How to Improve Your Ability to Learn New Skills
No matter what you may set your sights on doing or becoming, if you want to be a contender, it’s mastering the ability to learn that will get you in the game and keep you there.
-H.L. Roediger
Knowing how to actively grow and develop a skill is a skill in itself, and if you understand how the principles of learning work, it will be easier to learn any new skill in the future.
It is therefore worth putting some effort into understanding this process, as it can save you many hours of practice and frustration.
The metaskill of learning how to learn is one of the most important skills you can have, as it can be applied to anything you want to learn. Here are seven ways to improve your skill learning:
1. Take action
The greatest failure of all is the failure to act when action is needed.
-John Wooden
Learning a skill requires that you actively practice it. So, if you only read about how to get better at learning skills, you are gaining knowledge. It’s when you apply it that you improve the skill of learning skills.
The best way to improve this skill is therefore to have an ongoing skill learning project. Working on a skill can help you understand the principles of skill development and get a deeper understanding of the process of learning.
2. Breaking down a skill
The most effective way to become better at a complex skill is one sub-skill at a time.
Every skill consists of several sub-skills. To improve faster it is useful to find the sub-skills that are most important and focus on improving them. It is normally most effective to improve a few sub-skills at a time, to not make the learning experience overwhelming.
3. Always look for ways to improve
If you don’t search for what will make you better, you will never find it.
Only by searching for and experimenting with new ways of doing things, can you improve. This requires effort and attention, and without these two ingredients, it is very difficult to improve any skill.
If you are serious about improving, it is useful to self-assess how you can develop your own game or skill. It is also beneficial to reflect on how each practice session went after it’s over and think of ways to improve it for next time.
This is a very different mindset from just showing up at practice and following the instructions from a coach. If this looks like your normal practice routine, try to be mindful of why different exercises are done and certain instructions are given.
4. View challenge as a great opportunity to learn
The real goal isn’t practice, it’s progress. Never mistake mere activity for accomplishment.
-John Wooden
I often used to shy away from learning opportunities, as I was embarrassed that I couldn’t perform certain skills. This has changed quite a bit, as I now know that when something feels challenging is when I’m improving my skills the fastest.
Anything that feels too easy, is probably things that you already know how to do, and you are not likely to learn much from it.
Be willing to take risks, and put yourself in challenging situations, where you may have to go through an embarrassing period of not being very good, but where you eventually will improve the performance of a particular skill.
5. Find the optimal time of day to practice
High performers practice most frequently during the morning, when independent research indicates that individuals have the highest capacity for complex, demanding activity during the day.
-K. A. Ericsson
Putting in quality practice requires a lot of attention and effort. It is therefore, important that you plan to do your practice at a time of the day when you are rested enough to put your full focus towards the task you are learning.
Improving your skill requires that you are at the edge of your current abilities; and when you are tired you are not able to push yourself to perform at this edge.
Professionals will plan their whole day around their practice; and will plan their practice time during the hours when they are most alert. This is often in the morning, but can vary from person to person.
If you plan to practice more than once a day, it is usually good to separate the practice times with a longer break in the middle. Eating and hydrating well and relaxing your mind by doing a different activity can be useful. Also taking a good rest has been shown to be very beneficial for learning.
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Culled from: SkillUp