Deconstructing Goals: The Path to Proficiency in Lifelong Learning
Breaking down ambitions into their elemental parts is an invaluable skill, one I've come to appreciate more as I've grown older. It's not something typically taught during our formative years. Our educational path tends to be well-defined, focusing on predetermined targets set by the government, the school system, the curriculum.
However, as we move beyond these established milestones, a crucial question arises: how do we think critically and design our own learning pathways beyond these formative years? The world evolves, and industries emerge that weren't even on the horizon a decade ago. Artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and social media marketing have become pivotal fields that didn’t exist in the past. And your success and ability to be on the cutting edge of them demands a knack for setting and achieving self-defined objectives. Using Blender, Figma, Midjourney and the like are all things that require you to stumble along and create the industry so there is no predetermined curriculum or set course for learning.
And if you don’t have a means of self-proficiency to continue to propel your lifelong learning forward, then you don’t have a means of staying on the cutting edge. Now this may not matter to some. You don’t have to be the first in an industry and can simply fall in line or follow the footsteps of another.
But if you possess an interest, why not pursue it at the speed that you want, not governed by the proficiency of others already in the field.
We all possess aspirations and interests outside the confines of formal education.
For me, it's woodworking. I want to be handy, to be comfortable fixing my home and being able to modify my living space for my preferences.
But bridging the gap between aspiration and achievement requires deconstruction.
It starts by embracing imperfection.
Proficiency comes from persistently creating 'mediocre' work until it's no longer mediocre.
It's a gradual progression—from simple boxes to more complex woodworking projects like cabinets or wardrobes.
The essence lies in understanding that grand achievements are composite structures built upon smaller components.
Mastery in woodworking is the sum of mastering individual skills, where each step contributes to the larger goal. That may mean understanding that a wardrobe or dresser is simply a combination of boxes within a bigger box.
Being able to deconstruct these more daunting projects into their component parts is the skill that is required in these goals though. It is the unlock to lifelong learning because it deconstructs these larger, more grand, and at times more abstract goals into more concrete, simplified, and reasonable projects.
Each 'shitty' box signifies progress, a step towards mastery. It's about embracing the journey, reveling in incremental improvements, and recognizing that each step contributes to a lifelong pursuit of excellence.
Deconstructing ambitions, transforming them into achievable steps, and persevering through gradual improvement—that's the ultimate life hack for pursuing proficiency and lifelong learning.