My personal notes for How to Master Any Skill by Deconstructing It

A talk by Tim Ferriss from Startup Talks
#psychology#learning

Always question the obvious.

Whenever you find yourself on the site of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect. —Mark Twain

When you learn to think creatively about one thing, you start to think creatively about everything else.

Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there’s nothing more to take away. —Antoine de Saint Exupéry

The DiSSS Method

  1. Deconstruction: Identify why you might fail before you start. The goal is to avoid those problems for at least the first five sessions.
  2. Selection: Try to identify the 20% of activities that determine 80% of the results (The 80/20 Principle)
  3. Sequencing: What if you did things out of order? What if you omitted the things that people say are best practices, but don’t really matter?
  4. Stakes (Consequences): It is extremely effective to build incentives into whatever behavioral changes you want to acquire.

The overlying principle of all of this is to simplify. When you’re looking for solutions, try to remove things before trying to add things.

Takeaways

  • The first step is to be very confident. You have to have optimism that you can achieve beyond your personal limitations.
  • You need to establish a baseline so you can see progress.
  • The 80/20 rule can also be applied to equipment and gear.
  • The worst time to learn something is when you’re under pressure. Find a way to take the pressure away. For example, to learn to chop with a chef’s knife, try practicing with a lettuce knife.