Begin by Doing

Are you looking for a place to start? Is the number of options overwhelming? It’s always best to begin by doing.

School taught me that I’m not ready to learn something properly until I’ve actually tried it or developed a curiosity so deep that I’m willing to engage with it for hours. As a photographer, I needed to start taking photos before I read a pile of books about how lenses work or what depth of field is. Without a body of experience to draw on for context, one f-stop would be just as good as another.

Crawl, Walk, Run

The secret to mastery is the classic crawl, walk, run method:

Figure out what you want to do
Start doing it
Develop mastery

If you’re stuck on #1, then just pick something. Don’t get stuck waiting for the perfect ah-ha moment of clarity to strike. Instead, start by doing and you’ll know soon enough if it’s pulling you in the right direction.

Once you start doing, the true learning process will start. This is the stuff only experience can teach you. You’re not only learning the things you’re trying to do, but you’re learning the more important skill of all: how to learn.

Learn to Learn

When you understand how you learn best, you unlock how to serve as your own personal academy of higher learning – professor, registrar, and thesis adviser all in one. You can apply that meta-skill to any learning challenge you face for the rest of your life.

Take learning to walk, for example. If you’re a parent and your toddler isn’t walking yet, you don’t just shrug and say, “Oh well, my kid’s not a natural walker. I’ll pull him on a sled from now on.” Every able-bodied kid pushes through learning to walk, then run, at her own pace. Everything comes down to crawl, walk, run: anything is learnable, though each person’s path will look different. It’s true of nearly any skill you can imagine. All you need is motivation, which comes from really wanting to do the thing, you’re learning to do. We’re learning machines, but to tap into that power you need a purpose. Do you know yours?

Enroll in Me University

Next time you aren’t able to do something as well as you’d like, simply enroll yourself into Me University, plan out your semester, master the information, and award yourself a PhD in The Problem You Just Crushed. You’ll rarely be intimidated by another learning challenge once you’ve done this a few times. Its empowering. In fact, it’s addictive. It’s the secret weapon of the highest performers. There is nothing you can’t learn, no matter where you’re starting from right now.

Enjoy!