3 Ways to Faster Learning

Yeah, I'm sure you've heard it before "practice makes perfect." And yes it's
true, however, it's a certain type of practice that will cause your learningrnto explode, literally.

When we learn part of the process is through what is known as combinatorial
explosion. By definition, this is when something grows at a rapid rate.
Because of this we feel we are learning a lot when we first start learning a
new skill and why it feels like we arena't learning much once we become
proficient. In short, it takes a lot more effort to grow as we get better
at something.

So, what are the tips for mastering the art of practice?

Tip 1: Keep practicing

No matter how hard you think it is putting in your 10,000 hours – it is a requirement. Always be looking to try something harder. This is the only way to exploit combinatorial explosion.

Tip 2: Stay focused

Without focus you won’t get better at the skill you are trying to learn. This becomes obvious when you think about how many bad drivers are on the roads and how many hours people have logged behind the wheel.

Tip 3: Get feedback

One of the innate ways we learn is through what is know as a feedback loop. It works like this, do something, record result, do something again, check result from last time, if it was successful last time repeat the something the same way this time, if the action was unsuccessful last time try the something a different way. This is how you learned to keep your hands off the stove when it is hot.

However, for a complex skill like learning music you may not know how an instrument should sound. Having an expert at your side is key because learning the wrong feedback loop takes a lot of effort to replace with a new feedback loop.