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Rules of Accelerated Learning, #10: Contract

raven contract accelerated learning language

Ravens and Wolves have long had a contract; if the Raven leads the Wolf to prey, the Wolf has to leave some for the Raven! (image CC Lee Jaffe)

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 #10: CONTRACT

When you are beginning to collect and cohere successful learning strategies, for self-clarification and collaboration…

If a tool doesn’t have a name, it’s difficult to think about, talk about, understand, improve, or collaborate with.

  • Techniques for shared learning can have different names in different places.
  • Names can vary in effectiveness; the best names are sticky, funny, evocative, in-jokes.
  • Communities themselves decide whether names stick.
  • Effective techniques can often just seem like good ideas, or suggestions, and may be discarded or modified by novices in practice, before they are understood and mastered.
  • The idea of “Rules” can, in the right playful context, be a stronger force for encouraging the use of effective learning techniques.
  • “Rules” can also feel restrictive, or authoritarian, and therefore perhaps worth breaking on principle.
Therefore, as a community, agree on common names for your strategies for success, call them Rules (to encourage adherence), and refrain from modifying or discarding them until you can fluently apply them.
  • Call for a CONTRACT when a new Rule is suggested or seems needed.
  • If a sticky in-joke name doesn’t jump to mind, MUMBLE a good-enough-for-now substitue. Names can always be changed later.
  • Emphasize the game environment; these are Rules of play, not restrictive commandments.
Players often have their own preferred theories of learning, and are conditioned to other tools of collaboration. FLUENCY HUNTING, as a comprehensive system of accelerated learning can create culture shock in new players. There is indeed a learning curve to mastering self-directed learning; accelerated learning requires more energy, and more commitment. By agreeing to the CONTRACT of the rules of play, you can short-circuit discussion and debate that players may be initially inclined to – in the face of objections, shrug your shoulders; games have rules, and these are the just the rules of play for this game. Once players can fluently apply them, they are invited to improve or discard old rules and CONTRACT new ones.

Rules of Accelerated Learning, #9: Imitation

penguins image imitation accelerated learning

Friends naturally imitate each other. (image CC Swamibu)

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 #9: IMITATION

When you’ve chosen your desired skill and are observing a skilled practitioner performing it, or you’re an instructor demonstrating a skill for your students…

You can’t know how well you’re understanding and absorbing something until you try it for yourself.

  • No matter how much your head knows, your body is the final arbiter on whether or not you can do something.
  • Every skill, even the most technical, has a physical element; humans are embodied learners.
  • Imitation is a skill in its own right; it takes keen observation and self-awareness.
Therefore, imitate fluent experts (or at the very least, someone who can do well what you want to learn), and improve your ability to imitate through practice.
  • Do what the fluent expert is doing, in real time, right along with them, as they do it.
  • Observe and adjust your learning environment according to how well you or your students are imitating – IMITATION is the surest boost to SIGNAL STRENGTH for finding your FLUENT EDGE. If you are struggling with imitation, you’re struggling with the skill.
By doing IMITATION you’ll often find you are instantly overwhelmed; you’ve chosen too big of a piece of skill to tackle. This is great information; NARROW SCOPE accordingly, until you’ve found a truly BITE-SIZED PIECE. You may also find that you simply can’t tell what the fluent expert is doing at a particular moment; boost SIGNAL STRENGTH, get closer, ask them to slow down according to SLOW/FAST, request they only perform BITE-SIZED PIECES – however much they are willing to accomodate you, make the most of it. This is the back and forth dance of applying CONTRACT and the rules of play according to context; this the skill of FLUENCY HUNTING.

Rules of Accelerated Learning, #8: Start at the Beginning

Seed head Opium Poppy start at the beginning accelerated learning language hunting

This poppy seed head is ready to create many new beginnings, at the end of this plant's life (image CC kiwinz)

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 #8: START AT THE BEGINNING

When you are trying to choose from among new skills, starting a new skill you’ve chosen, or in the middle of the process of learning your target skill…

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the scope of a skill – where does one start? How does one start? What do you do when you get lost in the middle of working on a new skill?

