Take a moment and think about your greatest talent or accomplishment. Did it come naturally to you? Regardless of your inherent skills and natural gifts, I’d wager there’s no fluke as to why you became proficient at it? You probably practiced it. Even those once-in-a-lifetime achievements are not flash-pan. It takes consistent rehearsal to master any skill, conventional wisdom pointing towards about 10,000 hours of active repetition to completely develop any proficiency, skill, or craft.
Cognitive sciences hold that the brain retains information through the creation of neural path via a process called “rehearsal”. Building a highway incorporates this rehearsal process into a simple analogy. The first time we see a new vocabulary word or equation, the brain begins the process of cataloging that information by making a very linear path to the idea. Prefatory manipulation of that same information soon develops that road into a two-lane highway, one could think of as an ellipse. Over time, the more we use a given fact or review a certain concept, we keep elaborating on this highway and eventually our brain adds passing lanes and short-cuts along that same highway; instead of one to and fro’ route created to reach the destination, the brain builds a myriad of possibilities to aide in our scholarly journey.
As soon as you find something you enjoy, or something that really sparks your interest, “go with it”. Do not hesitate to find sixth gear and “put the pedal to the metal”. As we break down individual pieces of something we begin to not simply understand what, but why. Several highly successful entrepreneurs and artists vigorously rehearse this truly simple process:
- Write. It. Down.
Get a small notebook, and keep it and a pen on you at all times. Pockets are for things, not your hands. Even a simple one-word note can lock it in your “thought processor”.
- Re-write.
Did you capture everything the first time? What was it that you really wanted to say?
- Re-work. Re-build. Re-do.
Was that everything you wanted to know? Is that the only reason you wanted to know it? Is that the last time you want to visit this?
- HAVE FUN WITH THE PROCESS
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
Many awesome things are nonsense the first time we experience them, right? At some point we all could not talk or form sentences, we could not write, we could not read… In grammar school we constantly rehearsed these skills, and continue to rehearse these techniques the rest of our lives. Mastering a skill takes no more effort than continuous performance and utilization of that skill. As the saying goes: “You know how you get to Carnegie Hall, don’t ya?” Practice. That first draft pales in comparison to that final, proofed, and re-worked draft. Your first solo will probably not be the best, but your last will certainly NOT be the worst.