Have you ever seen two pianists play the same music? It’s the very same score, the very same piano, but one seems to play it better than the other. Not just a little better, but a lot better. So what makes one person’s playing so different from the other? It’s inborn talent. That’s what most […]
Multitasking: Is It Worth It When Learning a Skill?
When I was in school, I’d often do algebra while listening to music playing in the background. And at that point, I was scoring almost perfect scores on my algebra tests and exams. In effect, I was multitasking. So then, is multitasking good for you? Well, it depends… When most of us talk about multitasking, […]
Why Daily Learning Beats Gobble-Gobble Learning
There are two ways to eat a cake. You can eat it in small pieces. Or gobble the whole thing down. Most of us would like to gobble, whether it comes to cake or learning And like cake, learning needs to be tackled in small portions. Small portions not only help you learn, but help […]
How Plateauing Occurs: Pace vs. Potential
Imagine you had thirty-three seconds to pick up a glass of water, take it across the room, and throw the water down the sink. Could you do it? Sure. And you wouldn’t need more than ten seconds to do the task, especially if the sink isn’t very far away. Now give that very same task […]
Creating A Style Of Your Own: Why It’s So Hard (And Easy)
If you were to look at Picasso’s work, you could spot it anywhere. If you were to listen to Sting’s music, you’d know it was Sting. If you were to read Dan Brown’s book, you’d know it was Dan. So how come these folks have a style, and you don’t? You know you don’t have […]
Why The 15-Minute Principle Is Your Biggest Time Saver
Most people say they’re busy. Hogwash! They’re just silly, not busy. And here’s why (and how) you can stop being silly—and quite so busy. I call it my 15-Minute Principle. So what’s the 15-Minute Principle? When I’m working on a project, there’s a point where I’ll get stuck. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing, […]
Why You Lose Focus—And How “Brain Maps” Play Their Role
I remember sitting in a queue at JFK airport in New York waiting to take off As I sat in the plane, I could see our plane stuck behind about six or eight other planes. They were all waiting to take off. And as we waited the weather conditions changed, causing the planes to keep […]
How To Get 400 Additional Hours of Learning Every Year
Imagine I told you I could give you 400 hours of time. Time you could spend doing nothing but learning. Learning a new skill. Or getting relevant information. But where could you get 400 hours of undisturbed time? In your car,that’s where! Take the time to learn while you’re on the road, rather than just […]
How the Friday-Monday Phenomenon Helps Us Learn Skills
Have you ever wondered how you acquire skills? Have you ever wondered how some people seem to learn better than others? Well, so did a researcher Pascual-Leone. Way back in the early 1990s, he did a series of experiments that taught us how we learn skills. And Pascual-Leone didn’t just theorise. Instead he used high […]
Why Skill Upgrades Are Not A Luxury
Surely you’ve heard of the phrase regarding lousy carpenters. And lousier tools. It runs like this: A bad carpenter blames his tools. Well I agree. And I disagree. A great set of tools are useless, even dangerous in the hands of an amateur. But on the other hand, a great carpenter should never suffer with […]