  • Competency can’t be built on a shaky foundation.
  • If you skip the basics you’ll end up having to go back and relearn the skill later anyway, from the ground up.
  • There is an organic, situationally relevant, and often subtle starting point for any skill – finding it can take insight and experience.
Therefore, find a common beginning, and return to it whenever you get lost.
  • Start at the lowest level of complexity, doing something meaningful.
  • Proceed in BITE-SIZED PIECES from this beginning, and recognize moments that indicated NESTED COMPLEXITY.
  • Choose your skills and adjust your starting points based on what feels most ALIVE amongst the participants – follow the energy present in the moment.
  • When in the middle of play and you get confused, or simply don’t know what to do next, START AT THE BEGINNING with the most basic chunk of skill.
  • When in doubt of what to do, START AT THE BEGINNING!
Your first beginning may not be stable; it may take some experimenting to find out the true beginning that stands the test of time. MUMBLE your way through these beginning stages. You may also realize that any beginning you choose is really in the middle of a larger process; always adapt to the situation at hand, and the most relevant starting point.

Rules of Accelerated Learning, #7: Designed Environment

Chapel image Designed Environment accelerated learning

A quiet chapel, expertly (if unconsciously) designed with ALIVE, SIGNAL STRENGTH, NARROW SCOPE and DESIGNED ENVIRONMENT (image CC weisserstier)

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 #7: DESIGNED ENVIRONMENT

When you are fluently sharing learning amongst participants, looking for more acceleration, and are ready for an expanded focus…

The human brain is masterful at inducing tunnel vision and unconsciously filtering out most environmental distractions.

  • Any part of your brain engaged in filtering distractions is unavailable for the learning at hand.
  • Conscious of it or not, humans are “instruments played by the environment” – the environment drives human behavior.
Therefore, design your learning environment to reduce environmental noise and drive the learning behaviors you want.
  • Rather than tolerating the noisy environment in which you find yourself, prepare for learning by reshaping as much as it possible to support exactly what you want to happen.
  • On the fly from moment to moment, respond to learner engagement by modifying or removing distractions. Resist the “we can deal with it for now” disease.
  • Make the environment as ALIVE as possible, meeting human needs for comfort and belonging.
Applying DESIGNED ENVIRONMENT can often, perhaps more than any other rule, bring up the sense of inconvenience and frustration with the energy required to effectively design accelerated learning. Participants may feel more like furniture movers and caterers than skilled instructors and learners; learning is an essentially embodied activity, and yet we rarely consider the role of our bodies in supporting what is culturally defined as a “mental activity”.

Rules of Accelerated Learning, #6: Narrow Scope

Colombier du château de Kerjean Narrow Scope accelerated learning language hunting

The framing of the picture narrows scope wonderfully, directing your focus to the patch of blue sky (image CC Yann Caradec)

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 #6: NARROW SCOPE

When you are practicing or sharing your desired skill, trying to maintain your position on the FLUENT EDGE…

It’s easy to fall out of the learning flow into overwhelm and anxiety.

  • Enthusiasm for learning and challenge can misdirect learners to add too much new information to the learning environment.
  • Instructors commonly underestimate the time required to truly absorb new information.
  • Instructors and learners often exhibit impatience in the face of what will truly instill new competency, preferring rather to rush forward to get an “overview” of the skill.
  • Instructors can often worry, for cultural reasons, about making it “too easy” for participants; trickery and testing is closely associated with most learners’ experiences, regardless of its negative effects.
Therefore, reduce the size and frequency of new chunks of skill you are trying to learn.
  • Proceed in BITE-SIZED PIECES, one piece at a time.
  • Aim for “vertical slicing”, the ability to do a narrow range of things (within the overall general skill), and follow this narrow track to the highest level of performance, before expanding “horizontally”.
By NARROWING SCOPE, you do indeed learn to do a very narrow range of things very well; it takes a lot of discipline and design to not be distracted by the other “shiny toys” found within the skill domain. Expanding horizontally too soon, however, will slow you down, and is the top of the slippery slope towards prioritizing knowledge-about over FLUENCY. It can also be frustrating, insulting, or shocking for learning participants how slowly and methodically their learning experience needs to begin before accelerating forward. Remember to rely on the CONTRACT of the rules of play – it’s a game, and it has rules.

