Part two Do you quit. Continued from the previous post

Why would we want to change our approach?

If you look at leaders in their field they don’t always expect success in their first go. They do it and then see how they can improve on what they did. They have s an internal scorecard. Their approach to developing new skills are much like a gamers’ approach to video games.

When you pay a video game you play the first level with an open mind that watchess what happens when you do this that or the others. Initially you will fail quickly and before long you’ve played the first level 12 or more times before reaching the next level. Look at those skills . You can transfer them to other areas of learning. When playing a video game you look for elements that give you a power boost and enhance your game play. You will often play the following levels over and over before you progress to the next one. You don’t see it as a failure you see it as a challenge to find out how quickly you can harness your ability. You develop a systematic approach to each game level.

In reality you are learning. You are applying the skills of learning like when you learned to walk or ride a bike. When you learned to learned to play hide and seek or music. You weren’t as good at it the first time you tried it but you kept going.

School taught many of us that it’s not okay to learn the natural way we did as a child. You either know or didn’t know the answers to the test. That became proof of learning and no-one showed you how to learn. They wanted you to memorise the techniques to solve maths problems, to remember history, to remember words and the correct order to string them into a sentence, to identify a circle, triangle and a chair. Though all this memorisation in order to pass an exam, all but a few lost the skill of learning. They either discovered it by accident and kept their childlike curiosity or they found a suitable mentor who encouraged them to hang on to it. They are the lucky few who discovered there is more than just having the right or wrong answer. Most people look to learning new skills as something they must remember for a test. They decide they either know or don’t know how to do something. If they don’t know how to do it before they start they believe they are doomed to failure for all eternity.

True learning cannot be doomed to failure. It is a process where your first go will be your worse. In a few more you’ll notice improvement and with persistence you’ve developed a new skill.

Like in a video game the challenge isn’t to get it right the first time. The challenge is a challenge you’ve set for you. How you see yourself as a learner is important too. If you think you’ll always fail you will. If you think you can learn it in stages you will. Most exams are a test of memory, rarely can they accurately test skills. So there isn’t a clear pass or fail. To learn a skill find ways to get better at it. Everything you learn has steps and levels like a video game where you and your computer keeps score. You do it for you and try to beat your last personal best.

If you want to succeed at learning.

Remember the first go won’t be your best. You are looking at the skill you’re planning to develop and how you will proceed. You become an explorer who wants to see to see how much further you can progress next time. Your aim will be to beat your previous best. Often it takes 12 or more goes to make it through the first level. Do it 12 or more times and include each go as a success.

You are disadvantaged if you get it right the first time and you haven’t develop a new skill if you have. Getting it right is like perfecting the skill of shooting hoops or goals from one spot you’re staying in what you already know. Not getting it right the first time is a chance to discover what you still need to learn. Learn what works for you and apply it and play at it like you play a video game. At each point there is an old score to beat and a new level to conquer.

Step up to the challenge if you dare.