I’m learning many things concurrently these days. The game of Go, playing the guitar, Scrum, shooting pool, fly fishing, writing, etc. As I do this I’m also observing a pattern in the ways, pace and manner in which I learn.In some areas, like project management or golf, I feel that the knowledge I’ve already gained allows me to learn horizontally, in small chunks and at leisure. I feel like I am broadening and deepening my knowledge by making connections between things I already know. I’m not pursuing any one topic systematically but rather letting curiosity lead me to random explorations. This feels very comfortable to me and despite the fact that there are no specific goals I feel I continue to make progress.
Other newer disciplines like Go, Scrum and fly fishing bring me opportunities for “breakthroughs”. Before a breakthrough, the feeling is that my abilities are seriously limited – that I’m banging my head against some imaginary wall. From time to time I punch a small hole in that wall and learning becomes freer and takes on an incremental degree of that “comfortable” state. That’s when I know I’ve progressed a level. The breakthrough is exhilarating and re-energizes the learning, I think that most learning actually consists of practice. Along with repetition and exercises I also include research, study and experimenting. This is where I’m at on the guitar, on what looks to me to be a perpetual never ending plateau. So much so that I now like to say that I don’t play the guitar but rather that I play with the guitar. I play at least 15 minutes a day, mostly simple but recognizable pieces. I try to make it sound right and am absorbing a little theory as I go along but It feels like a steep slope and usually feels like making no progress at all. Practice without breakthrough can be discouraging. Fortunatly I’m having better luck with fly fishing, Scrum and Go.It’s interesting to be learning several things at the same time and to draw comparisons. I’m observing how these different types of learning; comfortable learning, breakthroughs and practice form cycles. I feel sure that before long, my Go playing will become practice. If by then I have not developed passion for the game, it may drop off the list to be replaced by the next thing. I have noticed how the “comfortable” states last until they become stale, at which point you start looking around for a breakthrough to take you to the next level. And so it goes.
