PSTM: Learning, Trust and Growth

The idea: I was wrong about what learning is, and I think most people think similarly to how I used to think.

You see, I believe we are terrible judges of when we are learning, and what we learn.

Case in point: I spent years studying wine. I went over the info thousands of times. Read about Priorat. Studied the levels of Chianti. Reviewed the obscure grapes in Greece.

And when it comes time to use that info, half the time my mind goes blank.

WTF?

It feels fluid. I feel like I’m learning. I read the passage again and again. I circle the info. I underline. I copy the wording verbatim.

Here’s the reframe:

What most people, including young Andrew, think is learning is not learning. It’s something else adjacent: fluency. How easily can you think the thoughts…how easily you can follow the thread, the reasoning, the argument.

We love fluency. It feels good. You re-read the passage. You sit back and listen to the lecture. You feel like you’re progressing. Then the test comes. You don’t have your notes. The fluent feeling is gone. You don’t have the ability to pull the info out of yourself. You fail, and you can’t understand why it went so poorly.

Learning is tortorous. It’s not pleasant. It’s asking yourself to struggle to remember. It’s interweaving different topics so you don’t feel like you’re making progress. It’s work, sacrifice, and feels incredibly frustrating.

Then you take the test: you know the concepts. You know the answer.

Do with that what you will. I use it to remind myself that if I’m enjoying learning too much, I may not actually be learning…

The quote:

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust

The advice: Look at where you’re learning and growing. Ask yourself, how much further could you go if you increased the difficulty, even just a little.