The most important parts of learning are often ignored.
If you look at examples of anyone who has excelled at anything, you see someone who is deeply motivated and follows a consistent pattern of behaviors. They eventually find their way to great teachers and have great resources, but they often start with nothing.
The rich kid who has a personal shooting coach to perfect a jump shot at 12 years old is almost always overtaken by the kid with no resources who spends hours and hours shooting by themselves every day.
We are clear on these examples when it comes to competitive pursuits, sports, chess, and music, but often ignore the impact of the lack of commitment in our own lives
In this insightful 6 minute video from Dan Sullivan, he breaks down the two commitments he believes are key to getting the best results in life. They are:
- Always be the person who totally chooses – don’t expect other people to make decisions for you
- Always be the person who pays their own way – don’t expect other people to pay your way, both financially and with work
This is the foundation or price of admission for learning anything, the true buy-in to be there, to put in the work, and to desire the results for yourself not because your friends think something is cool, or because your parents want you to do it.
Going through the motions because other people are pushing you can lead to learning some things, but it will never lead to durable and long-lasting results. Think of the child prodigy pushed by authoritarian parents into mastering a craft and the joyless results that creates for them in their lives. Those young people turned into depressed adults and flame out.
A second model for thinking about this comes from a Spanish Course I took recently from Idahosa Ness. In it he outlines his habits for learners with the acronym RISER:
- Resourceful
- Always looking for new tools, new practices, and new methods. Treats life as an opportunity to learn everyday and approaches day to day with curiosity.
- Imitative
- Models action off of the people who have already achieved results.
- Sociable
- Pro-social, changes depending on what it is you’re learning, but in all cases, you’ll learn faster and deeper if you can engage with others during the process. If you are learning marketing, talk with others about it, interview people who know what they are doing, do work for others, and get their feedback.
- Embodied
- Not getting stuck in the abstract or theoretical layer of whatever it is. The example with language learning is moving past a sole focus on words and grammar and into the full experience of verbal and non-verbal communication.
- Reflective
- After practicing or using the skill, reflect on the experience. What could be different the next time? How can you incorporate this into improvement?
The final piece is being the person who is willing to pay the price to achieve the results you want to achieve. Whether that means sacrificing nights out with friends, getting a part-time job that gives you more flexibility, or whatever it is. recap:
To recap:
Be a person to totally chooses and fully commits.
Be a person who pays their own way, both financially and with effort.
Be ready to make the necessary sacrifices to get the results you want.
Be resourceful and treat everything as a learning opportunity.
Be imitative and model the actions of others.
Be sociable, learn with others, and apply your learning to help others.
Embody what you’re learning and don’t get stuck in the theoretical or abstract part of what you’re learning.
Be Reflective and learn from experiences as you go.
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