Rules of Accelerated Learning, #5: Signal Strength

light bulb signal strength accelerated learning language hunting

A-ha! (image CC Aldo Cavini Benedetti)

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 #5: SIGNAL STRENGTH

When you are trying to transfer a competency to another learner, or gain it yourself…

It’s easy to overlook how much amibiguity, guessing, hesitations, confusion, and trickery slows down or derails the learning process.

  • Many learners belong to cultures which, in spite of evidence to the contrary, assume that the more challenging the learning environment, the better the learning.
  • The human brain is designed to appoint part of its capacity to unconsciously filter or de-emphasize environmental “noise” experienced by all 5 senses, but these parts of the brain are then unavailable for learning.
  • The stronger and clearer a signal, the less brain work required to receive it, the more brainpower left to interpret and absorb it (this phenomenon is known as “signal to noise”.)
  • Iconic, vivid, physicalized communication is stronger than generalized, flat, representative (written, drawn, etc.) communication.
  • Culture and language strongly influence what a learner pays attention to and cares about.
  • Learners exhibit fairly clear body language when they feel confused or disengaged.
Therefore, boost SIGNAL STRENGTH in all learning environments.
  • Prioritize the highest degree of iconic, vivid, physicalized communication whenever possible.
  • Reduce or remove visual (distracting colors, patterns, movement), auditory (electronic hums, extraneous conversations, white noise), kinesthetic (uncomfortable furniture, cold, heat) and other “noise”.
  • Adjust your DESIGNED ENVIRONMENT to not just accomodate, but take advantage of cultural values and ways of thinking.
  • Adjust the learning environment, from moment to moment, in accord with the engagement of the learners by reading their body language and facial expressions.
There are contraints in every environment. For example, in a high-school classroom, the available furniture may be uncomfortable; the lighting glaring; the heating system loudly humming; students may be shy and exhibit a “flat affect” in general. Simply pay attention to SIGNAL STRENGTH and make the best of every situation, as allowed by the constraints. Even one tiny change can make a difference (KAIZEN).

Rules of Accelerated Learning, #4: Kaizen


Soccer on roofs of Paris accelerated learning kaizen language hunting

Take your skills into new environments and add new challenges to keep the learning process going (CC batmkana)

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 #4: KAIZEN

When you have found your FLUENT EDGE in your target skill, have been practicing for a while, but are not seeing your competency increase…

Learner performance often plateaus as one becomes more skillful.

  • The solution to previous learning challenges may not apply to the present one.
  • Doing what worked before is easy and comfortable.
  • New learning can often feel uncomfortable and inconvenient.
  • It’s impossible to keep environments and learners from changing.
  • New opportunities are found by new experiences.
  • Regular tiny increments of improvement add up over time.

Therefore, continually improve your learning process, especially when you experience your learning slowing down or plateauing.

  • Introduce new DESIGNED ENVIRONMENTS and SHARED EXPERIENCES that may recharge your learning.
  • Refocus on bringing the learning fully ALIVE; bring play back into the center.
  • Make a habit out of finding the FLUENT EDGE of your learning process too – a constant stream of BITE-SIZED improvements.
  • Collaborate and CONTRACT new RULES OF PLAY with other learners.
  • Have NO-GRIEF DEBRIEFS after learning sessions to examine what happened, what you’d like to do again, and what you’d like to do differently next time. Turn insights into new RULES OF PLAY.
  • Pay attention to the tiniest BITE-SIZED PIECES of improvement, as you would value each penny in a piggy bank. They add up to enormous improvements over time, as in Toyota’s famous Kaizen improvement process.
A constant examination of your learning process has many benefits, but will also feel very inconvenient in the beginning. It’s easy to rest on your laurels, and to feel you’re doing “good enough”. Remember that environments can change at any time and invalidate all your current strategies. Accelerated learning is a process for responding to what is happening right now, not an answer that can be written down and left unchanged.

