Get Better at Anything
12 Maxims for Mastery
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3.7 • 6 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Ultralearning explores why it’s so difficult for people to learn new skills, arguing that three factors must be met to make advancement possible, and offering 12 maxims to improve the way we learn.
Life revolves around learning—in school, at our jobs, even in the things we do for fun. Yet learning is often mysterious. Sometimes it comes fairly effortlessly: quickly finding our way around a new neighborhood or picking up the routine at a new job. In other cases, it’s a slog. We may spend hours in the library, yet still not do well on an exam. We may want to switch companies, industries, or even professions, but not feel qualified to make the leap. Decades spent driving a car, typing on a computer, or hitting a tennis ball don’t reliably make us much better at them. Improvement can be fickle, if it comes at all.
In Get Better At Anything, Scott Young argues that there are three key factors in helping us learn:
See—Most of what we know comes from other people. The ease of learning from others determines, to a large extent, how quickly we can improve.
Do—Mastery requires practice. But not just any practice will do. Our brains are fantastic effort-saving machines, which can be both a tremendous advantage and a curse.
Feedback—Progress requires constant adjustment. Not just the red stroke of a teacher’s pen, but the results of hands-on experience.
When we’re able to learn from the example of other people, practice extensively ourselves, and get reliable feedback, rapid progress results. Yet, when one, or all, of these factors is inhibited, improvement often becomes impossible. Using research and real-life examples, Young breaks down these elements into twelve simple maxims. Whether you’re a student studying for an exam, an employee facing a new skill at work, or just want to get better at something you’re interested in, his insights will help you do it better.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This competent manual from Young (Ultralearning) presents advice on how readers can better pick up new skills. The core of the process involves observation, practice, and feedback, he contends, outlining how to approach each step. "Creativity begins with copying," Young posits, explaining that Italian Renaissance painters learned their trade through apprenticeships in which they imitated a master's techniques. To that end, Young recommends readers study "the methods of those who came before us." Noting that Thomas Edison patented 1,093 inventions in his lifetime, he argues that "the world's most successful scientists, artists, and innovators are also the most prolific." To boost one's output, he encourages streamlining production by routinizing noncreative aspects of the process (a scientist might develop a system "for writing grants and submitting papers" so she can "devote more time to her lab work"). Young's intention to show how to improve at any conceivable skill keeps the guidance relatively broad, but it's not always broad enough. For instance, it's not clear how someone learning to paint would benefit from the suggestion to rely on statistical models, rather than intuition, to make decisions. Still, Young brings a generalist's flair, providing wide-ranging discussions on what counting cards in poker, overcoming writer's block, and improvising jazz solos can teach readers about learning. The result is a worthy complement to Adam Grant's Hidden Potential.
Customer Reviews
Get Better at Anything
I really enjoyed Scott’s Ultralearning book but this one seemed not to get to the direct point of learning anything