IS THIS HOW “NATURALS” THINK?
This book, THE ART OF PRACTICE by Laido Dittmar is slippery. I sense that there is something hugely important here, but I'm having a little trouble extracting that core difference. So I'm going to do the same thing I did with THE SCIENCE OF GETTING RICH (which resulted in the MAGIC formula) and try to extract every major point one at a time, and go over it and over it until I've done just that.
Basically, Laido is a Cirque Du Soliel juggler, born into a circus family, who frustrated his parents by exhibiting no talent for any of the different "circus" skills they tried to teach him. He DID, however, have a talent for drawing. One day he took one of those DRAWING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN classes, and the teacher called him a "natural" who didn't need the class.
But here's the thing: people who went through the class ended up drawing as well as he did, after just a few days. His conclusion:
"Naturals" think differently. It isn't that they have more "talent" because they all started out lousy. They progressed faster because they are doing something different. So he wondered if he could test this theory by studying the best circus performers and "Modeling" them NLP-style.
Here's the thing: they usually said things like "you have to love it, and work hard." Heard that one? And in terms of brute force change, it works, a bit. But that wasn't enough.
Then, instead of asking them questions, he started observing them. And what he saw was counter-intuitive. A bunch of different things came out of that observation, and as said, I'm going to extract them so that I can understand what I've got ahold of here. Here's the first one:
FIRST PRINCIPLE: "Non-naturals" work on perfecting a routine. "NATURALS" will work a skill until they are 90% perfect, then begin to practice a more ADVANCED version of that same skill. For instance, juggling 3 balls. The "non-natural" practices that until they are "perfect." The "naturals" practice until they are 90% perfect, and then move up to FOUR balls. And here's the thing: when they get to 90% perfect with four, if they go back and try three…they are perfect.
The notion is that the first 80-90% of learning a skill often comes rapidly. The last 10-20% can take 3-4 times as long as the first 80-90!
This clicked for me, because it would go along with what George Leonard said in his book Mastery, even though it isn't the same reasoning: that most people never achieve "mastery" at anything because they can't handle the "fallow" periods where it seems no progress is being made. In other words, the last 10-20%!
This also helped me to understand a phenomenon I've seen countless times: the super-smart person who jumps into a new discipline and kicks ass immediately. Outpaces everyone. Then they slow down in learning, get frustrated, and move to some other activity, where they again experience a growth spurt…and eventual stagnation and frustration.
Frankly, I wonder if this doesn't happen to people who cannot make a relationship work. Who are GREAT at the beginning, but as soon as things get hard…they move on to the next.
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Looking at this, another basic principle is that the "Art of Practice" says that the core to mastery is to create the perfect practice program (say…a Morning Ritual?) which you focus on. You practice ON your practice, rather than just IN your practice. Get the difference? That the average person thinks "working hard" is the key. And they are half-right. You MUST work hard. But the focus isn't on preserving a skill you have already attained. The focus is on PROGRESS (say, 1%?). That it is the doing of new things that triggers the "growth" spurt, but if you switch from one art or skill to an entirely new one, you miss the boat. Instead, when you get to 90% skill, you switch to a more advanced version of the same thing. That way, you STAY in that "growth spurt" zone, because every day you aren't doing the boring thing (preserving old skills) but working on something new and exciting…while simultaneously, almost coincidentally, polishing, preserving and improving the old skills!
I asked myself if this was true for me, and if I'd observed this in others. The basic difference would be:
Learning basics, and slowly adding skills once you have perfected the old ones.
Learning basics, and as soon as you have trying something that is BEYOND your current level. While remaining "safe" (remember, this IS a matter of improving PHYSICAL skills, so there would be a risk of injury for the unwise) they begin to play with the next level of complexity. And once mastered to 90%, the next, and then the next…
And that group #2 are the ones who reliably progress every day, and become the "masters" who inspire and frustrate the non-naturals.
The more complex piano piece
The higher level of Ashtanga yoga
The more advanced jumping/spinning technique
Sparring with a higher level belt.
And so on. I KNOW there would have to be parallels with drawing, dancing…even writing. But I'd never thought about it. The trick would be accurately assessing when you have learned 90% of the current level, and choosing a new skill that is only about 110% of your current ability.
I DON'T KNOW IF THIS IS TRUE, BUT IT SURE MAKES SENSE. And I wanted to put it out there and see if you guys resonate to this. If true, it suggests that "naturals" simply use strategies like this, and improve so fast that we conclude its their hardware rather than their software. Heck, even if it is BOTH hardware and software…if this is true, isn't is critical to understand if "excellence" is important to you in life?
I knew that creating the correct "morning ritual" was critical, but I looked at it as something I did daily to imprint positive emotions, loosen and center my body, flood myself with positive emotions. The "improve 1%" notion applies to INTENT, but the specificity of Laido Dittmar's thoughts suggests that I'm missing something. Something that I want for myself (especially heading into Manila) but I want to teach Jason.
This is fascinating. Makes sense. But does it pass the Three Gates? If its true…it is HELLA useful. And kind to the little kid inside me who started this journey, and just wants to be hugged and told he's a very, very good boy.
Namaste
Steve