Rules of Accelerated Learning, #3: the Fluent Edge

cockatoo image fluent edge accelerated learning language hunting

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.

Rules of Accelerated Learning, #2: Fluency over Knowledge

Dublin human statue accelerated learning fluency

Sometimes "doing" requires standing very still (CC Shadowgate)

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 #2: FLUENCY

When you are pursuing accelerated learning, and know you will be judged by the level of your performance (not your knowledge)…

Even after much training, it can be disappointing how little you are able to do (or remember.)

  • A broad understanding of a topic takes a while.
  • Theoretical understanding doesn’t mean you can apply what you know in the real world.
  • People learn by doing; experience is the best teacher.
  • You don’t know whether you can do something until you’ve done it.
  • Hidden problems and questions emerge only once you’ve had the real-world experience.
  • Although there are diverse learning styles, all (or most) of these are accommodated in a real-world experience.
Therefore, prioritize doing over knowledge-about.
  • Do something, anything, rather than speculating on how you might do it.
  • Observe and make use of your experience as you experiment with doing your target skill.
  • Interact and collaborate with other learners who are focused on doing over knowledge.
By focusing on doing you will accumulate experience and insights into the skill. Discuss these with your fellow learners, and journal it for your own learning. This has produced new knowledge for you, but now it’s knowledge born of experience rather than hypothesizing or speculation. You will commit more mistakes and feel more awkward during these early learning stages; implement strategies like PRESSURE VALVE (i.e., “HOW FASCINATING!”) to accomodate this increased personal challenge.

Rules of Accelerated Learning, #1: Focus on What is Alive

Buskerfest 2006 alive accelerated learning

image CC Osei Thompson

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 #1: ALIVE

If you’re working to accelerate your learning (or teaching) as much as possible…

It’s difficult to learn skills or new competencies from reading books, verbal explanations, or standardized curricula.

  • Hypothetical skills are difficult to sort out and disentangle from value-based opinions (“you’re doing it wrong!”)
  • It’s easiest to understand a process when you can observe it or experience it for yourself.
  • Skilled practitioners, even if poor conventional teachers, communicate volumes simply through role-modeling.
  • Learners and learning styles vary widely; learners are easily overwhelmed or bored by a standardized curriculum.
  • The most engaged and successful learners are those experiencing a “flow” experience of full engagement in the moment.
  • Learning is strongest in playful, energized, heartfelt exchanges.
Therefore, always look for situations where you can observe or learn from skilled practitioners, and gauge your success by the degree of engagement of the participants. 
  • Prioritize real-life, in-person experiences: see, touch, hear, feel the skill being practiced.
  • If written or explanatory resources are the only ones available, prioritize researching accounts of the skill in practice, rather than explanations on how or why it works.
  • Abandon abstract value judgements of the rightness or wrongness of any particular expression of the skill, as long as it is being performed by a competent live practitioner. The more points of view, the more organic your understanding of how the skill is expressed by different people in different situations.
  • Observe closely the energy of learners; are they bored? Are they overwhelmed? How full of life are they?
  • Adjust the environment to create the fullest engagement amongst all participants, from moment to moment.
  • Make play central to the learning process.
If you focus on what is ALIVE, you’ll spend a lot of time pursuing and courting skilled practitioners and very little time speculating or puzzling through what it might be like to become skilled in your target area. There is a limit to how much time you can spend searching for a fluent expert. You may need to NARROW SCOPE according to START AT THE BEGINNING by choosing only to learn or teach skills according to what experts are available. You will also spend more time observing and responding to the level of learner engagement. This tighter feedback loop will demand more energy and participation from instructors and students, and require more breaks and rest.