037: The Quickest Way To Master Any Skill

Hello, it's Ron Walden here and welcome back to another episode of Coffee One Stay on a Mug of Insights. Hello and welcome back to a new episode of Coffee One Stay and this is the part of our show where we get to talk about different ways to bring back to joy, as well as the pleasure of reading and self-education into your life. And yes, welcome back to another week and today we're going to talk about something snappy, short and sweet, which is around January. I think a lot of people are into learning stuff and I think a lot of people are looking forward to pick up a lot of new skills. And a lot of people seem to want to get into something, but I never feel like they're writing enough. Have you ever met one of these people who's like, okay, I would love to try cooking this here. I'd really want to learn how to cook a steak or really taste wine or some bullshit like that. Someone says to me, I really want to learn how to make sushi this year. But then around March, you ask this person again, have you started on the sushi or whatever? Have you considered consulting a sushi chef about learning how to make sushi? And nine out of 10 times, a lot of people simply psyched themselves out. And that's exactly what we're going to dress today, which is why is the case that we know perfectly well that there's a general progression here to get us to learn a skill yet getting started is the hardest part. Why do we feel like we're never ever ready enough to take the plunge into learning something new? And that's what we're going to address in this week's episode. And then again, this episode is based on a paid newsletter over at a mug of insights dot org or www dot a mug of insights dot org where every Saturday, I'll send out a free newsletter to everybody. And every Monday, paying subscribers will get an extra letter with a extra bit of detail or extra bit of exercise to really help you perfect and fortify your self education journey. So if that's what what you're interested in and if you want to play a handing supporting this project, if you want to keep this entire show ad free, if you want to keep the newsletter nice and clean and ad free over the long term, make sure to contribute to the newsletter by signing up for a double shot membership. And yes, you will get an extra letter, a longer letter on Monday. We're asked Saturday letter is available for everyone to read. But anyway, that's all I'm going to that's all the housekeeping I'm going to do. Today, let us get straight into this topic. So the past year in 2020, 25, it's been a bit of a crazy year. So the most immediate project that comes to mind is revamping my newsletter or completely finding a different way to run this business. Before there's a lot of kind of the way that I remember my income before is basically securing YouTube sponsorships and I get a get paid a fair amount from that avenue, but in 25, I mean towards November of 2025, I thought to myself, yeah, I really would like to build a business that's based on audience support and that's based on what I really want to write about, which probably means a smaller audience. But if I get to stay true to my words and my work, I'm happy with that. So with that came a lot of reading and a lot of learning and a lot of learning skills that I didn't have before. So I think around July ghost reached out to me, which is the hosting platform for my current newsletter and they said, hey, we are willing to give your shot. So if you would like to move your newsletter to our platform, we'd like to host you. So in my mind, what seemed like a pretty easy transition actually involved learning how to use Photoshop actually involved learning how to code in HTML actually involved learning how to navigate ecommerce, how do you come up with a with an enticing newsletter offer, how do you learn copywriting, you know, every part of this newsletter, nothing's out of place. Everything is designed to give you guys a really nice reading experience. So a lot of we have learned so much and I sort of started thinking about the nature of learning, how is it a case that there's certain skills that I said I was going to learn. For example, learning how to cook properly, I'm still struggling a little bit with that. How is the case that certain skills to us seem so difficult to get started with. In terms of the case, we have this ability to basically come up with an idea of what we want to learn. Yeah, when it actually comes down to learning the thing, we never ever feel ready. So here's the thing, I think the problem is in the laziness you can look at this guy who decided to start learning how to make a sushi in January and March, and you can call this person lazy, but I think laziness is not the problem. It comes down to how we think about learning. So here is the traditional way of how we've learned to treat learning, or this is how schools have traditionally conditioned us into interviewing learning, which is number one, you got to start with the basics. So you got to start with the basics, you master your basic moves, you know, whenever you move to a kitchen to work, not that I've ever worked in a kitchen, you're going to polish your knives, you're going to wash your dishes, you're going to peel all the fish or peel all the carrots and the mushrooms, whatever. And you move on to the intermediate step, which is probably washing dishes, which is probably running around. And then you get to a stage where you're able to take on many tasks at once, which is the stage of mastery, when a lot of the more basic ideas and basic moves having, having internalized in a muscle memory. So that is like the traditional model of learning. In a first year module for any university class, you are contending with the basics. And a lot of people seem to find a basics impossibly hard at first, because yes, it's tedious, yes, it's not that exciting. Yes, you're not doing the things that you were promised. This is like walking to a dojo for the first time, if you want to practice martial arts, thinking that you're going to learn cool kicks, but the first lesson is always going to be about basic strikes and basic stances. And this model, it sounds sensible, okay, you're going to master your basics and you move on to your intermediate stage. And then you eventually gather, gather all the skills that you need to become a quite a bit of a master in a subject area, but this model, even though it looks sensible. You know, you can write it down on a curriculum sheet. You can show your potential students that like, yes, we're going to focus on a basics. It's going to be fine. It's going to be a little bit boring, but way to you get to the intermediate stage where you start to have fun. It looks sensible, but in a lot of our self education journeys and in a lot of the skills that we really want to learn, it usually backfires. It usually backfires. So let's tune back to the example of the guy trying to come up with a plan to learn how to make a sushi. So let's just say that before he signs up for a class, he's already putting himself in a position of wanting to master the basics. He's ready. Think about it like, oh, damn, I have to learn how to source the right rice after learn how to cook rice. If I haven't cooked rice before, I have to learn how to cut a fish. I have to learn all this, you know, flavors and I have to do all this stuff, you know, and it quickly becomes a very tedious list if you just focus on a basics. Likewise, with a lot of other skills like, for example, as I was revamping a mug of insights, dot org, it turned from mug of insights.com now to a mug of insights.org. To me, that whole thing, if I think about it too much, okay, holy shit, I have to learn how to rewire a domain name, I have to learn how to code the footer and the header HTML. I have to learn how to import on my subscribers from my substack newsletter onto ghost. I have to learn back and support because with ghost, there's just basically me, you know, there's no longer like a substack supporting behind me. It's just me with my own products or with my own platform. So I have to learn all of this myself and that's precisely the thing. If we think too much about the basics, without really focusing on a project itself, very quickly, we'll get very overwhelmed. So right now, I want you to substitute one of your own examples of something that you want to learn into this mind space. So is the reason why you don't want to get started with learning a new skill is the reason laziness or is it because the basics just kind of stress you out a little bit. Is it because you feel like you can't overcome this first hurdle of getting through all of my new shot just to get started. Are you also wrestling with the fact that you probably don't get to do a lot of exciting stuff for the first week or two of practicing the skill. If that's you, I got news for you. Actually, the best way to learn a skill is not necessarily to focus on a basics or to get go. Like I said before, this in fact could be counterproductive in certain skills. And here's a key insight that I really, really wanted drilling to her head in today's episode, which is the value of the basics is actually invisible to beginners. The value of what you're practicing the basic stuff that you're practicing, the value of those really basic and mundane looking things are in fact visible or invisible to you who's just getting started. So this is why a lot of people getting to a skill. It's like they're practicing something and they don't really understand why they're practicing it in karate, for example. Sometimes there are new students who are very, very confused about why we're learning how to stand, why we're learning how to like pull our fists back as we strike. All these basic things and over time it becomes very easy for us to get bored and eventually burn out and never pick up the skill ever again. It gets so easy for us if we're solely focusing on a basics, it gets really tedious. And it gets to the point where later on in life as we get a little bit older, we might be stuck in a constant rot of never wanting to learn anything again to save ourselves the humiliation. of needing to become a beginner again. So this is where mastery comes in, intermediate stages. So there are the stories of jazz musicians. You know, they start off playing very impressive pieces, but as their careers move on, they find themselves returning to some of the most basic trials. You know, I love this story about the jazz musician, John Coltrane. So sometimes he would practice only one note, again and again and again and again for hundreds of times, until he gets a ride. But this was after he's done blue train. This is after he's done a lot of these amazing albums. So we keep finding this paradox of like, how somehow the more advanced practitioners are always returning to the basics. Yet the beginners are having a really hard time with basics. And this illustrates the point of like, sometimes the value of the basics is completely invisible to the beginner. So it doesn't really make much sense for us if we want to get a taste of something to start with the basics, because the basics is in fact, quite an advanced pursuit. And if we get too obsessed with the basics, we run the risk of never ever giving ourselves the chance to start something or to enjoy something, the first time when we're learning it. And this brings us to many examples. I'm gonna give you guys one of three examples, which is for example, if you want to learn a piano. So when somebody wants to learn a piano, the worst thing you can tell this person is to practice your scales. You know, practice all your damn scales before you start to play melody. And this is the surefire way for a kid to quit piano. But it is only after a musician has, you know, I learn how to play, for example, a happy birthday from my mom. I learn how to play this song that I really loved. I learn how to play one of my favorite pop songs on a piano or something. And after which can they start to see the value of practicing the scales if they ever want to become better musicians. And same with language learning. Sometimes all it takes for you to really fall in love with language is ordering a coffee for the first time. At a cafe using this foreign language, maybe you're overseas and that first connection where the language that you've been practicing starts to act out in real life. And that moment is worth remembering because those moments are gonna motivate you to get back to the grammar drills, to get back to conjugating the subjunctives and to really sort out a messy stuff with learning and new language. And likewise, with a pursuit of reading literature, a lot of the times we are enticed by wanting to finish something or we're enticed by aesthetic reasons. Right, I've seen the film adaptation and I loved it so much. Now it's probably the time to read the book. So we're kind of motivated by project-based learning first before we can then go in there and master the basics. Can you imagine if you have, before you even start reading Strakesphere, and you assign yourself like a syllabus of like different theatrical traditions, before you even give yourself the permission to enjoy this play that has really inspired you. Can you see the problem with that? So to keep reframe here is, next