Book Review: The Art of Learning

When I mentioned to a friend that I was reading the book The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin, she asked why. "Is there anything you don't know about learning?"

I think of myself as reasonably smart, but I used that gift to get through school. As an adult, I have come to understand the value of leveraging my strengths and therefore look for small improvements on things I do well. 

Is there anything I don't know about learning?  Since I don't know what I don't know, all I can do is assume there is. 

As Waitzkin points out:

"..:there are clear distinctions between what it takes to be decent, what it takes to be good, what it takes to be great, and what it takes to be among the best. If your goal is to be mediocre, then you have a considerable margin for error."

I was particularly intrigued by a 3 step approach to resilient, self-sufficient performance. 

1. Flow with the distraction, like a blade of grass bending to the wind. 

2. Use the distraction, inspiring ourselves with what initially would have thrown us off our games. 

3. Recreate the inspiring settings internally. 

The book covers developing mental skills, especially focus, to compete at elite and world-class levels as illustrated by the author's experiences in two different competitive arenas. 

Book Review - Deep Work by Cal Newport

Whether you read David Allen on stress-free productivity, Brian Tracy on eating the biggest frog first, or almost anything in the domain of personal productivity, the theme is juggling your actions. Newport argues that for people dealing with intense
complexity or creativity you need to carve out significant blocks of time for what he calls deep work.

This isn't about multitasking or task switching. The book focuses on why and how to create an environment where deep work is possible, and shares stories of people who have done it successfully. He gets into more detail, but the key ideas are block out the time and cut out the distractions.

You won't find anything new or astonishing on blocking out time here. Newport methodically walks through all the logical possibilities but in the end it is a matter of what works.

As for cutting out distraction, there is a lot of actionable advice, some of which may call for serious reflection. High on that list is cutting out social media. You may not be ready to do that, but perhaps you could get them off your phone and out the way. Newport walks his talk here--no Twitter account.

Not everybody needs to do deep work, but there are fewer exceptions than we realize. The book didn't help me block out time, but it did help me think.


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