Hello friends,
I figured it might be cool to document how, exactly, I teach myself things. And then compare notes with people! Do you learn things this way? Do you have similar frustrations?
Normally this newsletter is weekly. But, I've been learning a dance routine that's been difficult for me. So, I'm writing to decompress about it. Bonus!!
In this newsletter:
Step 1: Map out the space. Goals? Principles? etc
Step 2: Memorize stuff. Some stuff I just gotta cram in there, so I do what I can to make it stick
Way #1: Go back and forth a bunch of times
Way #2: Carry in all the groceries at once
Step 3: Master it. I've got the ball rolling, now I practice until I hit my desired fluency.
Map out the space
There's a balance between planning and executing. Between learning and doing. Between taking a step back to analyze and getting back in the arena. I've made mistakes in both directions, over-planning and under-planning, many times.
When I over-plan, it's because of laziness or anxiety.
If it's laziness, it's because the "doing" is the hard part. I roughly know what I need to do, it's just laborious. If it's anxiety, it's because I have tunnel vision around the possibility of failure.
It's usually both to some degree.
When I under-plan, it's because of laziness or impatience.
If it's laziness, it's because the "planning" is the hard part. The doing, once I know what to do, is fairly straight-forward. If it's impatience, it's because my awareness has contracted too much around succeeding. I haven't planned properly, which means I'm unaware of effort required to achieve the goal.
It's usually both to some degree.
I find that with most things, it's best to do at least some degree of learning and planning up front.
Take for example, this salsa dance combination:
It's complicated. If I were to learn it, I'd map out what's going on first. When I don't plan or analyze first, I tend to make two types of mistakes:
I've missed small details that turned out to be important. Later on, that meant I had to unlearn bad habits and relearn good ones. Lots of wasted effort.
I've fixated on details that seemed important but turned out to not be. I'd make sure to do it that specific way but then see it done in a different but also valid way. I could have used that effort to focus on what was actually important.
I find I save a lot of effort in the long run if I understand what the goals, principles, etc, are. When it comes time to prove what I learned or do my own work, it's different in a good way, instead of in a bad way.
As a bonus, I find it more enjoyable to learn from that point onward. If I have a context for everything I learn, it's easier to remember.
I find it extremely uninteresting to learn things in isolation. Which makes it harder to make it stick in my head. Which makes it less enjoyable to learn in general. A double whammy.
One of the twelve principles of animation is called staging. Staging means presenting an idea so it is clear. Which is vague, so here's a good and bad example (source - an excellent video on how animation works, by the way).
Here's a scene:
It has good staging. Here’s a spotlight to show you what I mean:
Your attention is gently moved from place to place. You don't feel like you have to try too hard to understand what's going on.
Here’s a different version of that scene with bad staging:
There's so much going on, your eye doesn't know where to look.
When I try and learn a salsa combination, that's how I feel. I don’t know what to focus on or where to start.
Having a lot going on might be a visual treat if I'm watching a performance. But if I'm trying to learn it, it can be crippling. I need to break it down.
I find that the more time I take to break things down, the quicker I learn it.
If I try and bite off more than I can chew, I have lots of trouble no matter how slowly I chew it.
But if I take little sips at a time, I find that I can drink from a firehose.
Memorize stuff
Alright, at this point I have all the information in a form that is digestible. It'd be great if it all just stuck. I find it usually doesn't work out that way.
Don't get me wrong, the process of breaking things down, asking questions, etc helps with that. I find I retain a lot from doing all that stuff beforehand.
But, a lot of it slips through the cracks. I have to manually cram the rest in there.
When I say memorize, I don't mean rote memorization. I just mean "do whatever makes it stick".
I find that the most effective way to memorize is to Do The Thing. Practice, drills, etc.
I find that there are two ways I can Do The Thing. They both suck when I'm starting out, it depends on what kind of suck I'm in the mood for.
Let's say I'm trying to learn the salsa combination from earlier.
Way #1: Go back and forth a bunch of times ("just in time learning")
I'm not going to try and remember anything. I'm just going to do it and get information as needed.
Ok. What's the first move? Let's say this is the first move.
Ok, I've looked at the still image, now I'm trying to replicate it. My right foot is here, my left foot is here. Where's my weight?
I look at the image again.
Ok, my right arm is here, my left arm is here. Where are my arms going next? Let's look at the next step.
Ok, right foot moves forward, right hand is pushing, left hand is pulling. Or is it?? Maybe she's just moving forward.
Is he leaning forward on accident? Or is that actual proper form? Does it matter?
At this point I would context-switch again to try and answer those questions.
All this back and forth is, in my experience, annoying. Totally takes me out of the moment.
Makes learning feel like a chore. Reminds me of when I last assembled a piece of IKEA furniture. There was like 20 steps. Jumping back and forth, finding my place, mapping it to the pieces itself.. it's a pain.
Way #2: Try and carry in all the groceries at once ("just in case learning")
The previous way was to focus on doing. If I need information, I retrieve it as needed.
This way is the opposite: assemble all information in advance. Try and hold it all in my head. Then, Do The Thing.
In the case of learning this salsa combination, I'd watch the video a bunch of times. I'd study each frame. I'd ask myself questions about the combination to help remind myself what's going on. How many spins are there? How many 8 counts? What's the name of that move?
The purpose behind all that studying is to help keep it in my head so I can do it with minimal context switching.
The advantage of doing it this way: I spend less time on demotivating detours. I don't want to be constantly on wild goose chases for information. I want to Do The Thing. If I know I need information, I want to gather it as a preliminary step. Mise en place!
The disadvantage: WOW what a headache. If I spend 95% of my cognitive effort keeping things in my head, I can only spend 5% of it Doing The Thing. It's exhausting. And crippling how slow you have to go.
I find that it becomes fun once I have at least 70% of my capacity available to Do The Thing. If I only have 40%-70%, it's uncomfortable. If I have <40%, it's a chore and I'm biting off more than I can chew.
The less capacity I have, the more I have to lean into Way #1 (going back and forth).
Which is fine, unless I'm in a classroom or workshop and I can't go at my own pace. I have to keep up with the class.
Some things that help with this Period Of Suck where I have to choose between Way #1 and Way #2:
Go back to step 1: map out the space. It can feel indulgent and analysis paralysis-ey to leave the arena and hit the books. But if I'm coming from the arena, it's a good sign I'm not over-planning.
Either break the task down into smaller tasks and tackle one of them OR tackle a simplified version of the task.
Get someone to be my Google Maps and give me real-time information and feedback while I'm Doing The Thing.
Master it
At this point, I have reached escape velocity. The flywheel is spinning.
The amount of "thinking about it" or "going back and forth" or context switching I have to do is minimal. It is no longer a chore to Do The Thing.
It was either something I picked up for fun and now it has Become Fun, or it was something I needed to learn for work, and now I do it as needed.
But yeah, that's how I think about hobbies, skills, etc.
If I'm going to start something, I want to have confidence that I'll hit that escape velocity at some point. Which comes from having a plan. Otherwise, I don't even want to start, lol.
Is there anything that stuck out to you as jarring? Surprising? Relatable? I'd love to hear about it.