An expert at walking on edges (CC AlicePopkorn2)
This is part of an ongoing series on the fundamental rules or “patterns” of accelerated learning. Each rule is very contextual; these are not silver bullets or cure-alls.
Rule #3: FLUENT EDGE
When you are pursuing fluency in a skill, and trying to keep your momentum and energy as high as possible…
It’s easy to be bored by the amount of repetition needed to become fluent, and overwhelmed by the complexity of what you want to learn.
- You can become exhausted by what is boring and easy, just as easily as you can by being overwhelmed by too much challenge.
- Numbers like “10,000 hours to mastery” are great, but how do you spend those hours?
Therefore, perform your skill at your current level of fluency, and then increase the challenge by a tiny bit more – taking you to your FLUENT EDGE.
- Maintain this sweet spot between boredom and overwhelm, by adding or removing BITE-SIZED PIECES of challenge, while continuing to practice your target skill.
- This is the place of fullest engagement; if participants fall off this edge, they can only fall towards overwhelm on one side, and boredom on the other.
Like with all the Rules of accelerated learning, finding and maintaining your (or another’s) FLUENT EDGE is a skill that will require practice, no matter what you are learning. By approaching all skills this way, you are learning how to learn any skill. Staying in that “sweet spot” of fullest engagement will also require more energy and focus then you may normally expend, requiring you learn to monitor your (and others’) needs for breaks, rest. and pace change closely, through rules like FULL, PRESSURE VALVE, THE WALK, and so on.
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