When was the last time you learned a new skill? Maybe you’ve always wanted to teach yourself how to rollerblade, to speak French, or to woodwork. What’s stopping you?

Today, we speak with journalist and author Tom Vanderbilt. His most recent book is called Beginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning. Inspired by his daughter, Tom tries to learn how to sing, surf, juggle and draw. Along the way, he attempts to figure out why adults stop learning for learning’s sake.

In this episode, we’ll hear more from Tom about the “Cult of Mastery” and how we worry too much about being good rather than just being.

We’ll also talk about why so many of us stop trying to learn new things and take a lesson or two from the curiosity and resilience of children.

Episode Quotes:

On the “Cult of Mastery”:

“I could learn to separate performance from pleasure… I think that's a symptom of our age, that cult of mastery, of needing to be good at something. And it particularly affects adults. I think when they go into the learning process this is something that distinguishes them from children who you know, children learn in a very low-pressure environment, it's been suggested. This is one of the reasons they're so, so adept at learning, but adults, you put all this immediate pressure on themselves, they don't want to look bad.”

On getting out of your own way:

● “I saw in a lot of these things trying to get yourself out of the way of what you were trying to learn and become instead a learning machine that was just adopting whatever algorithm it was, rather than doing a lot of active thinking on your own, because that act of thinking often gets in the way of motor skill activity.”

On why masters don’t always make the best teachers:

● “There's an interesting argument that people can learn better from watching the error-filled efforts of fellow novices or maybe even intermediate performers.”

Show Links:

The Benefits of Lifelong Learning feat. Tom Vanderbilt

unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc