The Art Of Learning by Josh Waitzkin - Book Summary

The Art Of Learning is a semi-autobiography by a chess player and martial artist Josh Waitzkin. As a competitive sportsman, Josh Waitzkin went through many stages of learning during his sports career. His personal experience and learning encouraged him to share his experiences for newcomers to learn more and to succeed more.

This book by Josh Waitzkin describes the methods of learning which are very uncommon amongst most people. The author shares his own life events to describe the methods differently. He draws an imaginary scenery of the path that leads to gaining complete mastery in any field.

 

Art Of Learning # 1: Do Not Underestimate Defeat

Josh was a born champion in chess. He grew up in Washington and so was his place to start playing chess. As Josh started playing, he mastered the art of learning to play speed chess. And so he used to play chess with his companions and defeated them in no time. Ultimately, he partook in the championships and started winning at a very young age. But as he started confronting the old-age champions, he started losing the championships.

Soon, Josh took off from the play for some time and spent more time with his family. Simultaneously, he started entangling into the causes of his succeeding defeats. Spending time with his family away from the sports became a wonderous time for him. He understood that where speed chess made him a champion on one side, on the other side it also enfeebled his endurance to stay longer in a game. So, from them he worked harder and even harder to improve in the area he found he was weak in.

 

Who becomes a true champion?

True champions do not shy from failure. They rather learn from failure. Champions take failure as an opportunity to learn and this is what makes them perfect in the art of learning. This is the failure that enables them to defeat their ego and bring forth a sense of humility. Champions see from different perspectives all because of the failure they face. And this is what projects their future journey to become a true champion.

If you face a big loss, it is the best time for you to take some time off and think of the causes of that loss. Rather than crying, gather yourself, understand who you are, and see where you mistook. This is the moment to clearly see what had gone wrong and what had been right in your favor.

 

Art Of Learning # 2: Adopting The Correct Approach

There are two approaches to learning:

1- Entity

This approach states that a person born with a particular skill or skills does accordingly. This totally negates the concepts which define the art of learning.

2- Incremental

This approach states that the skills can be developed at any time during the lifespan. If a person lacks a particular skill, he can learn it, improve it, and master it slowly and incrementally. This approach backs the concepts which define the art of learning.

Most people would indeed choose the wrong approach, the first one.

The champions who we think possess innate talent and skills, still believe in the incremental approach. They never lose any chance of learning. And this approach makes them master the art of learning first and then in what they have learned. No champion has become a champion without mastering his art incrementally. Therefore, I firmly believe, it is very wrong to negate the hard work of a champion behind his success.

Man has got immense power to understand, learn, and improve over time. If you adopt learning as a habit and make it your routine, you will gain huge success soon.

Easy said than done, the incremental approach requires leaving the comfort zone. This is the most difficult thing to do for many. As it requires the efforts which snatch your rest. But the gain is immense if you do so. Staying in the comfort zone develops the habit of avoiding hard work and so there is no chance of incremental improvement. Leave your comfort zone, stay focused on your goal, and improve every moment.

 

Art Of Learning # 3: Fast Recovery & Rise Again

The personality of a champion clearly reflects his personality. The attitude he shows in the game is distinctly visible in his personality. It is very important to become a champion that you stay true to yourself. Do not imitate anyone else or you will lose your own as well. Always winning is an illusion. Champions lose and do fall. The combination of win and losses make the champion improve every day. Make it your habit to win and lose. So you keep becoming champions and keep learning.

Winning should be your focus. Do not lose it. But do not underestimate the defeat. It is your companion that helps you master the art of learning and it is the ticket to your incremental improvement.

Complaining about distractions is pretty common amongst people. Since we live in a world that is full of distractions. Anything can distract you at any time. We call someone a champion because he had reached a certain place after winning against all these distractions.

While you are dealing with distractions, it is not uncommon to get angry. But controlling your anger and keep focusing your goal with the ever-improving approach is your mastery that comes after following the arts of learning. Anger reflects the hard zone of your mental state. When you control anger and keep rolling with increment improvement, it shows the soft zone in your mental state.

 

Art Of Learning # 4: Making Art A Part Of Intuition By Practice

Brilliance is actually brilliance if it becomes your on of your routine habits. Let’s consider an example of a chess game to understand this. If the player is analytical and calculates moves so brilliantly, we will see remarkable moves from him. However, if he analysis and calculates every new move from scratch, he will take much more time. This brilliance is good in the short run, but will never be good in the long run. Because chess is a limited-time game.

