Information, skill, insights and wisdom

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Information, skill, insights, and wisdom are interconnected concepts that play a significant role in personal and professional growth.

Information refers to data or knowledge that is communicated or received about a particular subject or topic. It can be obtained from various sources such as books, the internet, or personal experience.

Skill is the ability to do something well, typically as a result of learning, training, or practice. It involves the application of knowledge and the development of proficiency in a particular area.

Insights are a deeper level of understanding that comes from connecting information and experiences. They are often the result of the brain making new connections between previously unconnected pieces of information.

Wisdom is a deep understanding of life and the world around us. It is not just about having knowledge or information but also about knowing how to use that knowledge in a meaningful way. Wisdom comes from experience and reflection and involves being able to make good judgments and decisions based on a broader perspective.

To optimize the probability of gaining insights and wisdom, it is essential to have a strong foundation of information and skills. With this foundation, one can cultivate experiences and reflect on them to gain a deeper understanding of the world around them. This process of reflection and connection between information and experiences leads to insights and ultimately to the development of wisdom.

You will learn lessons

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You are enrolled in a full-time, informal school called life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

You make choices all day — every day. Each choice brings its own lessons. For example, you choose to wake up and do your job. Because you’ve learned the lesson saying you’ll be fired if you don’t. Most of your choices aren’t conscious decisions as much as they are habits, but they’re choices all the same.

Some of your choices will be good while others will lead to mistakes, both results in lessons you can apply to how you conduct your life.

There are no mistakes, only lessons

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Growth is a process of trial and error, experimentation. The ‘failed’ experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately works.

We are our own biggest critics. We’re complicated and contradictory even during the best of times. There’s nothing we love to do more than compare ourselves to other people. The thing is, no one is perfect and everyone will fail — including you.

Mistakes are how we learn. It’s a painful, yet powerful, part of Life because how you handle them will define you. Learn from them and allow yourself to become a better person because of them. If you don’t, well… the next rule sums it up.

A Lesson is Repeated Until it is Learned

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A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it, then you can go to the next lesson.

Life will nudge, push, or shove you in the right direction. It’s a theory saying life will increase in intensity until you learn what it’s trying to teach you. It may start off with something small like getting away with a warning after being pulled over after drinking. But if you don’t correct your behavior, the next time you might end up in jail for drinking and driving.

This is part of how you grow as a person, by paying attention to the lesson’s life tries to teach you. Whether it’s your habits, your job, or your relationship, you’ll find them everywhere.

Learning lessons does not end

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There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

We’re always learning, it will never stop. There’s a reason the oldest members of tribes and communities were considered the wisest of all. Because they lived through so much more than everyone else, and therefore have learned lessons others can’t imagine.

There are always more lessons to learn because there are endless people, places, and things to learn about. It’s impossible to have a perfect solution for every problem. You will be wrong, and you’ll grow from your mistakes.

A learning mindset.

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A learning mindset is based on the assumption that one’s view of the world is essentially incomplete. For this reason, those with a learning mindset are open to the ideas and perspectives of others. A person with a learning mindset realizes their subjective experience may differ from others. They respect and value others’ opinions.

On the other hand, those with a closed mindset believe their view of the world is the only possible reality. A closed mindset makes us not as open to others’ ideas. We seek to look good at all costs and want to prove others wrong.

It’s much easier to speak honestly when you have a learning mindset. Your objective in speaking is not to convince others but to inform, share, and create dialogue. You don’t have to have everything figured out before speaking. You have the right to offer an opinion, make a suggestion, or propose a potential solution.

Here are three ways to speak using a learning mindset:

• Distinguish between your opinions and the observable facts, using phrases such as: “In my view…” “The way that I see this…”
• Expose your views (even if incomplete) and remain open to challenges from others: “I am thinking out loud here…” “I haven’t figured this out completely yet…”
• Listen to others’ thoughts and opinions genuinely try to understand why they think, act, or feel like they do.“I am curious to understand why…” “Why do you say this?”

When you have a learning mindset, it’s easier to speak honestly because you’re simply sharing your experiences or opinions.

Take time to recover when you learn using deliberate practice

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Because deliberate practice requires your full attention, with maximal mental and/or physical effort, it can only be sustained for a short period of time. Laboratory studies of extended practice have capped the optimal time at one hour per day, three to five days a week, and real-life studies have seen reduced benefits when practice sessions exceed two hours.

This level of intensity and concentration makes recovery time important. Whatever type of leisure activity or relaxation you choose, it’s important to offset the intense effort of deliberate practice to avoid mental or physical fatigue.

Seeking feedback is the key to building a skill

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Without feedback either from yourself or from outside observers — you cannot figure out what you need to improve on or how close you are to achieving your goals.

Feedback is essential for identifying areas for improvement and gaining a realistic view of your progress. Whether one-on-one coaching with a teacher, mentor, or peer or some form of self-assessment, you need a means of pinpointing your strengths and weaknesses. This is the only way to identify and work through trouble spots and advance from “just ok” to true mastery of a skill.

Be consistent and persistent to build expertise

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A prolonged effort, while learning, will be frustrating and uncomfortable at times. But pushing through those tough spots often leads to significant improvement. One of the foundational aspects of deliberate practice — what makes it so effective — is its regularity.

In the research paper “The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance,” Ericsson and his colleagues share their discovery that top performers, no matter their area of expertise, kept a similar practice regimen: a brief (but intense), daily or semi-weekly solo practice sessions.

One of Ericsson’s studies tracked adult violinists studying at elite music academies and found that the musicians averaged one to one-and-a-half hours a day of high-intensity solo practice. The study found that the accumulated amount of this regular, focused practice had a direct impact on the musicians’ level of performance.

These consistent, intense bursts of effort are key to maintaining momentum in building expertise.

Are you breaking out of your comfort zone?

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“This is a fundamental truth about any sort of practice: If you never push yourself beyond your comfort zone, you will never improve.”

― Anders Ericsson, Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise

For goals to spur improvement, they need to constantly challenge your current abilities. Simply repeating skills you already know how to do — an unproductive cycle that’s easy to get stuck in with traditional approaches to practice — won’t actually enhance your skill level or improve performance.

Stretching yourself is the key to growth. When it comes to skills development, breaking out of your comfort zone isn’t about “trying harder,” but about “trying differently.” Your goals should teeter on the edge of what you are and aren’t capable of doing. If you can’t move forward with one technique or approach, try another and keep experimenting until you break through the barrier that’s blocking your path to improvement.