At any given moment, there are a near infinite number of skills that I could be learning.
In fact, I just received a thick book of skills. It’s an old Finnish nonfiction book that must have well over thousand pages. I haven’t yet cracked it open, but the mere sight of it arouses inspiration.
‘Learning new things’ implies things that I don’t already know. What types of things do I want to learn? I want to learn skills, not just ideas, theories, or facts.
At 32 years of age, I already have acquired a comprehensive worldview. I’m well-read and know quite a few things about quite a few matters. However, that isn’t the most important type of knowledge.
I want to learn skills that make me money. I can only learn these skills by actually operating in the real world. I am taking action, and the learning comes from doing. I am trying and taking risks. And I venture out from the beaten path to unexplored territory.
This outward-facing, hormesis-inducing, so-called ‘stress,’ feels uncomfortable. In fact, if I was all cozy and laid back, it would be a sign that I wasn’t doing it right. I wouldn’t be learning in the truest sense of the word.
Neuroplasticity is about discomfort. Think about the ‘concept of resistance training’—all the gains are in the discomfort. I’m making my body adapt. The growth of the muscles is an adaptation to the stress of training. The same, I believe, applies to the mental domain and the learning skills in the real world.
How do guitarists become better? They practice deliberately. In other words, they deliberately stretch their capacity day in and day out. When they wake up after a good night’s sleep, their skills are slightly better than they were the day before.
To the extent I’ve been able to live by this knowledge, I’ve gained immense value.
Eemu Julius 