Here is an interesting learning method based on experience, doing or practice. Reproduced in full without image. Original source:
https://elemental.medium.com/why-you-should-try-micromastery-90b080b3befa
Please read my comments below after reading the article!
I can narrate my micromastery experiences as examples:
1. I had lot of problems in making butter out of cream. Earlier it was a very messy affair involving lot of time, unsatisfactory results, cleaning up etc. Now things are smooth and I can finish the job in minimum time neatly.
2. Because of poor eyesight (I am 77 now) I found it difficult to thread a needle and had to wait till someone (my daughter or servant) could help me. I learnt how to focus my sight to gain (near) perfection to thread a needle! Just enough attention is all that is needed!
Apart from this I was also happy to learn that micromatery would help prevent Alzhiemer's Disease. This is valuable input as I am advocating Lifelong Learning among the elderly.
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Why You Should Try
Micromastery
the summer of 2016 I
was very unhappy. I was coming up on my year anniversary of living in London,
where we had moved from Brooklyn for my husband’s job, but I still felt
pitifully lonely and poorly adjusted to the culture. I reentered therapy, tried
to socialize often, started volunteering, and focused on doing things for
pleasure rather than out of obligation.
But there was one
thing that alleviated my sadness more than others: I learned to drive a stick
shift.
In Europe, automatics
were more expensive to rent, so it was in my best interest to try to overcome
any manual driving anxiety head-on. My husband and I decided to spend two weeks
in France, and I spent much of that vacation stalling out on country roads, navigating
dreaded traffic circles, and ultimately speeding down the highways. When I
returned to London I told people about the beaches and baguettes in France, but
I mostly wanted to talk about how I could now officially drive stick.
I had discovered the
beauty of “micromastery”: working to develop competence in a single, concrete
skill. The term was coined by the writers Tahir Shah and Robert Twigger;
Twigger later published his 2017 book, Micromastery: Learn Small, Learn Fast, and
Unlock Your Potential to Achieve Anything, which contains instructions for laying a brick
wall, making sushi, and brewing beer. In the introduction, Twigger writes that
he was stymied by the idea that he had to work for years to acquire any truly
valuable skill, but that he still wanted to learn and create, so he decided to
focus on making the perfect omelet: his first micromastery.
A micromastery isn’t
about spending 10,000 hours becoming an expert at something. It typically
requires a much smaller commitment (though can vary based on the skill). A
micromastery can be learning to fold fitted sheets, for example. You also don’t
have to choose something banal and useful: You could learn to read
hieroglyphics or dance the tango, rather than change a flat tire or fix a leaky
faucet. Because the skills tackled in a micromastery are often simple and
always repeatable, it almost always guarantees a payoff.
Recently I started a
micromastery club with a fellow writer and friend, Angela Chen. You definitely
don’t need another person to do a micromastery, but Angela and I had similar
gripes about our lives. Like many millennials, we were burned out from doing
too much, but simultaneously embarrassed by our lack of practical skills, so it
felt natural to join forces. Plus, doing micromastery with a friend alleviated
some of the isolation I felt as the primary caregiver to two very small
children.
Our first micromastery
was basic sewing. It had long frustrated me that I had to outsource something
as simple as replacing a button. We relied on YouTube tutorials for everything
from threading a needle to tying off a knot. To learn how to stitch up a hole,
we watched and rewatched a video of a high schooler mending a sweater.
After 90 minutes we
could confidently sew a button and fix minor rips and tears (I used my newfound
skill to repair a beloved tote). Knowing my household was now a little more
sustainable made me feel accomplished, and being so absorbed in a project gave
me a sense of calm. It was like self-care, without the pesky guilt of spending
money on a massage (unless you count the $4.99 for travel sewing kits, it was
free).
Micromastery can have
health benefits as well.
As you become more
engrossed in your endeavor to learn a new skill, you can enter what Czech
psychologist Mihaly Csikszmentmihalyi famously called a “flow
state”: a mode “in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing
else seems to matter.” Flow is the way many of us played as children:
effortlessly mindful and engaged. In our era of endless distraction, taking
attention away from the to-do list and redirecting it to a concrete activity
can be a significant salve for the mind. A “flow” experience is analogous to
meditating, which has been shown to improve focus and decrease anxiety.
Doing a successful
micromastery also boosts confidence. “You will develop skills that are
transferable between micromasteries — rapid learning, structural information
about knowledge acquisition, performance skills, memory improvement — which is
an empowering thing,” writes Twigger.
It might also keep
your brain healthy. While there are many factors that contribute to cognitive
decline, such as genetics and poor diet, research suggests that challenging
yourself intellectually might help to stave off symptoms of dementia and
Alzheimer’s. A 2013 study published
in the Journal of Aging and Health, which provided over 2,000 seniors with different types of
brain training and followed up with them periodically over the course of ten
years, concluded that “results support the effectiveness of cognitive
intervention in maintaining cognitive health over the long-term.”
Weeks after our
initial micromastery, I’m still reflecting on the benefits. After eight months
of poor sleep — thanks to my eight-month-old — I often worry that I am not as
sharp as I once was, and it’s nice to be reminded that I’m capable of learning
things at all. As a writer, my profession involves a lot of thinking, and it is
gratifying to work with my hands and actually touch the product of my labor.
Angela and I are keeping a running document of micromastery
ideas. We’re going to learn to play pool next, followed by how to make pie
crust, and how to cut our own hair. Twigger suggests finding experts to help
with initial instruction, so if you know how to do any of those things, be in
touch. In the meantime, I’ll get to work fixing every frayed seam in my closet.
