when school gets out, I will consider going back.