Micro skills
It all adds up.
I have been fascinated lately by the idea of sequencing skills. Today I want to discuss the heap paradox, or sorites problem.
The paradox is presented by the following reasoning: One grain of sand does not constitute a heap; if n grains of sand do not constitute a heap, then neither do n + 1 grains of sand; therefore, no matter how many grains of sand are put together, they never constitute a heap.
Another way to think about it is to start with one grain of sand, then another, and another, until it is perceived as a heap. now ask yourself: at what point did the individual grains begin to appear as an actual heap? there is virtually no way to tell.
The same is true for learning a new skill. Most skills are actually made up of dozens, if not hundreds, of micro-skills, just like a heap is made up of individual grains of sand.
You may say to yourself, “I want to learn fishing,” but fishing is not a single skill; it’s knowing what time to fish, what kind of lure to use, whether you have a fishing license, whether you know the local laws of that county, what bait to use, and all of that can change based on the fish. Then there is deep-sea fishing, fly fishing, etc., and I’m not even a fisherman, so there is probably a lot more to it.
To create your skill set, you have to start adding individual micro-skills to your heap one by one. Don’t be discouraged; this can be fun, and it’s meant to be encouraging because you may try something for the first time and feel like you’re getting nowhere, just like adding one grain to a scale will probably not trigger the scale, but that doesn’t mean you did nothing. Every grain must be added in order to get the desired outcome, and every small step is crucial.
So don’t let the doldrums bum you out; it’s part of the process. You can also gamify this by making a list of every inane task that may be associated with getting something done; it could even start with.
- Start a list. Check
- Call my fishing buddy and ask when I can fish with him.
- Look up how to fish in a YouTube video
That, to me, looks like a great productive start and is very approachable. Before you know it, you will be filling out and crossing off to-dos left and right while gaining a new skill.
So what’s that new skill you’ve always wanted to learn? Grab a sheet of paper and write down the easiest thing related to it. and do it.
Read more here.
Originally published at https://korublog.substack.com.
