Can old dogs learn new tricks?

Estimated reading ⌛️ time - 16 minutes

Hello Reframers!

If you’re new here, welcome! Every Monday morning, the Reframe Newsletter delivers actionable personal development, health, wisdom, and leadership tips directly to your inbox. We explore interesting podcasts, books, YouTube videos, business concepts, and more, aiming to inspire and guide you on your journey to a meaningful, fulfilled life.

Rapid Skillset Development Protocol

We are going to keep today’s newsletter pretty short and sweet. Not only will this force me to make the content as concise as possible, but it will also help me stay true to the overall message for today…. “what’s the fastest way for me to learn a new skill? I often find myself curious to learn new skills… learning Italian, playing the guitar, and coding seems important; maybe I should pick that up, etc.

But before we get started, let’s introduce this week’s sponsor, Bye Blue Light.

Given that I spend a lot of time in front of a screen and understand the benefits of wearing blue light-blocking glasses, I wanted to share some helpful information with all my subscribers and a 15% discount code—use code BBL15 at checkout!

Here are some key points about blue light and why wearing blue light glasses might be beneficial:

1. Sources of Blue Light: Blue light is emitted from digital devices and artificial lighting. It's also in natural sunlight, but digital screens emit significantly more blue light than natural sources.

2. Effects on Sleep: Exposure to blue light, especially in the evening and night, can interfere with our sleep patterns. Blue light suppresses the production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep, making it harder to fall asleep and potentially affecting sleep quality.

3. Eye Strain: Prolonged screen exposure can lead to digital eye strain, also known as computer vision syndrome. Symptoms include dry eyes, headaches, blurred vision, and neck and shoulder pain. Blue light glasses are designed to reduce eye strain by filtering out a portion of the blue light emitted by screens.

4. Protecting Eye Health: Some studies suggest that long-term exposure to blue light may contribute to eye health issues such as macular degeneration. However, more research is needed to fully understand the extent of these effects. Blue light glasses may help reduce the potential risk of eye damage from prolonged screen time.

5. Improved Sleep Quality: By wearing blue light glasses that block or filter blue light, especially in the evening hours, you may improve your sleep quality by naturally allowing your body to produce melatonin without interference from artificial light sources.

 It's important to note that not all blue light is harmful. Natural sunlight also contains blue light, which regulates our circadian rhythm and boosts alertness during the day. However, excessive exposure to artificial blue light, especially at night, can disrupt our natural sleep-wake cycle and impact overall health.

If you spend a lot of time in front of screens, especially in the evening, wearing blue light glasses can be a proactive measure to help reduce eye strain and improve sleep quality.

10,000-Hour Rule - Not for Everything

You may have heard of the 10,000-hour rule, popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his book, Outliers. It takes approximately 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to master a field. However, we aren’t looking to be the Ferrari of speaking Italian or the Jimi Hendrix of guitar-playing. We want to be “good enough” for our week-long trip to Italy or serenade our love with a classic six-string ballad.

In the paraphrased words of former Walmart CFO, Brett Biggs, “I don’t need “x” skill to be a 5 out of 5. My core competencies are finance and accounting - those should be 5 out of 5s, but my public speaking or leadership skills should be at least 3 or 4 out of 5s.”

Maybe becoming a ⭐⭐ guitar player doesn’t sound all that enticing, but it could be your new stress-relieving hobby that helps you disconnect from the world. Staying in line with the 80/20 rule from our previous newsletter on heuristics, “good enough” is totally okay with us in this context.

This newsletter is heavily influenced by The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything... Fast!".

Breaking It Down… No Really 

Below, I have outlined and provided detailed “sub-steps” for the 4-step Rapid Skill Development Protocol.

1. Deconstruct the Skill

• Identify Key Components: Break the skill down into the smallest possible components or critical elements you need to learn first. This makes the learning process manageable and less overwhelming. Ask yourself, “What do I need to know about this before I start trying to learn about this?”

