How to learn anything, easily

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably very familiar with what I call “goal-setter’s remorse.” Just like with buyer’s remorse after a big purchase, doubt often sets in after the initial excitement when you set a big goal. Sure, you’ve thought it through rationally, you know it’s going to be a challenge but you’re setting out with positive expectancy and enthusiasm. I mean, “how hard can it really be?”

So you buy the shiny motorbike, sign up for riding lessons, and splurge on a sassy bike jacket. You arrive for your bike lessons, looking like a seasoned biker, and you can even talk some of the lingo. You’re thinking, “I’m a natural - this is going to be a breeze.” And then you get on a bike... It’s a lot heavier than expected and it won’t move when you try to push it. Maybe they have a smaller one. You look around. Nope, yours is the smallest. You wonder if maybe the brakes are on. So where are the brakes, then? Two levers up front at the handle bars, two at the foot pegs... maybe this thing has a hand-brake? You breathe a sigh of relief when the instructor comes around to explain the different levers - this should clear it up. As he explains the procedure for starting the bike and moving off, he’s pointing to all the different levers and all you’re hearing is “blah, blah, blah, blah.” He patiently explains it again and asks you to give it a go for yourself. You turn the bike on, and randomly pull at the different levers. You’re aware of the instructor shouting, but all you hear is “blah, blah, blah”, so you try tugging again and then remember to push down with your left foot. The bike shudders and jerks forward. You get a fright, scream and jump off, dropping the bike to the ground. That’s when “goal-setters remorse” starts to set in. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea...”

The remorse grows as you learn the basics of your new venture, and it slowly dawns on you that this is much more complicated than you expected - there’s a lot to learn. Now that you think about it, it’s almost overwhelming how much you’ll have to learn.

Five weeks down and you’re still clumsily fumbling through each of the basic skills. Surely you should have mastered them by now? You have to practice over and over again. You bounce between boredom and frustration. This is not the fun, freedom and exhilaration you had in mind when you decided to become a biker chick.

Sound familiar? It might be a new hobby, or it might be new responsibilities at work. It doesn’t matter what the new skills are that you’ve set out to learn, “goal-setters remorse” is a universal experience - especially when you set yourself challenging goals.

Educational psychologists have studied the way we learn and found that there are 4 stages of learning that we all go through when learning a new skill. When you understand what to expect at each learning stage, you’ll find that you feel more confident, enjoy the learning process, accelerate your learning, and get to your goal more quickly.

Stage 1: Ignorance is bliss. When you first sign up for bike lessons, decide to start your own online business, accept your new job, or set out to travel across the Atlantic in a hot air balloon, you don’t know what you don’t know. This is probably a good thing, because you might never have set that goal if you actually knew how much you’d have to learn! Even though ignorance is the basis for the feeling of elation and invincibility in this stage, it’s great to feel that way, and it gets us fired up to challenge ourselves and learn new things.

Stage 2: The truth hurts. All of the theoretical preparation and analysis in the world is often still not enough to prepare you for the actual experience of going after your goal. It’s often only once you start taking action that you’re able to get accurate feedback... and the gaping holes inyour business plan or hot air balloon start becoming obvious. Stage two starts the moment you start realising how much you don’t know. This can be a gut-wrenching and painful experience that feels particularly bad after the emotional high of stage 1. It takes courage to do an honest self-evaluation and to face up to less than complimentary feedback. But, as bad as it might feel, stage two is a crucial step forward that allows you to get clear on what you need to work on, to master your goal.

Stage 3: Practice makes perfect. These days it’s easy to find information and tips about learning just about any new skill. We move into stage 3 when we know what we need to do and we start taking action to master those specific new skills. Stage 3 is when you’ve found out how to create and manage that spreadsheet that tracks your team’s productivity against their targets and, if you think it through carefully, you can do it. It’s hard work and slow-going, and you might have to break the skill down into smaller mini-skills and steps, but you’re getting there. There’s no short cut or “quick fix” to get to your goal of doing the skill easily and effortlessly. This is where most people drop out, because they lack patience and determination. Which means that it’s easy for you to get ahead, if you just stick at it.

Stage 4: Easy does it. With repetition and practice, practice, practice, those new skills eventually become easy, natural and even automatic. Stage 4 is what we had in mind when we set our goal and imagined getting it. We feel competent and confident and all that hard work not only seems worthwhile, but it has the effect of inflating our sense of accomplishment. We sigh in relief and consider getting out our super-hero suits again.
The fact that you can read this means that you already know how to progress through the stages of learning. You’ve used this model to learn ever since you were born. You learned how to walk, talk, eat and many other much more sophisticated skills - all without even attending any conferences or training programs!

And the best part about the stages of learning is that you can use the model itself to get better at using the model. Everytime you learn something new, you get better at learning, and you’ll find that you get more and more comfortable with stages 2 and 3, until you find every stage enjoyable in itself.

When you love learning, you can probably learn anything. And then your potential is limitless. Eartha Kitt said, “I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma.”