Posted by Luke in A while ago I set out to learn the guitar. At the time, I had the bright idea of teaching myself. Fast forward a few years and now I make the same mistakes I did years ago and I have absolutely no way of progressing forward without relearning the basics from scratch. What a bummer. Nevertheless, through this experience I have learned something. There is no shortcut to brilliance… no not even if you want rock out. You have to learn the ropes… there is no other way.
Learning requires that you “actually” learn
The amount of students that I meet that don’t really want to learn the process. I get emails asking me for help and very often they haven’t even tried. I must admit, it doesn’t really bother me that much… I am more worried about them! I mean my stuff is pretty easy. How are these people going to survive with a hard ass boss? It makes me wonder about the state of things. Anyway, what really surprises me is that people believe (as I did for many years) that they think the easy answer will come to them. Such thinking produces dire results. We cheat and look for the easy way around. In short, there is no easy way around… you have to do it. It seems like a simple thing doesn’t it? Yet we very rarely want to go through it.
Ask a millionaire they will tell you
Even though we live in an age that promises the get rich quick answer, there really is not a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. Even though people like Branson and whoever else you may conjure up look like the made money fast, they had to learn something along the way. They picked up some skills, they put them to work and they learned there way through the problem. I am not saying that it should take years, but you won’t wake up one day and suddenly realise, “oh crap I am rich”. Sure, it does happen. But, you want to learn a language… you have to do in a way that works. That’s a whole other post!
What you can do to avoid ‘shortcut mentality’
Shortcut mentality wants to have easy answers. The kind you find on the back of your cornflakes packet. To even learn how to garden, bake a cake, make a sandwich, or do anything that you wish to do… you have to learn it. Our mind plays tricks on us by saying that we can circumvent the process. That if we just get the ‘good’ information we will be set. There is nothing that is not worth learning, that won’t cost you something. The better the information, the more it will cost you… the higher barrier to entry. Think about what Stephen King knows about the fiction game or what Richard Branson knows about haggling? They have learned things that got them where they are, along with a whole lot of luck.
Taking a shortcut is good if it’s efficient to do so but if it means you have to go back to where you started and start again… then it’s not worth it is it? Think about your life, business, job or family. What do you have that didn’t require some effort in learning? Remember, getting there quick is good if it’s smart but if it’s not… you will only have to go back to where you started and hit it again.
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Hi Luke, this is a message that really gets me very much. I have a tendency of looking at efficiency, trying to multitask and learn as many things as possible. I didn’t get far with all of them. There is no get rich quick scheme.
Often we delude ourselves that we are unique, special, etc. We may have some advantages, but at the end if you want to learn something, u must work hard.
Robert
Hi Robert,
You are spot on. I have found that I have the same trouble… you are right… if you want something you have to work hard!
Yes, but…
Often the work does itself when we’re not looking!
Nobody ever tought me how to think, and I never sat down to do my thinking exercises. And the most important factor in my becoming fluent in French is not taught in schools or found in books. What thinking and speaking have in common is that there is far more to them than we are aware of. You have to stand back sometimes and let the process run its course: sometimes, less is more.
The secret I discovered: don’t try to put it into words!
Let words and, more importantly, phrases come to you; reflect upon them briefly; neither accept nor reject them.
Now, really, when you’re ready… What do you think? What do you want to say?
Hi Alan,
I am wondering where the but is in what you have said above. Thinking and speaking are power twins. I have no idea why I am so fond of that phrase… anyway back to the point. I lectured on this last night and I have discovered that often talking, speaking and for me visual imagery are three of the most powerful things you can use. However, learning them may take time… and appropriating might require effort. What you are saying, if I understand it is what I would think as learning how you learn and applying that. That’s smart. It is shorter because you have uncovered a process!
I often tell my students… don’t come to the lectures if they don’t help you learn. Work out how you learn and pattern your studies after that. I learn in multiple ways through different media… so sitting down listening to a lecturer babble on for 2 hours very rarely works for me unless I am seriously engaged!
Thanks Alan … it’s in the morning over here so I hope this makes sense.