How I Learn Like an Athlete
What is it you do to learn that is comparable to an Olympian preparing for gold?
If you don’t know the answer to that one, maybe you are doing something wrong or not doing enough. Or maybe you are not very ambitious?
I’m not talking about sports. I am pretty sure this addresses you since you are reading this piece. But you don’t have to pop on your running shoes just yet. How do you improve yourself as a knowledge worker?
“Athletes train. Musicians train. Performers train. But knowledge workers don’t.” — David Perell
Inspired by Tyler Cowen and in response to David Perell’s post about How You Should Learn Like An Athlete, this is my indefinite list of practices and habits to train myself intellectually.
1. Reading
I read a lot. I’m an ‘infovore’; a person that has a voracious appetite for information. I try to balance my reading time between online articles and deep dives into books, but avoid most of the news. I prefer the format of articles, but I get more value from reading books. I keep track of my read books via Goodreads (social media for books). Every year, I set a book challenge to push myself to read more books; for 2019 its 18 books. That being said, the goal of reading is not to finish more books, rather start more. Simply read what you love, until you love to read.
2. Second Brain
I use note-taking to build a second brain. As I’m learning, I take notes on everything so I can refer and reflect back to them later. My notes are my most valuable asset, although worthless to others.
3. Writing
I write sometimes, I am planning to do this more often.
4. Systems over Goals
I set goals, but act in systems. Goals are easy to break, by developing habits such as reading daily, exercising daily and reviewing weekly I keep myself on track.
5. Reflection
Reflect, and reflect often. I keep a journal with my own thoughts, regrets, and ideas. I review my goals systematically on a weekly, quarterly and annual basis.
6. Podcasts on the road
I commute with podcasts.
7. Skill focused
I think skill-based, not signaling based. I don’t believe in the signaling of university degrees. Tell me what you can do, not what you studied. Acquiring skills works best through projects. Pick a side project, for example building an app. Use it as your sandbox environment to learn a new skill such as programming.
8. Staying fit
I love sports; they are my go-to for unwinding. Tennis is my favorite. I also enjoy running, yoga, fitness, surfing, snowboarding, and football. Variety is the key.
9. Routine
I aspire routine. By simplifying my mornings I reduce decision making. At heart, from wake till 10:00 I do the same thing every day. Wakeup, meditate, stretch, brush teeth, breakfast and read. I batch work to improve my level of focus to so-called Deep Work sessions. Don’t distract yourself. My emails reach my inbox 3 times a day via a Gmail plugin called Boomerang. Also, kill your phone notifications; people can wait. If it’s urgent, they will call you anyway.
10. Sacrifice
What do I sacrifice? Watching television and/or Netflix. I watch a sporadic hot show, although those are more for social purposes. I blocked the timelines of Facebook and LinkedIn, and don’t have any of those apps on my phone.
11. Sleep
Finally, I sleep. I sleep 7–8 hours a night, almost every night. There is no need to sacrifice on sleep. The extra time you win ends up being less effective anyway.
That’s it. My indefinite list of focus points.
Of course, as an athlete, it’s all about improving. My current point of focus is to avoid to multitask. Multitasking is tempting, but far from rewarding in the long run. How to do this? When switching tasks I close all the programs on my computer and restart it, before beginning the new one. Somehow it functions as a mental reset and ensures I don’t have any unnecessary windows to distract me.
I would love to hear how you train yourself as an athlete. Let me know by sending me an email!
