What’s your secret sauce for learning? Do you have any special shortcuts or tricks up your sleeve that help you gain knowledge or wisdom more quickly? Do you ever reach a point where you think that you have learned enough?

If you were like me, you may recall being back in grade school, wishing for some sort of a magic trick that would help you ace a test that you weren’t prepared for. “If only I could learn by osmosis! Why can’t I just put my math book under my pillow and wake up in the morning with all the answers in my head?”

Well, multiple-choice tests were made for squeaking by with a passing grade, but “fake it ‘til you make it” is never a realistic long-term strategy. There’s really no substitute for being prepared and knowing your subject matter backwards and forwards and inside and out.

Sometimes learning one thing requires un-learning something else. This is an especially true for things like personal development or better habits around your health. We humans have a nasty knack for unconsciously picking up bad behavior or deleterious practices when it comes to how we handle our body or deal with others. Stuff we pick up unthinkingly as kids may take decades to peel away and unlearn in order for us to become a better version of ourselves as we grow older.

As we move through life, goals and growth go hand-in-hand. When we decide to take on the challenge of gaining knowledge or developing a new physical capacity, there’s a learning curve involved. Much as we might like to simply be able to bolt on some sort of new facility, shortcuts are few and far between.

In today’s world, information is easy to come by. One only needs to open up a browser window and tap a few words into the search bar to be inundated with facts (and fallacies). But reading the ingredients on a box does not a cake make. You need to know the proper proportions, the correct sequence, the timing, and have the right equipment.

In other words, while there may be an abundance of information — the maps, the models, and the mentorship are a different kettle of fish altogether. Once you’ve got all these ducks in a row, all that’s left is perseverance. You’ve simply got to keep at it.

For me, the French language is the Everest I’m attempting to climb. As an English-speaking bystander to French conversations that rush past me like a river, I feel as if I’m standing on the shore wishing I could swim. Unlike my older brother Rafi, a polyglot I am not. (aside from English, he does well in German, Spanish, Hebrew, and Aramaic, and has now become quite fluent in Thai, where he now resides.)

Much as I would like a magic pillow that would simply soak language into my head, I look at it like a large piece of marble that I chip away at daily until the beauty of a new language emerges. Like old Ben said, “Involve me — and I will learn.”

Your metaphor may vary, your task ahead does not. Whatever mountain of learning you face, your best plan of action is to keep up the pace. If there’s one thing to be learned from late-night cramming for tests that we all did as kids, it’s that slow and steady wins the race.

Your dance, your book, your body, your business — they all do best with daily love and attention, so give ‘em that and your gratitude will grow. Learn on!

Tout le meilleur jusqu’à lundi prochain!

M+

Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine