We all have at least a couple of skills that we've failed to learn in the past--even though we tried--, as well as skills that we want to learn but can't seem to get started with. In my last email I asked you to share with me what those skills are for you. I want to thank all the people who responded; I read each of your emails attentively. In case you're wondering, Spanish was at the top of the list, with piano coming in as a close second.
The question we're left with is the following: Why do people fail at acquiring skills that they want to learn? We covered the first reason in Monday's email: you're using the "I don't have the time excuse". Yesterday we went through the reasons why change—including making the changes necessary to learn a new skill--are hard.
Today I'm going to share with you five more reasons why people fail when it comes to learning new skills.
1. Lack of Commitment.
Connor Grooms learned to speak Spanish in a month. He gave a TED talk about this feat in which he explains that being fully committed to learning Spanish was a key factor of his success. As Connor explains, no learning methodology or strategy in the world will work for you, unless learning the skill that you've decided to acquire is nonnegotiable. You must be absolutely committed.
If you try to learn a skill that would be "nice to have", it's almost certain that you'll fail to learn it. After all, there are so many other—more important things—competing for your time and attention. Learning the new skill has to be nonnegotiable: you need 100% commitment.
2. Failure to Plan Properly.
In order to learn a skill, you need to create a plan of how you're going to learn it. Ultra-learner Scott Young recommends that you take the following approach:
- Research the best way to learn the skill that you're trying to acquire.
- Gather your material.
- Design a preliminary plan.
- Try out your plan for a week to test it out.
- Make any necessary adjustments.
Failing to plan how you're going to learn a skill is like trying to get to a destination you've never been to before without a map. If you just drive around hoping that eventually you'll get to where you want to go, it's very likely that you'll never make it to your destination. Just as you would route out a trip before setting off, take time to plan how you're going to learn a new skill before you get started.
3. Failure to Take Action.
Take a look at the following:
- Watching hours of fitness videos on YouTube of people lifting weights does not constitute working out. If you want to learn weightlifting, you have to go to the gym and lift weights, not just prepare to lift weights by watching others do it (which, admittedly, can be addicting).
- All the research in the world on the best ways to learn photography will never make you a good photographer. If you want to learn the skill of photography, you have to get out there with your camera and take pictures.
When I first decided to start a blog, I spent countless hours researching the topic of blogging. I would read article after article explaining how to do this, or how to do that. All I was doing was acquiring information.
Finally, one day, I got fed up of thinking about blogging and analyzing all the different approaches to blogging that I could take. I took action. It was at that point, when I started blogging instead of just reading about blogging, that I really started to learn the skill of blogging. And the rest, as they say, is history. 😊
4. Failure to Overcome Mental Barriers.
A lot of the time the reason why people fail to learn a new skill has absolutely nothing to do with learning. Instead, it's about mental barriers, such as an inability to overcome procrastination, fear of failure, low feelings of self-efficacy, perfectionist tendencies, and not being able to put up with frustration or discomfort.
Any plan to learn a new skill has to take these factors into consideration, or it's likely to fail.
5. Failure to Follow Through.
Imagine the following scenario: you made the decision to learn a new skill; you planned out how you were going to learn it; you started taking action; but then you stopped. This could have happened for a variety of reasons, such as the following:
- Loss of enthusiasm;
- Boredom set in;
- Things got hard and you decided to quit;
- Something else caught your attention.
I'm sure all of these scenarios sound familiar—we've all been there. Fortunately, there are ways to get back on track. This includes doing things such as the following:
- Take steps to rekindle your enthusiasm. For example, if you're learning to play the piano you could go to a performance of a piano concerto to remind yourself why you were so keen to learn to play the piano in the first place.
- Tell yourself that things become less boring once you know how to do them well.
- Make a list of any obstacles you're facing as you attempt to learn the skill and come up with ideas on how to overcome each obstacle.
- Limit or ignore any projects or time commitments that could pull your attention away from learning the skill.
To learn a new skill, you have to make a commitment, create a plan, overcome mental barriers, take action, and then follow through.
Announcing the Pilot of the Video Course "Learn Any Skill Faster and Better"
As I've been expounding for over a week now, it's vital to become a lifelong learner. Learning new skills will allow you to achieve your goals in any life area, whether it's starting a business, changing careers, improving your health, keeping your brain active as you age, learning a new language, and so on.
