Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to approach any new skill the way
Speaker 1: kids used to approach the puzzles on Blues Clues. Keep
Speaker 1: repeating your way through it until you feel familiarity and mastery.
Speaker 1: Blues Clues is an educational cartoon where preschoolers help Blue
Speaker 1: the Dog solve puzzles with three clues. When this chauf
Speaker 1: first started, and this was back before people recorded everything,
Speaker 1: each episode ran five days in a row before a
Speaker 1: new episode aired. The thinking was that preschoolers appreciated becoming
Speaker 1: familiar with an episode, recognizing the characters and setting and story.
Speaker 1: As they watched the same episode over and over again,
Speaker 1: they understood what was happening and they were able to
Speaker 1: figure out the mysteries, which felt really satisfying and fun.
Speaker 1: If you want to build your skills and confidence in anything,
Speaker 1: you might consider the Blues Clues method too. One obvious
Speaker 1: application skills in the kitchen. A lot of people have
Speaker 1: been challenging themselves to cook more during the pandemic. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: the way most of us do this, as we find
Speaker 1: some recipe, try it once and then either decide we
Speaker 1: like it or we don't. If we don't really like it,
Speaker 1: we abandon it. If we do, we might cook it
Speaker 1: on occasion in the future, but probably not for a
Speaker 1: few weeks. In the meantime, we're trying half a dozen
Speaker 1: other recipes, trying to find some favorites there too, But
Speaker 1: this is a missed opportunity. Everything improves with practice, and
Speaker 1: practice is at least partially about frequency. If you want
Speaker 1: to learned to make bread, make the same bread every
Speaker 1: Saturday morning, again and again until you consistently nail it.
Speaker 1: Then you can add a new bread to the rotation.
Speaker 1: Same thing with that new baked chicken recipe. Your family
Speaker 1: probably doesn't want to eat it five nights in a row,
Speaker 1: but every Monday for the next month or so. Isn't
Speaker 1: too much to ask By the end of the month
Speaker 1: that baked chicken will always be good. Then, if you want,
Speaker 1: you can add a new dish to your repertoire. When
Speaker 1: you try something new and keep doing it, you'll build familiarity, mastery,
Speaker 1: and confidence, just like the kids watching Blues Clues. This
Speaker 1: is true for skills out of the kitchen too. If
Speaker 1: you are learning to knit. Why not aim to make
Speaker 1: a dozen Infinity scarves, one after another. Whatever problems you
Speaker 1: encounter in the first one, you will work out by
Speaker 1: the twelve. I know that when I've built several flat
Speaker 1: pack bookshelves or chairs in a row, I'm far more
Speaker 1: confident in the last one, and my alan winch wielding
Speaker 1: skills are much better than they were for the first one.
Speaker 1: In Michelle Obama's memoir Becoming, she writes of her childhood
Speaker 1: piano teacher forcing her to practice only one song at
Speaker 1: a time, over and over again until she mastered it.
Speaker 1: It drove this young pupil crazy, but the teacher wasn't
Speaker 1: wrong that it was a very good way to improve
Speaker 1: at the piano. Variety is great, but our general sense
Speaker 1: that we are supposed to pursue variety can slow down
Speaker 1: our progress, and we will get to the variety eventually.
Speaker 1: Blues Clues does have more than one episode, I can
Speaker 1: assure you, but aiming for variety over a longer time
Speaker 1: horizon rather than right away is probably the way to go.
Speaker 1: So if you are trying new skills in the kitchen,
Speaker 1: or new hobbies or new skills at work, don't try
Speaker 1: something new too quickly. Go all in on something and
Speaker 1: learn it well. Then you can move on in time,
Speaker 1: secure in the knowledge that you just figured out blues
Speaker 1: clues or something like that. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the number four, then
Speaker 1: breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com
Speaker 1: that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look for to staying in touch.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the i heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows.