Lessons Require Repetition

Fast isn't always the best outcome

I saw this article last week that said some online colleges are a bit freaked out because their students are “speed running” degrees. (Source, though I think that’s paywalled.) And I’m absolutely not going to argue FOR college. I will say, however, that earning a degree in a bunch of weeks means there will be a lot more people proving my point about the whole “it’s just a sheet of paper” thing.

We don’t have to even think about college. You and I have had many opportunities to learn in life. Sometimes, the lesson works right away. Touch the stove top burner and you’ll learn pretty quickly not to do that. Other times, we need the repeat of the lesson over and over again. I ate dessert last night loaded with sugar and I could feel my blood vibrating afterwards. Do I know this? Yes. Will I need to repeat the lesson? Guess so.

Decades of Experience - Only SOME Learning

A lot of what I’ve done over the last many years starts with “you’re not the boss of me. I can do it THIS way. Haha!” And then learning that you kinda can do it that way, but it’s going to take longer, cost more, result in way more failure. And sometimes I’ll win.

But the winning is kind of like that hook in gambling that keeps you coming back, and you lose, lose, lose, lose, lose, win, and somehow think, “Aha! That was worth it. I won!”

Here’s a confession: a lot of my hard earned decades worth of experiences tells me something I’m still not fully able to collect a degree for: sometimes, you have to actually put in the hours and do the thing. Lots of times. Most of the time.

If you don’t earn the knowledge, it won’t work super well for you. And by “earn,” I mean through experience, repetition, learning, and seeing it in action over and over until you build a body of experiences to pull from. That’s why so many of the trades involve an apprenticeship program and a journeyman period, etc.

You’ve Heard “Fail Faster,” Right?

In my own experience of not learning lessons, a lot of it has to do with me not being ready to receive the information. You know that frustrating quote? “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear?” Gah! I hate it. Because with me, it’s like, “You’re going to hear this and you’re going to reject it. Then, you’ll experience it multiple times, and keep pushing back and resisting and rejecting.”

Then, years from now (sometimes decades - Buddha, I’m old), you’ll hear it and think, “Oh, man. I could’ve saved so much time just doing this years ago.”

Literally as I’m writing this letter to you, sugar has every molecule in my body going “bzzzzzzz, you fool.”

Because not only will I reject learning, but even after I absolutely agree with the learning, I’ll still think, “I know, but ___” and whatever comes after “but” is just me being an ass.

Progress

A thousand years ago in 2004, I completed a trail marathon. 26.2 miles in the woods. The year before that, I’d never ran more than 50 yards, and only under pressure. I was fat but had lost some weight and decided one day, I think I’ll try running.

I did one of those “couch to 5K” programs, that I read about from John “The Penguin” Bingham. And what I read was so simple, I had to try it:

• Run from one phone pole to the next, and then walk until you catch your breath. Repeat.

• After you do that a bunch of days, run from one phone pole to the next, then walk two phone poles, then run, etc.

• This switched over to time, so it was like 1 minute running, 4 walking. 2 minutes run, 3 walk. (You get it, right?)

Over time, I could kinda sorta do a 5K. So I signed up and did one. Then I signed up and did more. Then, I found a plan to do a marathon, and did a little more mileage every day. And then one day, I ran all 26.2 miles and completed a marathon.

The way I wrote a book was to write 2000 words a day. I stole that from Stephen King who said he wrote six good pages every day (about 2000 words).

The way I wrote 10 books was do that same thing a bunch of times.

The way I write you a newsletter every week to you is to write a newsletter every week.

And when I stop, when I forget, when I think there’s another way, I fail. And I don’t learn the lesson. I don’t get the degree. I don’t get anything. I feel sad. I lose. I eat sugar again. I bite the fish hooks.

Maybe You Know This One

The way forward is to keep learning. The way forward is to rack up progress. The way forward is to get up when you fall down.

It’s to build experience, and lean into that experience. It’s to challenge assumptions, but against your experience.

And this reminder is to me, but maybe you needed it today, too.

I still haven’t earned a degree. But I learn every day.

Chris…

MY OTHER PROJECTS

Off Screen Life - Starting a Whole New Project With You There (Join in Now)

Photography as Meditation - most recent episode is about taking photowalks

Building Agents (My AI startup)

Executive Leadership Coaching and Advisory Work - email me ( chris@chrisbrogan.com)