How to Master Any SkillUnderstanding the Words

Step 2: Understand Every Word

To master a skill, you need to understand ALL the material about that skill. Every book, video, manual, chart or lecture. And to do this, you need to understand what EVERY WORD in the material.

Unfortunately, some people say, “That’s impossible. No one can understand every word.”

Other people say, “It’s not necessary. You can just make guesses.”

However, the best teachers and greatest masters say, “You can and should understand everything about this skill. Every sentence and every word. It’s not hard to do.”

When you know what every word means, everything you study makes sense. It’s like tiny light bulbs light up in your mind!

What Happens If You Skip Words You Do Not Understand?

Your mind starts to shut down. You space out. You forget what you are doing.

You might try to focus anyway. You might shake your head, open your eyes a little wider and take a deep breath. But understanding the sentence is impossible.

“The only reason a person gives up a study or becomes confused or unable to learn is because he or she has gone past a word that was not understood.

“Have you ever had the experience of coming to the end of a page and realized you didn’t know what you had read? Well, somewhere earlier on that page you went past a word that you did not understand.” — L. Ron Hubbard

How it WorksChildren Playing at Sunset

“Here’s an example.

‘It was found that when the crepuscule arrived the children were quieter and when it was not present, they were much livelier.’

“You see what happens?” — L. Ron Hubbard

If you are smart, you read the example and think, “What the heck is a crepuscule?”

So you look it up and read: Crepuscule: dusk or twilight; just after sunset.

Ah ha! Because you now understand what crepuscule means, the sentence makes sense, right?

“It was found that when the crepuscule arrived the children were quieter and when it was not present, they were much livelier.”

If this sentence does not make sense, read the definition again. Read the sentence again. Repeat until the sentence makes sense.

“Therefore, in studying be very, very certain you never go past a word you do not fully understand. If the material becomes confusing or you can’t seem to grasp it, there will be a word just earlier that you have not understood.” — L. Ron Hubbard

Three More Examples

Example #1480 F 488727858 s20qmkoV5KWlBurqncPpoo7OHKO8f3Mb

You have a leaking pipe and call the plumber. He gives you a quote paper that says, “Fix three leaks by brazing them, $400.”

This makes no sense. You might think, “Is he going to simmer the pipe with vegetables, like braising a piece of meat? For $400” You also think, “Plumbers are jerks!”

But then you get smart. You look up “braze” and see it means “Unite two metal objects with another strong metal using high temperatures.”

You think, “OH!” and read the quote again. Now it makes sense.

You happily tell the plumber, “Your quote is fine. Please braze the pipes as soon as possible.”

Example #2

Your dentist is examining your teeth. She says, “You have some caries on the lingual side of that molar. It’s small enough to fix.”

What is she saying? Is she talking about linguini noodles? Or is someone carrying something?

If you shrug it off, you will feel frustrated. You will think, “I hate dentists!” You might make a excuse and leave, and let your teeth rot.

But then you get smart. You whip out your phone and find these definitions.

Caries: Decay, usually a hole in a tooth.
Lingual: The side of the tooth facing the tongue.
Molar: big tooth in the back that you chew with.

This sentence makes complete sense now. “You have some caries on the lingual side of that molar.”

You smile and ask the dentist, “Can you fix it right now?”

She loves your attitude and says, “Sure.”

Example #3

As well as understanding words, you need to understand abbreviations.

For example, you are creating a new online account. You put in your email address and a password. You then need to pick out squares with bridge pictures. You see the word CAPTCHA and feel a little spaced out.

You say, “Sheesh! I hate these stupid tests. Why do they make us do them?”

You try to pick the pictures with bridges, but you flunk the test and need to take another one. You suddenly feel tired. You even feel like quitting without creating your new account.

But then you get smart and you wonder, “HEY! What does CAPTCHA mean?”

You ask Google and find out it’s a test to prevent bad guys from creating fake accounts.

You find out that CAPTCHA stands for “Completely Automated Public Turning test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.”

You go “Oh? Hmm, that helps, but I’m still confused. What’s a Turning test?”

You look it up and learn about a guy name Alan Turning who invented tests to separate human answers from computer answers.

You think, “Ah, okay.”

You go back and read how CAPTCHA stands for “Completely Automated Public Turning test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.”

“OH!” you think. “It’s an automatic test to make sure I’m a human.” You suddenly feel cheerful.

For the rest of your life, you quickly solve all CAPTCHA tests with no stress because you know what that word means.

12 Signs You Have Gone Past a Misunderstood Word

Misunderstood Word
These are NOT signs that you have a learning disability or mental disease. You feel these signs simply because you do not understand your material. Once you clear up the confusion, you feel wonderful!

  1. As you study, you have a memory gap. You think, “Wait! What did I just read?”
  2. You get confused and mixed up. “This material makes no sense.” “What the heck does this mean?” “Humm … that’s kind of stupid.”
  3. You want to take a break from study as it stopped being interesting. “I’ll be right back. I promise.”
  4. If you take a break, you do not want to continue later on. You find all kinds of excuses and reasons to not study. “It’s a beautiful day! I’ll just take a short walk.”
  5. You get tired, even though you have enough sleep. “I really need some coffee!”
  6. Your mind goes blank. It stops working. “What was I doing?”
  7. You feel drugged or spaced out. “I think I’ve been looking at the floor for 10 minutes.”
  8. You feel frustrated. No matter how hard you try, you just can’t understand a sentence in your material. “Someone wrote a really bad sentence.”
  9. You cannot focus. Your mind wanders. You think about other things instead of the material you want to learn. “I wonder what I’ll have for dinner.”
  10. You think about quitting your plan to master the skill. “Maybe I don’t want to build websites now. I think I can borrow more money for my bills.”
  11. You give up and just memorize the material so you can pass the tests. “I’m really good at repeating back information that I don’t understand.”
  12. Study feels like agonizing torture. “I hated school, I hate this too.”

How to Understand Every Sentence in Your MaterialUsing a dictionary

When you first start using this system, you might think you are spending too much time on individual words. However, you can only master your skill if you do it this way.

  1. Whenever you notice any of the “12 Signs of Misunderstood Words” while studying, STOP!
  2. Go back to the last time you were doing well. “Oh, yes, I got this paragraph. It makes total sense. But this next sentence is kind of confusing.”
  3. FIND THE MISUNDERSTOOD WORD in that confusing sentence and clear it up with these steps.
    1. Read each word in the sentence, one at a time. Which word might you not understand?
    2. Look up any words that you might not understand. Use a dictionary and look them up.
    3. For each word you look up, figure out which definition fits the sentence.
    4. Make up a few sentences using that word until you KNOW the word.
    5. Read the sentence again. Does it NOW make complete sense?
    6. If yes, CONGRATULATIONS! You are mastering the skill, one word at a time. You should feel pretty good about this small, but important achievement.
    7. If not, find another word that is messing you up. Even if you need to check the definition of EVERY word in the sentence, persist until the sentence makes sense to you.
  4. Continue to study with the next sentence.

Here is a chart showing the steps:

Steps

Which Dictionary Should You Use?

DictionaryYou have several choices, most are free. Use whichever works best for you.

  1. A physical dictionary that you buy or borrow from a library.
  2. A dictionary app on your device. Just search “dictionary” in the app store and try a few dictionaries until you find one you like.
  3. You can type “define ___” in your internet search bar. For example, “define brazed.”
  4. You can sometimes tap or click a word (or right-click a word, or highlight and right-click a word) to find or see definitions. E-books have this feature.
  5. You can also use online dictionaries like these:
    1. The Free Dictionary www.thefreedictionary.com
    2. Merriam-Webster www.merriam-webster.com
    3. OneLook www.onelook.com

Do This Exercise!

The underlined words in these first five sentences have definitions. Read each sentence before clicking on the words to see their definitions.

1. Is your pain chronicLasting for a long time. or acuteStarts quickly and is intense, but does not last long.?
2. Have you calculatedUse math to find an answer. your net worthThe total of all your money and possessions, minus all of the money you owe. lately?
3. Our tiny country is a monarchyA government system where one person, like a king, has total power over the country. and we like it that way.
4. Be sure to primePrepare a surface by covering it with a special white paint. It makes the final paint color look better and last longer. that wall before you paint it.
5. When I use Google to find things, I only click on the organic resultsWebsite links that Google shows near the top of the pages because Google believes they will help you the most. These websites do not pay Google to show their links; they are not "sponsored.".

Now read these next five sentences. If they do not make sense, go find the definitions of your misunderstood words.

6. Our group needs more alignment.
7. I love poached eggs for breakfast.
8. She can’t hear any difference in musical pitches.
9. He appreciates any propaganda he can find.
10. I had a happy childhood as my parents used a lot of discipline with no punishment.

Other Ways to Misunderstand Your MaterialUnderstanding a Word

You not only need to understand every word, you also need to clear up five other things you may not understand.

1. Acronyms: These are terms made up with the first letters of words, like IBM (International Business Machines), BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). To fully understand your material, make sure you know what each letter stands for.

2. Idioms: A phrase or expression that has its own meaning, like “You nailed it!” or “I’ll get to the bottom of this problem” or “Are you pulling my leg?” Just knowing the words in the idiom phrase are not enough to understand the phrase; you need to know the idiom’s definition. Thanks to the internet, you can easily find the meaning of any idiom that is not in your dictionary. You cannot skip them!

3. Symbols: For example, $ for dollars, € for euros,  X for cut, % for percentage and ♥ for love. If you do not understand a symbol in your material, find out.

4. Specialized Words or Slang Words are created by groups. For example, “sparks” is a construction term for electricians. “Call a sparks to replace the cut wires.” Or “cannon” in baseball means a player who has a strong arm. “Wow! Great throw! He’s got a real cannon there.” You may have to do a little research to find the definitions of specialized words.

5. Typos: Typographical errors or mistakes in the typed letters can also act as Misunderstood Words. For example, “The dag ate the hamburger” makes no sense. At first you are confused. You might even look up the word “dag” with no success. But then you realize, “Hey wait! It should be ‘The dog ate the hamburger.’” A tiny light bulb lights up and you happily move on.

Action Steps

  1. Grab the first page or lesson of the material you selected to master the skill (Step #1).
  2. Read the first paragraph. Do you understand every sentence just as it is? Great! Continue.
  3. If you think, “I’ll keep going because it might make sense soon,” stop! Look up the definitions of each word that you might not understand until the sentence makes sense.
  4. At first, your reading speed may go very slow. But after you look up enough words, your reading speed will increase. You will feel joy from understanding everything you read.

BenefitsResults of Understanding Every Word

When you completely understand every single thing you read, watch or hear, all doors open for you. You gain a confidence level that few people achieve. You master the skill because you understand every detail about it. You KNOW the subject.

Making sure you understand every word is a simple idea, and it can be challenging to apply at first. You might even think it’s a waste of your time. But as your understanding of the skill grows, so does your joy of learning.

You will master this skill because you understand the material.

Next Step: Connect Ideas to Reality.