On Learning New Things
Most new skills I've tried to learn seem to follow a similar trajectory:
- Stage One, Beginner's Thrill: A rapid growth and learning pace at the beginning, because I'm conquering a lot of small goals, diving into something new and there are rapid gains which feels great.
- Stage Two, Amateur's Reality: The pace of learning and accomplishment levels off. I'm still learning, but the leaps forward start following a plateau trajectory. This stage is not as rewarding as the first. The key is to push through and jump to the next plateau and keep improving.
- Stage Three, Mastery: This is the goal with most things I want to learn, and if I gain enough experience and skill, I'll have the ability to apply the new things I've learned to accomplish my goals.
This is my own way of paraphrasing what I've read a million times on the internet: put in the hours, stay focused and don't stop trying. Right now I'm somewhere between stage one and two with Python. Gotta keep pushing forward. (This blog is also serving as a pep talk to myself.)