How to Master Any Skill, Step 4: Use the Best Runway Speed for You
Mastering a skill is like flying an airplane. To take off, the pilot needs to make the plane go fast enough down the runway, and then lift the nose of the plane at the right angle. If the speed or angle is wrong, the plane crashes. If the gradient (speed and angle) is correct for that plane, it flies!
If you learn to use your material at the correct gradient, you feel motivated. You love to study. You can master the skill.
Everyone has a study speed that is correct for them. No one is the same. So you need to find the speed that works best for you.
Too Steep a Gradient
This means you try to learn too much, too fast. You try to perform a skill before you are ready. You feel confused.
“It is a sort of a confusion that goes with this one. You’ve hit too steep a gradient.” — L. Ron Hubbard
For example, you want to play an electric guitar like a rock star. You borrow a guitar and watch a few lessons on YouTube. You think, “I can do it!” and you try to play your favorite song. But if you do not take the hours of practice it takes to move your fingers correctly, your song sounds horrible.
You think, “I don’t have any musical talent, so I’m giving up.” But the real problem is you tried to go too fast. You did not take all the small learning steps you need to gradually master the song.
As another example, you want to make a lot of money by selling expensive homes. The sales commissions are huge! You think, “I can do this because I’m enthusiastic and charming.” But you don’t take enough time to learn how to sell homes.
You tell everyone you know that you can sell expensive homes. You walk around expensive neighborhoods and ask people if they want you to sell their homes for them. You even buy Facebook ads, but NO ONE wants you to sell their homes for them.
You feel confused. You think, “Stupid home owners! I hate to sell things. I’ll get a job washing windows.” (Or maybe you think, “I just need to think bigger! I’m going to start my own bank.”)
Too Low a Gradient
This means you take too much time to learn a skill. You waste a lot of time and energy taking too many steps.
“The number of opportunities to fail are directly proportional to the length of the approach.” — L. Ron Hubbard
Many people hate college because of all the required, useless classes they need to pass. For example, someone wants to design beautiful buildings, but has to first learn about art, chemistry and history first.
As another example, you get a job to be an executive’s assistant. You’re ready to master the skill of being an assistant and get to work!
However, instead of training you to do the job, the company requires weeks of lectures about the company history, workplace manners and so on. You feel like you’re wasting your time. You lose your enthusiasm for the job and you quit.
Or maybe you want to create video games for the Amazing Games Company because you are a champion player. You get a job at Amazing Games, but your team “leader” has you get coffee, clean his office and take meeting notes for him. He says, “Once you know how I operate I’ll let you learn how to create games.” You realize the gradient at Amazing Games is too low for you and you quit.
Signs of a Correct Gradient
When the gradient is right, you learn the right amount of information at the right time. Each step builds on the last, giving you the confidence and ability to handle the next challenge.
“A runway of the right length for the subject would not be so long that it creates opportunities for failure, and not so short that a person jumps a gradient and gets into a confusion.” — L. Ron Hubbard
For example, before mastering the skill of swimming, you learn how to float. Then the dog paddle and then the swimming strokes. Each step builds on the last step. Your progress is satisfying.
As another example to build a house, you first learn how to build a shed. You learn how to pour a concrete foundation, connect the walls, install a door and add a roof.
As a final example, you get a job at a website building company. Even though you have never built a website, they will train you. By the end of the first day you know how websites work. By the end of the first week, you create your first simple website. You say, “Wow! This is great! It’s easier than I thought!”
They did not make you build a website on your first day. They did not waste your time learning the history of websites or getting lunch for a boss. You spent all of your time learning to build modern websites and became a terrific website builder. You think, “I love working here!”
If you make orderly progress, at the correct speed and gradient, you can master any skill.
How to Use the Correct Gradient
1. Go through the earlier steps to mastering any skill.
Pick the best material or study course you can find. Study all the material. Understand every word. Connect the ideas to reality. Then take the final step and practice the skill.
2. If your path gets confusing or too difficult, STOP! You may have gone too fast and used a gradient that was too steep.
Find the point when you were not confused. What was the last step you could easily do? Do it again to make sure. Make sure you understand all of the words and can connect the ideas to the real world.
Continue to the next step, but proceed at a lower gradient. Never skip anything. Take your time and do it right.
3. If you feel like you are going too slow or the skill is taking too long for you to master, do not give up.
In this case, increase the gradient. Be brave and move faster. Take bigger steps that lead to the skill you want. Stop wasting your time on useless study.
4. Once you find the right gradient, go for it! You will master the skill at the right speed and best gradient for you.
You want a skill that you can do for the rest of your life. Take as much time as you need to master it. The end result is all that matters.