An Approach to Learning New Skills and Abilities

Identify the skills and knowledge you need by asking, “Will I succeed without this skill or knowledge?” In this way, you will begin to develop the parameter of what you “need to know.” This helps make the process logical and easy to follow with one step after the other, and prevents you from cluttering your mind with unnecessary information.

After you have identified what you need to know, design a flow chart or mind map; i.e., “a visual knowledge plan” with a start box and a finish box, outlining things to learn at the same time in linear boxes (one under the other) and those that come one after another in horizontal boxes.

None of this is any use, however, unless you believe that you can learn. Negative belief loops established false assumptions about subjects you may have the aptitude for, but not the attitude; things like math, etc., which you “just know” you can’t learn. Why? Because that’s the way it happened in school at a very early age. Einstein did poorly in elementary school; however, he had a dream and vision of what he wanted to do, which drove him to learn math in order to explain his vision to others. Dr. Mimen, known as the father of the laser and widely accepted as a genius, flunked his Ph.D. orals and had to retake them. Learning did not come easy for him.

Attitude is 90% of success. Rod Carew, the great former baseball player and coach, did not make his high school baseball team; his coach thought he wasn’t good enough. But, through thousands of hours of practice, he became a professional player and went on to win 7 batting championships and became one of the few players who achieved over 3000 hits in his career. Don King, who as a youth wanted to become a lawyer, became a numbers bookmaker instead and went to prison for manslaughter. While in prison, he read literature and philosophy and made the decision to rehabilitate himself. Through correspondence courses, he maintained an A average at Ohio University and went on to promote charity boxing after his release. Soon after he convinced Mohammad Ali to put on a charity match in Cleveland, he became a promoter and manager grossing several hundred million dollars and building an empire of televised boxing events. Malcolm Forbes, of Forbes Magazine, did not make the staff of his college newspaper. Les Brown, the famous motivational speaker, was told he would never amount to much; that he was dumb. He knew what he wanted and learned how to make speeches. Little by little, he acquired new knowledge and skill, and today commands several thousand dollars for a one-hour speech, all paid in advance. With this same asset-based thinking, you can accomplish what you previously thought you could not as you identify your Visual Knowledge Plan and acquire the no-how necessary as you raise the belief in yourself. The negative feedback loop is broken through step-by-step accumulation and application of knowledge.

The next thing to consider in this learning approach is Patience. Einstein once said: “…the more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know, and the more I realize I don’t know, the more I want to learn.” Leaning new knowledge and skills is a systematic step-by-step process, acquiring knowledge fragment-by-fragment and building little by little on a cellular level. It necessarily takes time and starts off feeling very slow. Excellence is based on seasoned learning, and sticking to it over a period of time. The quick fix rarely works; you must create consistency in both acquiring new knowledge and applying that knowledge.

As you draw inspiration and fortitude from your vision it doesn’t matter how much or how hard it is to achieve. Every time you master a skill, your confidence in your ability to achieve increases. But to master a skill, you must first learn the necessary specifics of the game; you must acquire an intimate knowledge of not just what it takes, but what it is. To be skilled at chess, you must first learn the foundation of the game, how the game is played and what constitutes winning. Then you must learn exactly what skills are necessary. Next, you acquire each skill, and after that, you master each skill. When each skill has been learned and added to the toolbox, you become a master of the game.

Getting the knowledge necessary to make your game plan work is crucial to developing your A-Game. In other words you can’t master your mental game without arming yourself with data. And remember … “Knowledge is not power, it is the application of knowledge that is power.” Author unknown.