Imagine there are two computers.
One computer is a standalone connected to nothing but the electrical supply. The second one is connected to a network of computers. Which of the two is likely to be more useful to you?
A similar concept applies to learning. People with a greater database are almost always seen as “more talented”. A database is something we can control a database, and learning how to use it makes us more “talented”. Here’s where you start on the journey.
Right click to save this episode.
Note: (This is an unedited transcript)
Someone asked me, “How many things can you eat for breakfast in India?”
And my guess was, maybe about 200-300, it seems that I was off the mark by a massive margin. On one website alone, there are approximately 824 different types of food for breakfast. As I looked at the range of items, I realized that it wasn't just a list of 824 items. It was 824 vegetarian options. If you count non vegetarian food, the lists skyrocket.
Why does a random list of breakfast foods matter to us as learners?
It matters because of a concept I call database. You know this concept, don't you? If you are someone who has had only a few types of breakfast, then the idea of 824 types of breakfast options is mind-boggling. And it doesn't matter whether you're making the breakfast or you're just eating them, your brain starts to see the world differently.
When we think of talent, we often see it as something that you either have or don't have. However, talent is less about an innate skill and more about the depth of your database. The collection of knowledge, references, and experiences that shape your ability to perform a task well.
The question we have to ask is, why is the database so powerful?
And we understand this when we look at children. By the time a child is five, they typically have a vocabulary of around 2,000 words. This varies based on exposure, environment, and whether they are learning multiple languages. All the ingest words, they absorb expressions, cultural nuances, and contextual meaning.
The process isn't just about language acquisition, it's about building a database. A child-flowing in multiple languages has a more extensive database, giving them a greater flexibility in expression and understanding.
The same principle applies to skill acquisition beyond language, whether drawing, carpentry or making coffee, each skill is a form of language. The broader your database, the more control you have over execution.
I observed this first-hand while watching Renuka draw.
When she encounters difficulty she often has a look for references. Now this isn't unusual, professional artists are always using references. But her struggle comes from having a smaller data-base to pull from. So, she has fewer reference points and therefore it is harder for her you know am I gonna put the hand this way or that way.
How does the leg fold when someone jumps? That database is very small because she has been drawing for as long as maybe I have or some other artist has and this database makes the difference between how quick you are in any language whether it's drawing or French or “Carp entry for that matter.” And I did bring out French because I'm learning French.
Well, Renuka says, “I speak French and I do, but I'm still at the very beginning.” So I struggle not because I lack the intelligence bit because my database of words, phrases, expressions. That's too small. I'll start to say something and then I'm stuck. I don't know what's the word for weight. I don't know what's the word for a pole.
It's not just vocabulary. It's everything. Without enough stored references, I lack control. And it makes me feel like I'm not good at French that everybody's better than me. Because that's the feeling we get. We go into a watercolor class. We look at other people drawing, and we go, they're better than me.
Everyone is better than me. Everyone is better than you at writing in French, in pretty much everything that you look around, You think, “Ah, everyone is better than me.” And it is largely because you don't have enough of a database.
And this concept becomes much bigger and broader and a little more scary when you think of society as a whole, because studies show that by the time a child stands, a significant gap exists in language exposure. A child from a professional family hears approximately 45 million words by the age of four.
These are repeated, but lots and lots of words and sentences, 45 million. A child from a working-cast family hears about 26 million words. A child from a low-income family hears 13 million words. There's this massive gap and this gap isn't just about words but concepts, problem solving, cultural understanding and it all shapes future learning.
The child with a smaller database has less control over the language but it also leads to lower perceived skill and consequently fewer opportunities. A database takes years and this is why you look at Nobel Prizes and in physics the average age of the laureates is 55, in chemistry 58, and in medicine 56.
These scientists don't suddenly become brilliant at 60.
They've accumulated database of knowledge and connection enables them to make breakthrough discoveries. I know that sounds a little crazy. So what happens is they go through their life, putting all the business pieces together, and then they seem to have a eureka moment much later because of their database.
And the same applies to artist, musicians, pretty much anybody who is skilled or what you'd call talented, they have been building the database. Mastery in any field language are at science depends on how well you've developed your database.
A small database means struggle.
A large one offers control and fluidity. So if you ever feel that you're untalented at something, consider this, do you lack ability or simply need a bigger database. In short, if you want to learn a particular skill, you have to build that vocabulary on an ongoing basis. This is not a one-time task, but a continuous learning and application process.
Hence, if you want to learn about storytelling, you must continue to read about storytelling. Apply some of those concepts consistently, get some of them wrong, fix them, and that's how you build a database in your brain. And you might say, well, that's all very fine, but what are we to do with this information.
I'll give you a practical example.
I bought a camera, like a monochrome, so it takes photos just in black and white. Now, Lyca is very much camera that has very few buttons at the back. In comparison, I also have a Sony camera and there are about a hundred menu buttons, maybe more. But the Lyca has very few.
To this date, five years later, I'm still learning how to use some of those buttons, how to use the profiles, how to use little bits and pieces that I didn't know about. Now I'm a crazy guy, and you know that. I take the camera everywhere I go. And when I mean everywhere, it's almost everywhere.
I may not take it for a walk in the morning, but if I'm going to the store, I have it. If I'm going to the cafe, wedding, I'll probably take it to a funeral. I take it everywhere I go. So I'm taking pictures all the time.
Sometimes 3,000 pictures a month, and while a professional might take a lot more. 3,000 is a lot for someone who's just using it as a hobby, and still there is stuff that I'm learning all the time. And this is about building the database about how the camera works.
There is a separate database of how a photograph works.
There is a different database about how composition works. All of these databases went put together. They form the art of photography. At the same time there is storytelling. There's also podcasting. We're all building these databases and if we do little bits every day and I mean every single day almost without fail that's when you will start to get very good at something.
The generic excuse that most of us have is that we have no time.
This excuse comes from parents who have one kid, parents who have two kids or three kids and before they have the kids they had no time after they have the kids they have no time. It also comes from people who don't have kids. They do don't have time. And you have to ask yourself, how do the parents who have the kids suddenly have extra time for those kids.
And they've made time for those kids. And if you're someone who doesn't have kids, you have to make time for that kid. And if you have kids, then you have to make time for another kid. And that's how you start to build a database. Nobody said it was easy. Nobody said that you have to do a lot every day.
You just have to do a tiny little bit.
Something that you've decided to do in advance. And when you do that, you'll find that you're making progress. You'll find that you are doing something in an incorrect way. You're not making progress. And you have to find another method.
With French, I signed up for as many as 10 different courses. I paid for 10 different courses and only one or two of them work for me. So imagine the effort that went into going down all of these dead ends and the money and the time. But that's what you probably need to do if you want to learn something in life, if you want to create the database.
I will have created a database of French, of Spanish, of storytelling, of cartooning, of dancing of cooking and YouTube can do that. Remember, if all you're reading is one type of breakfast, that's cool. But there are 824 different options and that's just Indian vegetarian breakfast.
So I think you can expand your world a little bit and then you become talented. You have more control over life, over things, you become like that kid that probably has 25 million more words than the other kid.
What's the one thing you can do today?
I don't think that you should try to learn multiple things at the same time. But I think that if you can get to 5000bc.com for example and start a taking action post then you can do a tiny bit every single day. That tiny bit might take you 20 minutes, 15 minutes, I don't know that's up to you, but it'll change the way you look at things. And you'll be held accountable for it.
So go to 5000bc.com. If you're not a member, it's worth it. There are things that you spend a lot of money on. This doesn't cost as much. If you are a member and you've gone, oh, I should go back. Well, this is your hint. Go back. And start that taking action post and go with it.
