There’s a certain group of learning activities that I like to classify as “mental training,” because we’re retraining the brain. It’s got a lot in common with physical training (learning a sport or martial art, for example), but it’s all about the mind.
Some common types of mental training:
- Learning a language
- Studying an academic subject deeply
- Learning chess or go or poker or bridge
- Getting good at focusing on work despite inner resistance
- Studying history or geography for fun
- Memorizing a bunch of facts (like trivia)
- Learn to become a writer (or other kind of creator)
I’ve put myself through fairly intensive mental training in most of these areas — I studied chess and go, attempted to learn a few languages, learned to focus despite my innner resistance, became a writer, etc.
And here’s what I’ve been finding are most important to getting good at this kind of training — which isn’t easy!
1: Let Yourself Be a Beginner & Suck At It
When I start some kind of mental training — say I’m trying to get decent at chess or writing — I always hope that I’ll get good at it really quickly. This is misguided, because as a beginner, I won’t get even halfway decent for a long time.
In fact, I’ll suck at it for awhile. That’s expected. If you hope to be good in a short time, you’re going to be disappointed and discouraged.
So encourage yourself to embrace this beginner stage — you won’t be good for awhile, so let yourself enjoy the learning itself, as opposed to needing to perform well to enjoy yourself.
2: Immerse Yourself
Sometimes people have hopes that they’ll learn something in just a few minutes a day, or maybe a good long weekend of hard work. Neither of these work very well.
What works is immersion, on a (nearly) daily basis. Imagine if you wanted to learn Italian, and looked at vocabulary flashcards for 5 minutes a day … or alternatively, you could instantly travel to Italy for an hour every day. In the second scenario, you’d be surrounded by people speaking Italian, you’d be immersed in it, and you’d be much more motivated to learn.
This works not just with languages but with anything. If you surround yourself with good chess players and lots of games and puzzles, you’ll learn much more than if you just browsed a book for a few minutes a day. Same with chemistry, writing, or high-performance focus work.
You don’t need to be immersed all day long. But you do need to immerse yourself regularly. I’d say 30 minutes or more on a mostly daily basis is the minimum for strong progress.
This content is only available to subscribers
Subscribe now and have access to all our stories, enjoy exclusive content and stay up to date with constant updates.
Unlock contentAlready have an account? Sign In
