Learning Mastery 1 - Feedback Is The Key

Today I've got a very special post for you. I'm going to help you become a genius.

And when I say genius, I don't mean someone who's great at one particular skill. I mean someone who can learn any new skill incredibly fast. Because I think that's what real genius is - being adaptable.

Feedback is the Key

"Feedback uber alles!"
- Me, speaking in a horribly fake German accent

"You don't get feedback. In soviet Russia, feedback gets YOU!!"
- A random unrelated quote

Good feedback is the key to learning. If you can figure out to how to get more feedback, more accurate feedback and the right kind of feedback, and then use it correctly, you'll go incredibly far in learning something new.

1. More feedback

Get an experienced friend to watch you. Maybe you want to learn snowboarding (something I learned recently). Let him tell you what you did right and what you can improve.

Also, get a video of yourself in action, if at all possible for the skill you're learning. I can't stress how much difference that makes. This tip alone will more than triple your learning rate. If filming yourself isn't feasible (you're learning something internal, like playing chess) try thinking aloud and recording yourself.

Also, don't be afraid to ask more experienced people for feedback. If they agree, excellent! If they say no, also great! You just learned to hear rejection without it bothering you. (that's an important life skill). It's win/win, so go for it.

2. More accurate feedback

Make sure your feedback is specific. Not just a generic "Well done." It's the details that matter. For example in tennis, the top players have a very specific wrist motion when serving. Learn that specific detail. For some reason, the smallest details often matter the most.

3. The right kind of feedback

"You screwed up. That was really bad. You'll never learn this." - that is not the right kind of feedback.

The right kind of feedback is specific and positive.

The place where I've seen people give the best feedback is Toastmasters speaking classes. It works roughly like this:

You give a speech. Then someone gets up to evaluate your speech in two minutes. The evaluation contains two main ingredients:

• 1. Positive feedback - ("You did a great job using those diagrams to emphasize your point.")
• 2. Points for improvement - ("Next time try varying your voice tone a bit more.")

And here's the vitally important bit - The positive feedback takes up about two thirds of the evaluation.

Positive feedback is soooo important, I can't stress it enough. It's great for your self-image. It keeps you motivated. It makes you perform much better.

For psychological reasons, the good stuff needs reinforcing. "What you focus on you get more of." (this is also the reason why saying thanks every day is so effective.) For the same reasons, every time you think of the thing you're learning (like snowboarding), think of the times you did well. See yourself doing well, hear it, feel it. Play the positive feedback in your mind over and over.

Positive feedback is the most important aspect in learning something new. It's why I put feedback as the first part of the Learning Mastery series. The effects are nothing short of stunning.

Things to watch out for with feedback

Now that you know how great feedback is, you might be tempted to start giving it to others left and right. Don't. Giving people unsolicited feedback can seriously hurt them. And I'm not talking about hurting their ego by pointing out things they did wrong. I'm talking about something much worse. If you give others lots of positive feedback they didn't ask for (even "well done"), you will hurt their motivation.

There are obscure psychological reasons behind this, and they're too complex for this article. I might explain them some other day. For now, just remember:

- Do not give others unsolicited feedback.

You can say something nice if a person does something really special (for example signing well at karaoke). But keep the praise honest, and scarce.

Another way to turn to the dark side is becoming obsessed with feedback. When you start valuing feedback more than learning, you're in serious trouble.

I used to play Reversi at an online site. My rating (a way of measuring skill, the higher the better) was about 1650. I was trying to improve to reach 1700. I focused on it for days without success. Then I stopped focusing on my rating. I sort of forgot about it, and instead focused on learning. Two days later, I checked my rating. It was almost 1800.

"The archer who keeps his eyes on the prize will miss the target."

Remember - feedback is there to help you learn. You might find yourself under pressure to put feedback (the prize) above learning. Always ask yourself if it's worth it.

Summary

Next time you're learning something, get as much feedback as you can (if possible, use a video camera). Then focus mostly on what you did well. Notice one or two things you could try to do differently next time.

Long days and pleasant nights.

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Stay tuned for the next article in the Learning Mastery series. I will share with you, among other things, a way to time your learning to greatly accelerate your improvement - based on scientific experiments involving brain imaging technology.

Update: Now available: Learning Mastery 2 - Post-Practice Improvement