time when you start to pick up a new skill, a new language, a new craft, a new hobby, don't focus on the basics first. Because as a beginner, you can't even see the value of the basics yet. And if you try to train yourself from a ground up, you want a risk of burning out very early and you run the risk of associating learning with just dread and basic repetitions. And a more productive way to do this is actually to pick an exciting project that you really want to work on. And if you want to read a very impressive title, use James Joyce's Eulacies as a pretty poignant example which is, you should just set yourself the goal of I'm going to read this entire thing by the end of the summer. Or if you want to learn a martial art, you need to pick a slightly bigger goal than to, you know, something like, I'm just going to master my basic strikes. That's not inspiring enough. And for example, you want to learn a new program like Photoshop. You don't just want to learn all the buttons what they do. You don't want to read a book on this because the basics will make no sense to you. All these basic ideas and basic concepts do not contextualize in a project. Hence, you won't really have a deep intuitive understanding of the subject. Whereas if you start off with a larger project, for example, in the case of Photoshop, you want to really work on a video thumbnail for YouTube. No, that's a pretty sizable project. And then along the way, you start to pick up how the buttons work. You start to pick up how the color picking tool works. You start to figure out how to resize images and crop images, how to use masks. You figure all of it out. But whereas if you start with learning how to use the masking function, if you start with a kind of, you know, with a high school mode of learning, where you're not allowed to use scissors before you learn how to use crayons, you will surely get bored. And this is how a lot of people end up in a permanent rod. Where they have an idea that they want to learn something, but they focus on the basics, they get bored and they quit. Whereas a more sustainable way to approach it is by setting up a project or a goal that's slightly beyond your current capabilities. It should scare you a little bit, but that kind of motivations all you need to trust yourself to one day return to the basics. And even when you make some mistakes in your basic stage, it's always not too late to fix them later once you give yourself a dose of confidence with a sizable project. So here are some of the practical takeaways from this episode if you wanna take some notes down, if you wanna take anything away from this episode, which is number one, like we said before, don't obsess over the basics. Choose an exciting and achievable project to any skill that you want to learn and trust that along the way, you'll start to figure out why the basics matter so much. And then that will give you the motivation to head back to the basics and perhaps to tighten up a few screws, correct a few mistakes, and to view the basics as building blocks to advance the skill if you wanna take it to the next level. And a second takeaway here is to train yourself into a on-demand learner, not a learner in advance. So a on-demand learner basically demands a lot out of a new skill. They're able to demand that, you know, I do wanna try that cool thing. I do wanna start off with something bigger than I can handle, and I'm gonna demand that the process is gonna really teach me something new about the skill and about myself. Whereas in advance learners, they're so concerned with the tiny details by the time they master the details they would have given up already. They cannot see the bigger picture, whereas on-demand learners, they can see the whole picture first, and then they can find proper contexts and the proper practices to really bolster the skill up or to really fix up the roots of the skill. And the last takeaway here is that even if you fail at this so-called achievable project, or even if you fail at this new exciting move, or new exciting project that you're gonna complete, you would have still learned a lot. And you would have identified a gap so you need to mend. And then again, that's gonna supply you with a proper motivation to fix up those mistakes. You know, the fear here is that you're just gonna obsess over the basics and give it up altogether, whereas a consistent drilling of keep on coming back to something that you don't exactly know how to do because you're properly motivated by making a mistake first. In the long run, that's actually gonna create a more sustainable and more enjoyable learning experience. So that's essentially the whole episode where we talked about how there's this basic assumption that you need to master the basics before you start. And we've illustrated this with many examples in the spheres of reading, in the spheres of cooking, or using different examples like learning a new language. And sometimes the best way to learn a skill is to give yourself that permission. Is to choose yourself and say, "Hey, I'd like to give this a crack." I'd like to not listen to the words of my high school teachers beating to my head that, you know, you're just no good at this if you're not good at it from the get go. Give yourself the permission to try something exciting. And give yourself, most importantly, the permission to fail. Because I'll learn that journey. Can you really see the value of drilling the basics? And perhaps one day, once you've mastered a certain skill, you'll still find yourself back where you've started practicing the basics one day at a time. And that's all I have for this week. Hope you guys have enjoyed this episode. Then again, if you are excited to get more of these mugs of insights, and if you're excited to get more out of the show, please consider subscribing to the newsletter over at www.amugovincites.org where you get a free letter on Saturday and a paid letter on Mondays. And then again, Rob Mowaldon here. I'll see you back here next Wednesday. And for now, take care and goodbye. Today's episode was produced and published under the imprint of literary publication. Our design consultant is Victoria Eitken and the intro and outro music was performed under the music project of Woods by Johnny McFazion. ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Way the soul and we fall and we're told we should ♪ ♪ To the lines see the sign in the same beat ♪ ♪ Fallen out of all those trees ♪ ♪ I don't mind though, at least a kind of fuse ♪ ♪ Saying ombruz knees ♪ ♪ As keep walking across my feet and ♪ ♪ Way the soul and we fall and we're told we should ♪ ♪ To the lines see the sign in the same beat ♪