Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle, (08) Tip #8, Notes

Post date: Oct 10, 2018 1:18:30 PM

Little Book of Talent by Daniel Coyle

TIP #8 TO BUILD HARD SKILLS, WORK LIKE A CAREFUL CARPENTER

To develop reliable hard skills, you need to connect the right wires in your brain. In this, it helps to be careful, slow, and keenly attuned to errors. To work like a careful carpenter. Each fundamental, no matter how humble-seeming, is introduced as a precise skill of huge importance (which, of course, it really is), taught via a series of vivid images, and worked on over and over until it is mastered. The vital pieces are built, rep by careful rep. Revisit the fundamentals and repave the neural highways once or twice a year to make sure they are still running smoothly. Precision especially matters early on, because the first reps establish the pathways for the future. Neurologists call this the “sled on a snowy hill” phenomenon. The first repetitions are like the first sled tracks on fresh snow: On subsequent tries, your sled will tend to follow those grooves. The brain is good at building connections. It’s not so good at unbuilding them. When learning hard skills, be precise and measured. Go slowly. Make one simple move at a time, repeating and perfecting it before you move on. Pay attention to errors, and fix them, particularly at the start. Learning fundamentals only seems boring—in fact, it’s the key moment of investment. If you build the right pathway now, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and trouble down the line.