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 that learning is not a linear process.
Speaker 1: With many skills, there is a long slow start before
Speaker 1: a rapid acceleration. As you learn anything new, you have
Speaker 1: to hang on for that early climb. Today's tip, like
Speaker 1: another one this week, comes from Whitney Johnson's new book
Speaker 1: Smart Growth. In this book, Whitney explores how people learn
Speaker 1: and change and achieve their goals. One of her key
Speaker 1: images is the S curve. Now, don't think of an
Speaker 1: S like you type a capital S or write one
Speaker 1: with the two curves sitting on top of each other. Instead,
Speaker 1: imagine it as a bit more stretched out and turned
Speaker 1: a bit on its side. The slope of the first
Speaker 1: stretch is low, but then there is a point of
Speaker 1: acceleration where the slope increases until it levels out at
Speaker 1: some other point. Whitney tells us that this S curve
Speaker 1: represents how we learn. There is a long slow start
Speaker 1: before a rapid acceleration of skill acquisition. Eventually there is
Speaker 1: mastery with incremental gains, but that's a long way in
Speaker 1: the future. Knowing what this curve looks like can keep
Speaker 1: us motivated as we go. I can see that these
Speaker 1: days with my fourth grade daughter, who is learning to
Speaker 1: play the trumpet. Her school offers lessons, so she decided
Speaker 1: to give it a try. Let's just say it has
Speaker 1: not been easy. Learning to play the trumpet involves learning
Speaker 1: how to shape your mouth and blow air in a
Speaker 1: certain way. You have to figure out that part before
Speaker 1: you even get around to playing the notes you are
Speaker 1: aiming for and then playing them in the right order
Speaker 1: for any given song. It took a long time before
Speaker 1: she got a real trumpet sound. It then took longer
Speaker 1: before she could play recognizable sequences of notes. Then finally,
Speaker 1: right before Christmas, she managed to play something that truly
Speaker 1: sounded like jingle bells. It was a proud moment. She
Speaker 1: also told me that while she didn't think she was
Speaker 1: particularly good at the trumpet at this point, she was
Speaker 1: also making swifter progress than some of her bandmates who
Speaker 1: were perhaps not practicing as much. We talked about why
Speaker 1: that might be, and hit upon the rather understandable reason
Speaker 1: that it is not rewarding to practice when you aren't
Speaker 1: making music yet and honestly aren't really making much of
Speaker 1: a sound beyond that of air rushing through your lips,
Speaker 1: So people stay at the bottom of the S curve.
Speaker 1: There is progress, but it is barely perceptible and possibly
Speaker 1: not so pleasant. It is hard to see that you
Speaker 1: might only be a dozen hours or so of practice
Speaker 1: from jingle bells, and then once you get through jingle bells,
Speaker 1: you can learn many more pieces. You can play real melodies,
Speaker 1: so you want to play more, and when you want
Speaker 1: to play more, you do play more, and then you
Speaker 1: really start rising up the steep part of the S curve. Now,
Speaker 1: there are many things in life that we won't bother
Speaker 1: with the S curve. One way or the other. I
Speaker 1: cannot play the trumpet, and I am pretty sure I
Speaker 1: will go to my grave not knowing how to play
Speaker 1: the trumpet. But if there is something you want to learn,
Speaker 1: then it is probably wise to take Whitney's advice in
Speaker 1: Smart Growth about paying attention to the S curve. Understanding
Speaker 1: when you are in the flat lower part can give
Speaker 1: you the motivation to just keep pushing through. There is
Speaker 1: a rapid phase coming, It just takes a little bit
Speaker 1: to get there. In the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening and here's to making the most of our time.
Speaker 1: Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You can
Speaker 1: send me your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just
Speaker 1: connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast pod. That's B the number four, then Breakfast p
Speaker 1: o D. You can also shoot me an email at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com that
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much, I look forward to staying in touch. Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For more
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