Like chess, in other aspects of life too, we have limited time to achieve something. If our brilliance does not become part of our intuition and the brilliance does not reflect autonomously from our subconscious mind, we will be losing time.

Intuition is simply like moving from move A to move D without going through B and C. To be that accurate in intuition, one has to be in the present moment at a much-heightened level.

Practice certainly derives perfection; perfection derives anticipation and imagination. Thus, with more practice, one can become more intuitive.

 

Art Of Learning # 5: Mastering The Fundamentals Of An Art Or A Technique

In practical life, we are more prone to appreciate breadth over depth. That is, we always keep finding new information without going deep into it. But, to make the macro world comprehensive to us, it is important to master its fundamentals. We are unfortunate to have teaching models of our educational institutions that teach broadly. Therefore, we seldom see any institution teaching deeply. They utilize as many teaching forms as they can. But working on fundamentals is rare.

The right teaching and training is the one that works on the minute details. With command over minute details, one can make art a part of his inner. Thus, he understands the art from his soul and feels it from inside. Eventually, the art starts manifesting from his external being.

For example, if one masters the technique of delivering punches by working on their fundamental form and action. Then you see, when he delivers the punches in a match, he does it without even showing that is going to do it. The same is the case with chess. The grandmasters who have mastered the art of controlling the board, rarely seem to show that they are controlling the whole game. They play naturally but play surprising moves with their intuition that viewers don’t even get a hint of what has happened.

With this approach, even adversity can be used to our advantage. If an athlete faces an injury, he can develop other skills that can compensate for that injured part. This will keep a champion athlete still a champion. 

Once a performer reaches a certain level, the main issue is to navigate effectively. And to use all the skills he or she has accumulated. Although it requires an increased perception, it is yet possible.

The less performing competitors do wish that time could slow down and they could see what is coming to them. But, for a champion, it is a part of his intuition to understand autonomously what move the competitor is going to take. Because the champion has mastered the art & technique by practicing it regularly. 

 

Art Of Learning # 6: Heal By Taking A Recovery Breath

It is proven by the study that breaks during a performance improve performance. Therefore, the pauses a performer takes during his performance actually boost his performance in the next level or round. So, brief inactivity is an indicator of good performance to come.

High-level performance requires a high level of stamina and energy. With continuous performance, the energy level lowers. Therefore, you will see every performer takes pauses to refill his energy level. Because it is necessary to keep performing at a high level. Physical exercise also helps in maintaining physical and mental health.

Gym goers would know that muscle growth takes place during the periods of recovery between workouts. Rather than in the gym itself. Cardiovascular exercises, as well as HIIT workouts, are known to improve the stamina of athletes. Even chess players engage in workouts to increase their endurance and recovery time.

Life is a journey of the rhythm between relaxation and stress. We should go harder where required and take rest when necessary. Through practice, anyone can master this rhythm of life and prepare himself to go longer to achieve his goals.

 

Art Of Learning # 7: Be In Your Circle But Keep Expanding It

You would see that most competitors become excited when they face a big moment. Further, they feel stressed and consider this as a pressure situation. On the other hand, great performers relax under pressure situations and wait for the iron to get hot. As it gets hot, they strike.

One must learn to wait for the big moment and the right time. Contrarily, many amateurs burn from inside and have the least patience. We must relax properly in our routine life and stay engaged in our goals as well. Because it is necessary to be in the correct state of mind right before the big moment. And this is possible only by developing correct habits.

Briefly, here is a simple way to create a correct habit. Think of an activity which makes you blissful, let’s say reading books. Now, you create a routine in which you listen to the songs for 10 minutes right before reading books. With a continuous routine of this habit, your brain will be trained to make you blissful right after listening to songs for 10 minutes. Even if you do not read books, you will feel blissful after listening to songs for 10 minutes.

The ability which makes one a true champion is, how he uses his skills of one field into another. This is something that Josh got an expert at. And this is why he transferred his skills of chess to martial arts.

 

Conclusion: The Art Of Learning

To become a true champion, the right approach to learning is necessary. Even if one is talented but lacks the correct approach, he cannot go far. Skills that you do not inherit, can be learned over time. By practicing and correcting routines, one can master the skills in their true form and action. While practicing and learning, a true champion knows how to deal with distractions.

One should focus on depth instead of breadth. That is, mastering a few skills is best rather than knowing a thousand. Mastery can be achieved in any skill by working on the fundamentals of that skill.

A true champion knows how to convert adversity to his own advantage. He learns from the worst, recovers, relaxes, and practices more on other areas that differentiate him from others.