Entities and Increments
I've been reading the Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin. Waitzkin was the subject of the book and movie Searching for Bobby Fischer. Now that he's grown up, he's into chess, martial arts and the process of learning, hence the book title.
One of Waitzkin's early points is the difference between entity and incremental approaches to learning (a concept taken from Dr. Carol Dweck). How many times have we heard, "I'm no good at foreign languages" or "I've always had a knack for math"? We often have a tendency to assume that if we've had good experiences with something then we're good at it and if we've had bad experiences then we're not. It's true that different people will have different strengths and weaknesses, but the odds are that if you're lousy at math, you had the help of a lousy math teacher or two to get that way... and if you're a genius at math, contrariwise, you had the help of some good and competent teachers along the way. When you identify with your skill level in a pursuit as a personal attribute, not just a marker of your progress, it's called an entity approach to learning. If, on the other hand, you see your learning as a progression and setbacks as calling for more work, you're in the incremental groove.
Tony Robbins talks about CANI - constant and never-ending improvement - which is his version of the Japanese kai-zen. I think that may be overdoing it. We'll make mistakes and have setbacks. If you fail to study your German for a week, you're going to have to make up for lost time and lost momentum. As long as you have an incremental approach to thinking about learning, however, you can pick up and move forward. If you invest too much energy into where you are now, on the other hand, you may be tempted to simply say, "I'm no good at German" and go watch television. The trick here is becoming an incremental learner in any given situation where you're not. Be sure to set small, achievable goals in your problem areas, and keep at it: incrementally, you'll improve and looking back six months later you'll be able to see how far you've come. For the short term, though, don't think about how much you know; think about knowing a little bit more every day and getting back to it if you fall off the wagon for a day or two.
One of Waitzkin's early points is the difference between entity and incremental approaches to learning (a concept taken from Dr. Carol Dweck). How many times have we heard, "I'm no good at foreign languages" or "I've always had a knack for math"? We often have a tendency to assume that if we've had good experiences with something then we're good at it and if we've had bad experiences then we're not. It's true that different people will have different strengths and weaknesses, but the odds are that if you're lousy at math, you had the help of a lousy math teacher or two to get that way... and if you're a genius at math, contrariwise, you had the help of some good and competent teachers along the way. When you identify with your skill level in a pursuit as a personal attribute, not just a marker of your progress, it's called an entity approach to learning. If, on the other hand, you see your learning as a progression and setbacks as calling for more work, you're in the incremental groove.
Tony Robbins talks about CANI - constant and never-ending improvement - which is his version of the Japanese kai-zen. I think that may be overdoing it. We'll make mistakes and have setbacks. If you fail to study your German for a week, you're going to have to make up for lost time and lost momentum. As long as you have an incremental approach to thinking about learning, however, you can pick up and move forward. If you invest too much energy into where you are now, on the other hand, you may be tempted to simply say, "I'm no good at German" and go watch television. The trick here is becoming an incremental learner in any given situation where you're not. Be sure to set small, achievable goals in your problem areas, and keep at it: incrementally, you'll improve and looking back six months later you'll be able to see how far you've come. For the short term, though, don't think about how much you know; think about knowing a little bit more every day and getting back to it if you fall off the wagon for a day or two.
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