The Art of Learning

Summary

people.josh-waitzkin (Private) reflects on how he became a world master in both chess and martial arts and how underlying both pursuits was a single art of learning that is unversal in all pursuits.

Review

One of the most impactful books I've read in the past decade. Recommend to anyone looking to xcel at their field.

Takeaways

performance = ability to focus and ability to relax (aka do interval training)
Making Smaller Circles
Presence as Parallel Lines
good is a feeling - once you know it in one field, you can chase for it in other pursuits

Key Points

on growth
- Hermit Crab - growth = being vulnerable
- growth comes at point of resistance
- growth comes after loss
- growth comes from rivals - they know you best
- growth comes from dirty players - they expose fears and indignation
- growth comes from taking risks tha others would not
on resillience
- find the soft zone
- build Sandals (vs forcing the world into compliance)
- Presence as Parallel Lines - one line is the presence and the awareness of the presence, when the two go out of sync, trouble happens
the learning process
- start with fundamentals
- Making Smaller Circles - once you have mastered the basics, make it smaller but keep the same feeling
- expand from basics, build routines and triggers to keep you present, create sandals to overcome adversity
- create your own earthquakes
- learn to alternate between focus and relaxation (do interval practice)
- known what good feels like and hone into that feeling - use it as a guide for learning anything
on flow
- find the soft zone where you can be like grass in a hurricane
- go with your nature and however you're feeling
- know what good feels like
- whatever comes, use it
- turn weakness into strength (eg. emotion to fuel action)
on presence
- be present to what happens, its not he first mistake that sinks you
- relaxation and presnce allows unconcious to flow
- being present and have a higher frame rate to see what is happening
- breathe
- ability to be clearheaded under fire is what separates the best
on competition
- when you control two of your opponents limbs with one of your own, you have an advantage
- rivals and dirty players are your teachers

checkout the Human Performance Institute

Notes

intro

duality of things: external and internal have same principles
study of numbers to leave numbers, forms to leave forms

1 - foundation

1 - innocenet moves

learning chess, coach that could dicipline without breaking the child (josh)
learning without any inner conflict (eg. fame)

2 - losing to win

loss is biggest teacher

3 - two approaches to learning

Entity Vs Incremental Intelligence
Hermit Crab analogy, to grow, one must be vulnerable
The Rival
to learn, you will fail and be dissapointed
growth comes when you find your limits and go beyond

4 - loving the game

your opponent is your greatest teacher, the one that knows you the best and challenges you the most
growth comes at the point of resistance: this is where we must push

5 - the soft zone

performance training:
- flow with what comes
- use what comes to your advantage
- create your own earthquakes
soft zone is like blade of grass, can survive in hurrican like winds
- Sandals
- mental resilience
always look for ways to become stronger

6 - the downward spirla

the first mistake is not the one that sinks you, its what follows
momentum is real
beware of downward spiral
From Presence as Parallel Lines
Go to text →
From The Art of Learning
Suddenly she stepped right into the oncoming traffic.

She could have walked away unscathed if she had just stepped back onto the pavement, but instead she turned and cursed the fast-pedaling bicyclist.

The ambulance and police came and eventually I moved on to P.S. 116, hoping that she would survive. (Location 890) #eg (Private)

I have always visualized two lines moving parallel to one another in space. One line is time, the other is our perception of the moment. I showed my students these lines with my hands, moving through the air. When we are present to what is, we are right up front with the expansion of time, but when we make a mistake and get frozen in what was, a layer of detachment builds. Time goes on and we stop. Suddenly we are living, playing chess, crossing the street with our eyes closed in memory. And then comes the taxicab. (Location 904)
Source:
From The Art of Learning

Author: Josh Waitzkin (Private)

Full Title: The Art of Learning

Category: #books (Private)
There is time of things that are happening in the moment and our perception of it. When we lose track of the present, because we are absorbed in the past, we are not able to react to what is happening now

7 - changing voice

"numbers to leave numbers"
improving at self through chess vs improving chess

8 - breaking stallions

two ways to break a stallion
- tie it up and freak it out (break it down completely)
- horse whisperer, make horse intention your intention
find your unique disposition and follow it
- to not is to leave yoruself without a center

2 - my second art

9 - beginner's mind

tai chi - finding obstruction in different parts of body
obstacle to calm existence is irregular breathin

10 - investment in loss

loss is a teacher

11 - making smaller circles

#star

From Making Smaller Circles

Go to text →

Distilling large movements into smaller ones

Details

Once you have mastered the basics of a move, can you keep refining it, retaining the feeling of the original move while making it smaller?

In the context of push hands, this is literally making smaller movements while retaining the same feeling of the full move

Making smaller circles is not mastering some advanced technique but rather the refinement of the basics until it becomes like breathing

12 - using adversity

an earthquake during a competition sparked a period of intense concentration
next step is to invoke an earthquake like concentration without the earthquake
whenever you control two of the opponents limbs with one of your own, then you have advantage #star
to be the best, you need to take risks that others would avoid and use adversity as a teacher

13 - slowing down time

relying on intuition and the unconcious in high level play
deep presence and relaxation of concious mind allows unconcious to flow

14 - the illusion of the mystical

the superpower is perceiving more detail, which slows down time and allows you to perceive more frames than your opponent

3 - bringing it all together

15 - the power of presence

even when positions were even, the first to cave to pressure in a chess match would lose
the solution is to embrace the pressure
ability to be clearheaded and present under fire is what separates the best
maximize each moments creative potential
presence is breathing

16 - searching for the zone

interval training as the foundation to be good under pressure #star
- eg. bike at 170 bpm, relax down to 144 bpm, and cycle every minute
there is release knowing that full relxation is just a breath away from total concentration
incorporate stress and recovery into all aspects of life

17 - building your trigger

waiting is life, we have to learn to wait
build a trigger in the form of a routine that you do before you enter a state of presence
- eg. if you're present playing ball with kid, make sure to meditate before that and use meditation as trigger for being present

18 - making sandals

use dirty players as teachers who expose weaknesses in your mind
- accept reality and emotions, use it
- anger and negative emotions come from something lacking within (eg. fear)
- when someone gets in your head, that is a weakness that they have helped you identify
highest level performers need to be true to themselves
formula
- cultivate soft zone, be aware of feelings and ready to either hold or let go of whats arising
- turn weakness into strength, use emotion to fuel performance
- find emotional triggers that lead to best performance
- figure out how to manually trigger those emotions
- condense those triggers until you can call them at will

19 - bringing it all together

make small circles from single technique/idea
- keep condensing the movements
slow down time, make smaller circles on a group of techniques

Once you know what good feels like, you can zero in on it, search it out regardless of the pursuit.

Children

Concepts

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