Big Idea #1 From Me
In the days of old, paper was a scarce commodity because of the amount of sheer effort that went into producing it.
Back then, if you had access to paper, it was because you had something worth writing about. And because you didn’t want to waste paper, you had to give sufficient thought to whatever you were going to write.
This is one big reason a lot of classic books are very dense in meaning – paper was hard to come by and only the highest quality ideas and thoughts were ever transcribed. (If you are a Christian, this will make you appreciate the Bible more)
To be educated meant two things: (1) You could give considerable thought to your ideas before condensing them to words written on scarce paper. (2) You could also unpack the meanings in the dense words and expound upon these meanings in a way that the common man could grasp.
In fact, the root word for educate is the Latin word “educere” which describes the process of drawing one thing out of another. In other words, if you were not skilled at extracting actionable meaning from condensed words, you were not educated.
Today, the story is very different.
The abundance of paper, and later word processors, and now the internet, means that though more people can read and write, fewer and fewer people are educated in the original sense of the word. That explains why there is an abundance of low-quality information, ideas and books out there – particularly in the past 20 – 30 years.
The world is filled with mindless readers and writers who live like programmed robots executing the same poorly-written line of code. Very few people are giving considerable time to their thoughts before they dispense them into cyberspace. In any case, even fewer people are willing to use their heads for more than a hat rack. The vast majority of people are only interested in viral tweets and the latest scandal in town.
Understand this: There is a whole realm of possibilities available to the ones who choose to break away from conformity to mediocrity and become educated. These are the people who understand that we’re in a battle of words, and only the ones who have a mastery of words will win.
Big Idea #2 From Research
In their classic 1993 article, The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance, Anders Ericsson and his colleagues were interested in uncovering the factors that distinguished elite performers from the “just okay” performers.
In one of their studies which focused on violin players, Ericsson and his colleagues discovered two major differences between the elite violinists and the “just okay” violinists.
First, the elite violinists saw practice very differently from the “just okay” violinists. For the “just okay” violinists, every opportunity they had to play the violin was considered practice. That means that if they were playing to relax, or playing for an audience, or playing songs they already knew by heart – all these were considered as practice.
On the other hand, the elite violinists’ perception of practice was very different. They did not see playing for an audience, or playing in the “zone” as enough to improve their performance. Their approach was to spend a relatively short burst of time, say 60 – 90 minutes, on specific activities that improved their level of performance. The elites were not practicing merely for the fun of it. Neither were they repeating things they already knew. Rather, they were painfully concentrating on the weaker aspects of their performance, getting feedback, and using that feedback to improve their performance. They usually did not enjoy this form of practice, but went on with it because they knew it would make them better.
Second, the elite violin players slept more than the “just okay” group. This is something that athletes understand perfectly. Because of the constraints of the human body, one should not practice hard things indefinitely. Doing so will only increase the probabilities of injury and failure. After a burst of intensity, you need time to rest. In addition to helping you recover from your efforts, resting has been empirically shown to consolidate what you have learned into your memory. This makes it much easier to recall the new skill when the need arises.
My key takeaway is how this paper throws a wrench into the 10,000-hour rule popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his book – Outliers. Incidentally, Gladwell got the idea of 10,000 hours of practice by reading Ericsson’s paper. What he left out from the book, however, was the type of practice you should be doing in those 10,000 hours. If you are staying in your comfort zone, simply repeating something you are already familiar with, you will never reach elite levels in your domain of expertise. On the other hand, if you spend just 30 minutes a day deliberately improving upon a specific weakness in your skillset, you could reach the top of your niche in no time.
Big Idea #3 From Bible
1 Peter 2:21 – 22 says, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth”
In the personal development space, one of the traits touted for success in life is consistency. As a writer, you are encouraged to keep writing, day-in-day-out. If you are an athlete, you are told to show up for training everyday. If you are into sales, you must continue to market your products and services in order to make the breakthrough.
While viewing consistency in this way is useful, there’s another side of consistency that is overlooked.
Jesus Christ is described as having no guile. This does not just imply that He always told the truth. It also means there was a union, or if you want – a consistency, between His thoughts, His beliefs and His words.
There is a reason we are drawn to authentic people. It’s not because they are paragons of virtue (although they may be). Neither is it because they are charismatic (although they may be). Rather, it is because we can listen to them and conclude, “I’m getting all of this person – nothing more, nothing less”. We weigh their words and find them void of guile and pretense.
I’ve come to realize something simple about life: When there is a consistency between your beliefs, your thoughts and your words, every sentence you speak is backed with conviction and power. It also follows that the greater the divide between your words and your beliefs, the weaker your position in life. Christians understand this principle when it comes to the place of prayer, but fail to apply it to other aspects of their lives.
This week, I encourage you to try this simple exercise: Before you say anything, ask yourself, “Do I really believe this?” Like most people, you may be shocked with how inconsistent the various parts of your essence really are.
