hey guys and girls,

i´ve read a pretty cool article about learning that i found interesting and would like to share with you..

1) Be Uncomfortable

You want to be stretched to the edge of your ability. It needs to be hard. That’s how your brain grows.

We learn when we’re in our discomfort zone. When you’re struggling, that’s when you’re getting smarter. The more time you spend there, the faster you learn. It’s better to spend a very, very high quality ten minutes, or even ten seconds, than it is to spend a mediocre hour. You
want to practice where you are on the edge of your ability, reaching
over and over again, making mistakes, failing, realizing those mistakes
and reaching again.

2) Stop Reading. Start Doing.

Keep the “Rule of Two-Thirds” in mind. Spend only one third of your time studying.

The other two-thirds of your time you want to be doing the activity. Practicing. Testing yourself.

Get your nose out of that book. Avoid the classroom. Whatever it is you want to be the best at, be doing it.

The closer your practice is to the real thing, the faster you learn.

Our brains evolved to learn by doing things, not by hearing about them.
This is one of the reasons that, for a lot of skills, it’s much better
to spend about two thirds of your time testing yourself on it rather
than absorbing it. There’s a rule of two thirds. If you want to, say,
memorize a passage, it’s better to spend 30 percent of your time reading
it, and the other 70 percent of your time testing yourself on that
knowledge.

3) The Sweet Spot

You want to be successful 60-80% of the time when training. That’s the sweet spot for improvement.

When learning is too hard, we quit. When it’s too easy… well, we quit then too.

Always be upping the challenge to stay in that 60-80% zone.

You don’t want to be succeeding 40 percent of the time. That’s flailing
around. You don’t want to be succeeding 95 percent of the time. That’s
too easy. You want to constantly be toggling, adjusting the environment
so that you’re succeeding 60 to 80 percent of the time.

4) Commit To The Long Term

Asking someone ”How long are you going to be doing this?” was the best predictor of how skilled that person would end up being.

Merely committing to the long haul had huge effects.

The question that ended up being the
most predictive of skill was “How long are you going to be doing this?”
Commitment was the difference maker. The people who combined commitment
with a little bit of practice, their skills went off the charts.

5) Find A Role Model

Watching the best people work is one of the most powerful things you can do. 

It’s motivating, inspiring and it’s how you were built to learn. Study the best to be the best.

When we stare at someone we want to become and we have a really clear
idea of where we want to be, it unlocks a tremendous amount of energy.
We’re social creatures, and when we get the idea that we want to join
some enchanted circle up above us, that is what really lights up
motivation. “Look, they did it. I can do it.” It sounds very
basic, but spending time staring at the best can be one of the most
powerful things you do.

6) Naps Are Steroids For Your Brain

Napping isn’t for the lazy. It’s one of the habits of the most successful people in any field.

Sleep is essential to learning. Naps are a tool that will make you the best.

Napping is a high performance activity. If you looked into the habits of
highly successful people you would see a lot of naps, a lot of
recovery. It’s sort of our brains’ janitorial service. It helps us clean
out the stuff we don’t want. It also helps us work on ideas while we’re
asleep. Top performers use sleep as a tool.

7) Keep A Notebook

Eminem keeps a journal. Peyton Manning keeps a journal.

Top performers track their progress, set goals, reflect and learn from their mistakes.

Most people who are taking an ownership role in their talent development
use this magical tool called a notebook. Keep a performance journal. If
you want to get better, you need a map, and that journal is that map.
You can write down what you did today, what you tried to do, where you
made mistakes. It’s a place to reflect. It’s a place to capture
information. It’s a place to be able to track your progress. It’s one of the most underused yet powerful tools that I could imagine anybody using. 

Reach: Always push yourself to the edge of your ability.

Stare: Look at those better than you and emulate them.

“Reach: Get out on the edge of your
ability. Get into your discomfort zone and reach past that.”

“Stare: Find somebody you want to be in two years, three years,
five years, and stare at that person. See what they’re doing. See
exactly what they’re doing, and steal that. Steal from them.”