How to Master any Skill with a Chess Champion Principles
Josh Waizkin was a Junior Chess champion two times, winning several other prizes during his career, resulting in the movie "Searching for Bobbie Fisher". If that wasn't enough, later in life, Josh became a US champion in Tai Chi. Josh is a master of the art of learning. In his book "The Art of Learning", the author shares his journey of acquiring these skills — his strategies, the obstacles, the mindset and the discipline.
I'm obsessed with learning new skills and challenging my capabilities. But I usually stick to a mediocre level of skill acquisition. Not because of laziness, but because I enjoy getting to learn very different things without incurring the time commitment of deeply learning a skill. In fact, I'm an enthusiast for learning a skill in 20 hours. Still, reading Josh's journey mastering chess and Tai Chi was very inspiring and insightful.
“Growth comes at the point of resistance. We learn by pushing ourselves and finding what really lies at the outer reaches of our abilities.”
―Josh Waitzkin
How to Master Any Skill with a Chess Champion Principles
1) DNA VS EFFORT IN LearnING a Skill
There are two types of learners: those who believe in hard work and those relying on DNA. Here are two scenarios. Let’s imagine you are a kid, and each time you bring a test with a good grade, your parents congratulate you. But when you bring a test with a bad grade, they will ask you, “What happened? I see you are much better with maths than with English. You’re just like me. It’s in your DNA. I was also bad with English and a pro at maths!” In the same scenario, some parents will encourage you to work more. They will tell you: “you can do best in the next test if you practise more! I know you can”.
The two examples differentiate people who dedicate a lot of time to become better in subjects they find more difficult and the ones who simply give up because “it’s written in my DNA I’m bad with English”.
Although we can't blame education every time, it's no surprise that we are deeply influenced by it. And if you experienced the first scenario in your childhood, you might struggle harder with learning skills if you don't feel you "were made for it." Our genetics indeed play an important role, but that is something we can’t control. Fortunately, there are still other variables in the game that distinguish those who improve their skill levels, despite their limitations.
2) Focus on one subskill at a time
When Josh started learning chess, his master taught him the end game first. Instead of learning all the different chess pieces at a time, the focus was only on two, like a pawn vs a king. With this approach, Josh mastered each piece individually. Progressively, he learned the middle game and the opening.
It is much more efficient to focus on one thing at a time than applying diffuse focus to everything. The less you have in your focus radar, the more in-depth you go into that one thing. This principle is the key to master a skill. The author of "The First 20 Hours" applied it too when learning programming and windsurfing.
When you learn to dedicate your attention to one subskill at a time and do it with full concentration and energy, it is possible to reach interesting proficiency levels in a concise period of time.
3) Manage the Soft Zone and the Hard Zone
The ideal state of mind on an important day is relaxed and focused (soft zone). But there are things we can’t control, and the mind falls out of place (hard zone). The way to deal with the things you can’t control is to accept them and not let them affect your performance. Easier said than done; this requires a lot of practice!
Josh once lost a chess match because he couldn’t stop thinking about a song. To avoid situations like this, he started practising chess in undesirable conditions to be prepared for them. He would practise chess with music till he could actually align his thoughts with the music rhythm.
This is a fascinating approach to learning how to deal with unpredictable obstacles and distractions using those same triggers during your practice. This way, you get from the hard zone to the soft, ideal zone (reaching the flow mode), independently of the external conditions.
4) How to Turn Disadvantages into Advantages in Skill acquisition
When Josh was already pretty good in Tai Chi, he broke his right arm. Rather than staying in bed for 6 weeks and letting this even rule his life, he showed up to train the next day. For 6 weeks, he tried to fight his opponents with only his left arm. He would visualize himself doing the exact same exercises with his broken arm. He didn’t exactly know if this would change anything, but he did it anyway, every day, during the 6 weeks of recovery. This obstacle turned into one of his strengths as he mastered some techniques with only one arm.
When you find yourself in a challenging situation, ignoring the problem might not be helpful. Instead, turn those obstacles into opportunities. If you are a football player, practise kicking with your less skilled feet. If you play basketball, use your weaker hand to score. If your plan failed, learn the lessons and move on. Eat and brush your teeth with your opposite hand. And don't give up. What opportunity can this challenge bring?
5) Develop Triggers to Get into the Flow Zone
We have all sorts of rituals — brushing the teeth before going to bed, putting in the seatbelt before igniting the engine or drinking a hot cup of coffee before a workday. Interestingly, Josh suggests an approach to developing a routine to put you in the desired mood. Here's an example: Before playing football with his son, a daily activity, a man crafted a routine to perform, consisting of eating breakfast (10 minutes), meditating (15 minutes), stretching (10 minutes) and listening to a Bob Dylan's song. He practised this routine every day for one month, before playing football with his kid, which he loved! As you might imagine, the routine by itself triggered joy and relaxation.
He then got through the same routine before going to work meetings. Those meetings were always stressful and suffocating for him. But by getting into the routine first, he was able to feel much more relaxed and in a good mood during the meetings! This happened because his brain associated the routine with a playful and enjoyable mood. After a long time mastering his routine, he would feel in the zone, that is, the desired mood, just by singing Bob Dylan's song.
This simple practice can be used before any stressful activity (meetings, presentations, competitions, etc.). The key is creating a routine, associating it with an enjoyable activity, and later using it before a less enjoyable one.
I developed a similar routine. Before doing something I consider ambitious and challenging, I hear the same podcast episode by Brendon Burchard. I heard it more than 30 times by now. And every time I want to get into this specific mindset, I just need to hear this episode or recall it.
If you are ready to master a skill, why not starting an UltraLearning project?
6) Recovery is fundamental for Learning
What separates the best from the good is their ability to remain calm in stressful environments. Josh brings the concept of recovery to highlight the importance of learning how to deal with stress and lack of focus. When fighting, he gave the best he had and then deeply recovered for 1 minute.
The idea of long periods of learning seems attractive at first. You can get a lot done in one day. Unfortunately, time is not the only resource that is to manage. Energy is a crucial part of it too, and without time to recover, you will burn yourself out.
When you can manage your energy throughout the day, you get into higher levels of performance. Instead of taking you 5 hours to learn something, you can get it into your brain in two 1-hour-periods of uninterrupted focus. It is not just Josh or me... You must learn to rest like a Stoic.
"Our minds must relax: they will rise better and keener after a rest."
— Seneca