If you put the work in.
Here’s how I attempt to be excellent at everything I do.
PS: Let’s start with one thing because doing many at once is diluting. Plus, if you learn how to excel at one, you can replicate it in another.
PPS: I don’t know everything.
1. Know what you want.
If you don’t know what you want, then everything else is futile.
2. Be reasonable
Be reasonable with yourself that you can achieve what you want, given your circumstances.
As a case study, I’m 23, with Math, Data, and Leadership experience. I can be a rocket scientist if I want because I can attain the necessary resources for this.
On the other hand, I’m an immigrant, so I can’t be POTUS.
3. Start with the basics.
I love the First Principles way of thinking - breaking down a problem into its simplest basics.
With First Principles, I ask,
“What are we getting ourselves into?”
“What is this?”
“What are our options?”
And so on.
It’s mostly from First Principles that I determine next steps.
Let’s say I want to bake cookies. With First Principles, I can deduce, “Okay, I know what a cookie is and what an oven is, flour, milk, sugar, etc. How can I mix all these to get a cookie? A recipe. Okay, next step: Google ‘Cookie Recipes’ online.”
4. Execute
The whole point of learning something is to execute it, correct?
5. Connect the dots
The more you learn, the likelier you will expose yourself to new information that can relate to the old.
You started with A and now find yourself at B - Learn how B relates to A. Similarly, if you get to K - make the connections from A to B to D to K. And so on.
You want to be a Math guru, yet Math has numerous topics—Trigonometry (T), Calculus (C), Measurements (M), Logic (L), etc. Despite varying concepts, they relate to each other in some way. It’s your job to find these connections and identify their relationships.
I think the ability to make connections and inter-relate concepts is a sign of high intellect.
6. Know the final outcome
Step back to review what you’re learning and assess if it’s leading you to your goal.
If so, proceed to step 7.
If not, return to step 1.
Don’t climb the stairs of the wrong building.
7. Bridge the “Connecting the dots <------> Final Outcome” gap.
You will have some initial knowledge now that you’ve reached step 5. Between where you are currently and your final destination lies a massive gap to remedy. There are two possibilities:
Using Learned Information: If the gap is something you know, repeat steps 4 & 5.
If your goal is to run a marathon and you know how to run 100m, then repeat the 100m runs X more times because a marathon is essentially a 100m run X-times over.
Using New Information: If the gap pertains to something new, restart from step 3 with the benefit that you’ll have new First Principles to deal with.
If your goal is to start a business, you will begin with market research. Once you become good with research, you pivot into Product-Market fit - you’re a noob at this. You’ll have to start all over again learning the PM-fit essentials.
8. Review the process
Do this once you’ve bridged the gap in step 7 - You’ll most likely have completed the intended task.
Maybe you’ve done a lot, maybe you’ve done little. Maybe you put too much effort, maybe you did the bare minimum. Reviewing this will help you see if it suffices your final outcome.
“I’ve just knitted my first dress…but did I like how I did it?”
“Did the dress turn out as I wanted?”
“Could it be any better - how I knitted, the final piece…or both?”
Once you’ve accomplished your task, you should ask yourself these sorts of questions to comprehensively review yourself.
9. Refine
Even though you’ve done the job, your process won’t be 100% efficient, especially if it’s your first time doing it. Find these defects in your learning and fix them ASAP to make your entire learning experience more efficient and execution more effective.
The dress could be better.
I can run faster in five minutes.
The cookies should have more chocolate.
Just because the job’s done doesn’t mean you did it right. Zero-defect your shortcomings.
10. Iterate
Refinement and repetition go hand in hand. Iterate your learnings over and over.
You don’t need 10,000 hours - You need 1,000 trials. People will say that’s unreasonable…and that’s why the elites are out of this world.
Iteration coincides with mastery (step 12) because you feed your attempts into memory.
11. Document
Document the process by journaling, vlogging, creating a manual, etc.
When you document it, you’re subconsciously teaching yourself twice, further ingraining it deeper in your memory.
It’s also here that you will have grand expertise in your skill. You now know what works and what doesn’t.
You will save others from stressing out about finding a working methodology.
Because you can always get better, the documentation is a work in progress.
Play the Infinite Game, where the goal is not to win…but to keep playing the game.
12. Master
Repeat steps 1 to 12 until you function on autopilot. Until it becomes your sixth sense. Until you do it effortlessly.
If you can do this with one thing, you can do this with anything and excel at it.
Peace,
.
.
.
~T.K.K
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