• Prioritize Learning Order: Determine which foundational components should be learned first. This could be based on their frequency of use, importance, or difficulty.

• Seek Multiple Sources: Look at different learning materials or methods to understand various perspectives on what the key components of the skill are.

2. Learn Enough to Self-Correct

• Select Quality Resources: Choose highly recommended resources that align with your learning style, such as books, online courses, videos, or hands-on tutorials. I find video tutorials as much more engaging and easy to follow. More importantly, less time-consuming.

• Limit Information Intake: Avoid trying to learn everything at once. Focus on just enough information to start practicing and correcting your mistakes—remember the 80/20 rule.

• Feedback Mechanisms: Find ways to get immediate feedback on your practice, whether through automated tools, mentor feedback, or self-assessment techniques.

3. Remove Practice Barriers

• Eliminate Distractions: Create a learning environment free of interruptions. Use tools like website blockers or dedicate a quiet space for practice.

• Set Specific Times: Schedule dedicated time blocks for practice and treat them as non-negotiable appointments. Use the pomofocus.io timer we recommended in our thinking about thinking newsletter.

• Prepare Your Tools and Resources: To avoid wasting time, have all the necessary materials, tools, and resources ready before you start your practice session.

4. Practice at Least 20 Hours

• Deliberate Practice: Focus on practicing to improve specific components of the skill. This is not just about putting in time but about practicing with purpose - maximize the time that you are dedicating to your new craft or hobby.

• Set Mini-Goals: Break your practice into smaller, achievable goals. This helps maintain motivation and provides a sense of progress.

• Reflect and Adjust: Review your progress regularly, reflect on what you’ve learned, and adjust your practice based on which areas need more focus or a different approach.

Putting It Into Practice - Learning the Guitar

1. Deconstruct the Skill

Break down learning the guitar into manageable subskills to focus on:

• Basic chords: Start with learning major, minor, and dominant seventh chords.

• Strumming patterns: Focus on the most common strumming patterns used in many songs.

• Scales: Begin with the pentatonic scale, foundational for solos and improvisation.

• Fingerpicking basics: Learn the basic technique to expand the range of songs you can play.

• Reading guitar tabs and chord charts: This will help you learn new songs more easily.

2. Learn Enough to Self-Correct

Gather resources that will guide you through the basics and allow you to recognize and correct mistakes:

• Use online tutorials specifically aimed at beginners to grasp the fundamentals.

• Find a good beginner's guitar playing book with diagrams and practice exercises.

• Use apps that provide real-time feedback on your playing, helping you to correct mistakes as you practice.

3. Remove Practice Barriers

Identify and eliminate anything that could distract or hinder your practice sessions:

• Set up a dedicated practice area where your guitar is easily accessible.

• Schedule regular practice times, ideally when you're least likely to be interrupted.

• Limit distractions by turning off your phone or using it in Do Not Disturb mode while practicing.

4. Practice at Least 20 Hours

Commit to a structured practice schedule that covers the identified subskills:

• Divide your practice time into focused sessions, dedicating specific blocks to chords, strumming patterns, scales, fingerpicking, and reading music.

• Aim for short, daily practice sessions (e.g., 40 minutes a day) to reach the 20-hour mark within a month.

• Use a practice log to track your progress and adjust your practice plan based on what you find most challenging.

il Finale

By following the 4-Step Rapid Skillset Development Protocol, you'll focus on the most impactful areas of whatever new skill or hobby you are trying to learn, making it possible to see significant progress relatively quickly. Remember, the goal is to reach a level of competency that allows you to enjoy your new skill or hobby, not to achieve mastery within 20 hours. We don’t need to be the best knitter, painter, guitar player, etc. - we want to be good enough to enjoy our newfound skill!

-Your Chief Rapid Learning Officer 🧠

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The Content is for informational purposes only. You should not construe such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Nothing in this newsletter constitutes a solicitation, recommendation, endorsement, or offer.