How long did it take you to learn how to walk?
You probably can’t answer that question, but surely you didn’t learn overnight. This most basic skill likely took at least a month to acquire; a month full of trying and failing, of progressing literally inch by inch, until you finally managed to go the length of an entire room without tripping over your own two feet.
Fast-forward to adulthood, and with all the cares and responsibilities of your world it’s easy to overlook that that learning and improving a skill takes time, relentless effort, and typically more than a handful of failures. But like learning to walk, learning to talk, and any of the other basic skills you learned in your earliest years, the best way to move towards success is to immerse yourself in the thing you want to learn. When you were a child, you learned to talk because everyone around you was talking; you learned to walk because you were surround by people walking. Similarly, as an adult the best way to learn something new or to improve an existing skill is to bring that topic of study into your world entirely – to fully surround yourself with it. I’m going to call this the “immersion technique” of learning and developing.
The essential components of immersion-based learning are:
- Read everything you can on the subject
- Keep track of your progress
- Have a scheduled practice time
- Improve related skills
- Find and communicate with others doing the same thing
- Remind yourself why
We read thousands of words each day. A large part of that effort is wasted, reading things we’ll quickly forget, often because they didn’t really matter in the first place. Why lose that time when you can put it to good use reading about your interests?
Instead of wasting time reading the latest Hollywood gossip, read things that help you improve yourself. Find blogs that are useful and educational, and subscribe to them in a feed reader or by email. Check your local library for books about your subjects of interest, and spend at least 15 minutes each day studying them. Chances are, many people have already learned the lessons you’re learning, and that they’ve written about it extensively; learn from them.
Nothing is a more powerful motivator than looking back and seeing how far you’ve come. The day-by-day struggle to improve yourself can be overwhelming because improvements tend to come in small steps, sometimes even unnoticeable. Keep a record of your progress so you can measure your improvements over greater periods of time than just one or two days. Keeping this journal also helps to motivate you to do better. You’ll be eager to brag to your notebook about just how well you’re doing, so you’ll put in extra effort to be able to record it.
Consistently give a portion of your day to practicing and improving your skill. If it’s important enough for your to learn, then it’s important enough for you to schedule it on your calendar. Dedicate a specific period time to work on your goals, and make it a regular part of your schedule. Don’t let things interfere with your practice time; consider it a prior commitment. If you paid for lessons at a given time of day, you wouldn’t let something trivial replace them; why should you be so flexible just because you haven’t paid for it? You’ve paid for it with your own time and effort, and you mustn’t let the world take you off course.
No skill stands by itself. Whatever your primary goal, there are undoubtedly related skills you should practice. If you want to lose weight, not only do you need to spend time watching what you eat and exercising, but you’ll likely want to learn how to be a better cook so you can prepare meals that are both nutritious and healthy. You’ll probably want to learn about and understand nutrition, and to learn more about what kind of exercise is best for your overall goals. Branching out into related areas helps you see the big picture of what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and how to do it better.
Whatever you’re working on, there’s sure to be others working on the same things. The world is full of people that share your interest; all you need to do is seek them out. Online, you can look for websites, forums, mailing lists, and discussion groups that discuss your niche of interest. You can learn from others passively by reading their comments, but it’s more useful to actively participate in the discussion. If you live in an urban area, see if there are groups or meetups in your area with people that share similar interests.
Maybe you want to lose weight so you can be more active with your family. Perhaps you’re trying to learn web design so you can get a promotion at your job. Whatever the reason, place a reminder of it somewhere that you’ll see it on a regular basis; it’s even better if it’s where you’ll be working on your goal. If you’re running on a treadmill so you can spend more time at the park with your kids, it doesn’t hurt to have a picture of your family around while you do it.
If you follow these rules and completely surround yourself with things that help to advance you towards your goals, you’ll find that you are able to achieve much more and get there much quicker.
Did I miss anything? Have you tried these techniques, and if so what were the results? Leave your opinions in the comment section below.
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