Weekends have often been depressing to me. This weekend in particular. Throughout the weekend I just found myself moping around with little desire to do nothing but watch the world dance around me. To make it worse I'm also sick with a cold, which gives me even more reason to act at nothing.
And so I wailed with my incessant silence and moping, annoying the hell out of my wife.
This perfect weekend has given me the ideal setting for introspection and motivation to change. Out of my mucky, rainy weekend came a glimmer that maybe I could do something with myself. And so I've decided to do so.
Much of the source of my incessant moping has come as I consider my future and view the incredible success and talent of those around me. I sit here and ask myself... what have I done with the past 25 years? What do I have to show from it? Sure perhaps I have some incredible skill in certain areas, but I'm not an expert at anything.
Becoming an expert. That's what I want. I want to spend my life living in such an excellent manner that I become expert at all I dedicate myself to.
Research, I've learned, has discovered that in order to become an expert it requires 10,000 hours+ of whole-hearted dedication and practice to the field of question. Okay, so what will I spend 10,000 hours of my free-time dedicating myself to? Such a question has perturbed and terrified me so much to the point of inactivity. You know when you get so obsessed over a thought that you get paralyzed by it? That's been me.
So here we go, a man's gotta start somewhere, and I've decided that the best place to start is with learning.
Becoming An Expert Learner
If I become expert at learning, then I will open doors to any other expertise I dedicate myself to in the future. Imagine it, I could learn languages, learn any instrument, gain any knowledge, aspire to any height, if I've mastered the skill of learning.
Okay. So an expert of learning. What's my plan?
10,000 hours. I want to give myself 5 years to make it. 1,825 days. That's 29,200 hours of waking hours. Assuming work, family, hygiene, feeding, etc., that will leave me with about 4-5 hours daily that I can dedicate to whatever I want (Assuming time efficiency and not wasting it with things like Facebook and such). 5 years with 4-5 hours means only about 6,500 hours. Okay so I'm short. Or am I? Becoming an expert at learning will actually push into my working and school life. I can still practice learning while I work and especially when I study (Grad school is coming up if you didn't know). So those 3,500 hours means another 2-3 extra hours every week day. This can happen.
So I will spend my free time learning how to learn and in turn becoming an expert at it. It will of course start with the learning part, and then move into the action of learning and practicing doing so.
Quick note on becoming an expert learner. I'm not talking the kind of learning that my K-12 or even college exposure has brought me. For heaven's sake they never even taught me how to learn the crap they were throwing at me on a daily basis! What I mean in this case is the kind of learning that remains permanently held in my mind. The kind of learning that gives me ability to apply the knowledge, not the kind of learning that stays in my mind long enough to take a test and then forget about it. I'm talking about the method of loci. Becoming an expert memorizer. Becoming a quick and efficient memorizer.
As I study learning, I imagine I will discover various facets of learning. Facets such as memorization, practice, etc. These will emerge as I learn about learning and will in turn determine my strategy of practice. Meta-learning, this is what I'm doing.
And the purpose of this blog, finally, is to help me remain accountable and keep me organized. It's to help me report my progress and to remember where I've come from. I'm excited yet intimidated by my endeavor. But I'm very happy to feel confident in my direction and decision as a person. To become an expert at learning means I can accomplish anything and everything. If someday I'm running my own business, if I'm an expert learner I can easily learn how to do my own finances and accounting. If I plan on traveling to another country, I can easily learn how to speak the local language. If I discover a passion of mine, I can quickly learn everything about it and embrace it with all my being.
Let's get started.
This is awesome! Continually "ponderizing" is a great goal! I am trying to be a life long learner myself. You will be good at this because you are such a Reinissance Man. Quick question though...how are you going to know when you reach "expert" status with such a vast amount of things to learn about? Are you hoping that something pops out at you as a subject, and then that will be your goal? Just wondering what your tactic will be... Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteThis was from me btw ;)
DeleteHi Cathy! So my focus here is to become an expert "learner". Which is to imply that I will develop my cognition to the point of quick encoding. Mnemonists, as they are all called, have trained their brain in an old art of visual memorization which is a powerful form of memory. It's also called "The method of Loci" or the "Mind Palace technique." Learning to hone in on these skills, practicing them to the point of expertise, will enhance my "encoding" abilities, making my memory much more powerful. In turn, I hope it will widen my abilities to learn other skills. The real reason why I'm doing this is because I want to maintain a life-long ability to take in and memorize information. I want to be able to be prepared for when I need to become a leader or for when I face a specific problem. When problems arise, I want my expert abilities of learning to kick in, as well as have quick access to my built up bank of general knowledge. Sure I can learn a lot, but to me it loses its purpose if I cannot recall it when I need it!
DeleteI certainly still have a lot to think through about this very vague subject. But I'm excited to study more in-depth and pin-point the major facets of learning and to start practicing them. Does that make sense?
Thanks for your thoughts.