Acquisition of skill. Learning to learn.

When you get to a certain age, you feel like you should be good at stuff. Looking at people who have mastered their art- those who are skillful- they are about my age, and granted, they have spent 20 or 25 years perfecting what they do. So why do I feel like I should be just as good as them at what they do?!

Thanks to Mike for the photos of me attempting to windsurf.

 

We like to feel accomplished. The feeling of easy skill is rewarding. The knowledge that over many hours, over many years, the ability to do a certain thing is refined to the point of unconscious competence. It is hard, as an adult, to go back to the learning stage- both in terms of having to start from incompetence, and the frustration of getting it wrong over and over again. 

There are many articles and studies that talk about the delight of the "learning mindset". The ability to work on something and learn new skills. When we are young, the ability to learn is pretty much hardwired into us, simply because every experience is new and unique. We have to learn, it is simply the way we interact with the world around us. As we age, everything we do tends to follow the same pattern, more and more. There are fewer surprises and we react to things with a narrower and narrower set of viewpoints. We stop learning, and try to railroad things into previous skills and experiences, which quite often works.... that is how we are seen to be "skillful". 

Learning to do electronics AND woodwork. (neither of them particularly high level, but it's a start)

It is rare that you see someone of an age embark on something completely new, where their skillset is absolute zero. Actually- that isn't entirely true... I suppose a lot of us try new things, but when we don't progress "fast enough", when we stagnate at a certain stage and feel like "this is just hard work"... that is the point when we tend to give up. The learning process doesn't feel as easy as just doing the things you are good at. By just doing the things we are good at, we forget how to learn which makes it very easy to think "ah, that's never going to work" and just stop. 

We forget how to learn. 

We forget how to make mistakes and learn from them. 

I certainly have this problem. I *hate* making mistakes and have this ridiculous innate feeling/belief that anything I pick up, I should be able to master within a very short time. How silly is that? Having seen someone *do* something- who has incredible skill as a result of a lifetimes dedication, I have this thought that I can simply do exactly the same thing, with the same skill level- be it computer programming, woodwork, speaking french, working with electronics, baking.... the list goes on!

Part of it is down to the belief that "it's just muscle memory"- if you can make your muscles do exactly the same thing as the other person, then the result will be exactly the same. Technically, I suppose this is correct- but other things have to be taken into account- and of course- I don't. I try to do the thing, realise I can't do it to the same level as the skilled and seasoned professional, and then- give up. 

Shocking. 

Nope- you'll not get any more photos of my attempted woodwork!

So this is why I started to learn windsurfing. Or at least- attempting to learn to windsurf. It is not a thing that comes easily or naturally. A lot of my time is spend getting thrown off the board and trying to work out what happened. And that is the point. Trying to put my head and body through a new experience to remember how to learn- to adopt that beginners mindset and try to hone skills in order to get better. I'm hoping that this will have a knock on effect upon other areas of my life as well. Recognition that I *do* need to get better at certain things, that time and practice is important. 

Genuinely I have no idea where this misplaced belief that everything I pick up I should be able to do- it's literally never been the case, but trying to get out of that mindset is unbelievably hard.

Next up.... French? Maths? Maybe that's a step too far....