In addition, you'll be able to learn skills faster and more efficiently if you learn how to learn. From the three emails that I've sent you this week—including this one—you may have deduced that learning skills well is dependent on four different areas:
- Time Management and Productivity – making time to learn new skills and taking steps to ensure that you use that time productively.
- Goal Achievement – the application of smart goals is an important part of learning new skills effectively.
- Psychological Factors –procrastination, perfectionism, an inability to tolerate discomfort, and other psychological factors need to be addressed if you want to learn new skills.
- The Science of Rapid Skill Development –fortunately, science has identified ways in which we can increase retention, improve recall, and become better learners.
In my course, "Learn Any Skill Faster and Better", I've taken these four areas and I've woven them together into a system, or framework, that you can apply to any skill you want to learn. I'm going to share this framework with you, and I'm going to show you how I applied it to teach myself five new skills:
- Weightlifting
- French
- Piano
- Coding (Python)
- Drawing
Even better, as you go through the course you won't just be acquiring information. You'll be using what you learn right away to learn a new skill. The process will be as follows:
- At the start of the course you'll be choosing a skill.
- Then—as you go through the course and learn the framework—you'll be applying what you learn to your chosen skill.
By the end of this course you'll have a new skill in your toolkit. In addition, you'll have a framework you'll be able to apply over and over again to learn any skill of your choice.
What You'll Be Getting
The course contains an introduction and ten modules. Each module is broken up into a short introduction to the module and five sections. For each section you'll be receiving a video (between ten and fifteen minutes long). In addition, each section comes with a worksheet so that you can apply what you learn in the section right away.
You'll also receive the following 6 bonuses:
- A transcript of every video.
- A filled-out workbook that will show you how I taught myself weightlifting.
- A filled-out workbook that will show you how I taught myself French.
- A filled-out workbook that will show you how I taught myself to draw.
- A filled-out workbook that will show you how I taught myself piano.
- A filled-out workbook that will show you how I taught myself Python.
How the Pilot of the Course Works
When you enroll in the pilot, the contents of the course will be dripped to you—sent module by module--starting on the week of July 8th. Here are the dates when you'll receive each part of the course:
- Week of July 8, 2019: Course Introduction
- Week of July 15, 2019: Module 1 (5 videos—10 to 15 minutes long each, transcript, and workbook pages
- Week of July 22, 2019: Module 2 (5 videos—10 to 15 minutes long each, and workbook pages)
- Week of July 29, 2019: Module 3 (5 videos—10 to 15 minutes long each, and workbook pages)
- Week of August 5, 2019: Module 4 (5 videos—10 to 15 minutes long each, and workbook pages)
- Week of August 12, 2019: Module 5 (5 videos—10 to 15 minutes long each, and workbook pages)
- Week of August 19, 2019: Module 6 (5 videos—10 to 15 minutes long each, and workbook pages)
- Week of August 26, 2019: Module 7 (5 videos—10 to 15 minutes long each, and workbook page)
- Week of Sept. 2, 2019: Module 8 (5 videos—10 to 15 minutes long each, and workbook pages)
- Week of Sept. 9, 2019: Module 9 (5 videos—10 to 15 minutes long each, and workbook pages)
- Week of Sept. 16, 2019: Module 10 (5 videos—10 to 15 minutes long each, and workbook pages)
- Week of Sept. 23, 2019: 5 Filled Out Workbooks (Weightlifting, French, Python, Drawing, Piano)
A benefit of having the course dripped to you instead of receiving it all right away is that you won't get overwhelmed. Each time you receive one of the videos, simply watch it, fill out the workout page and take whatever other action is required of you, and then wait for the next video.
In addition, because you're participating in the pilot program, you have complete email access to me at marelisafabrega@gmail.com for any questions that you may have about the course, or any additional support that you need in learning how to learn throughout the duration of the course.
One last benefit of enrolling in the pilot course is that once the course is officially launched (around January of 2020), the price will go up.
Enrollment in this pilot program will be open for only 48 hours, starting from 10:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday June 5th, to 10:30 a.m. ET on Friday, June 7th.
Deciding to learn how to learn could be one of the best decisions that you ever make.
Go here to enroll: ENROLL IN THE COURSE
Sincerely,
Marelisa
P.S. What would you do if you could learn any skill faster and more efficiently? Learn that language? Acquire the skills necessary to qualify for a promotion at work? Start a side business?
P.S.S. I estimate that 50% of people reading this email will say, "Yeah... I should really do that" or "I'll look at this later"... and then take no action. Will you?
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