Hey there fellow Apprentices,
In this discussion piece I’m handing over the reigns of full creative control to Lenny Johnson who will be sharing everything he’s discovered about becoming an Ultra-Learner and how you can become one too.
Lenny is a fellow multipotentialite who has supported Mastery In Your 20s as a reader and community member since the early days. He’s an inspiration in himself, writing an awesome newsletter called Mind Voyage in which he explores everything about the brain and how you leverage it’s potential.
Without further ado, I’ll hand over this piece to him…
Introduction
Everyone wants to be a better learner.
The ability to pick up new skills correlates with so many beneficial life outcomes.
But if you’re like most people, learning something new is hard.
There are so many concepts to grasp, that each entangle one another and leave you in a web of confusion.
Without the proper approach, it’s easy to become frustrated at the difficulty and lack of progress.
It also doesn’t help that time isn’t on your side on this time. Since your ability to learn new skills, like your ability to repair your injured body, starts to decline after your 20s.
You can try to maintain it but it’s mostly downhill from there.
Right now, you’re at your peak, mentally and physically.
And I say reach the edge. Become a force of nature.
This is what being an ultra-learner is all about.
The term comes from Scott Young, who finished a 4 year MIT CS curriculum in 12 months. And documented his process online.
Ultra-learning requires complete immersion in a topic. It relies on intensity rather than duration to learn.
The first time I taught myself to learn something was after I had an idea for a movie about two lovers caught in a time loop that always ended in tragedy.
I thought a story like that with two Hollywood heartthrobs to gushing over each other on screen, I would rake in the profits.
The only problem was that I was 15 at the time. And had just read the entire Twilight series so I was possibly not in the right frame of mind.
But goddamn the idea captured my soul!
It begged to be made. Yet since I was 15 and broke at the time, even I knew this was too grandiose a plan…for now.
So I resorted to doing the next best thing.
I set out to write a book.
This was within reach and I didn’t need anyone’s permission.
Again, I had just read Twilight and thought it couldn’t be that hard to write something.
And I was right. It wasn’t hard to write.
But it was impossible to write anything that didn’t instantly suck.
And so I began my first quest to master a subject.
I had the goal of writing and publishing a book so I could eventually turn it into a movie.
I did the first thing any modern seeker of knowledge does: I googled it
“How to write a book”
Over the years my learning journey has taken me across various disciplines: from writing, marketing, programming, guitar, app design, rapping, and filmmaking.
I went from dropping out of college—which I did to focus on writing—and not having enough “work experience” to be a store clerk to eventually working with people and start-ups all over the world.
And I did it all with the limitations of being from an African country.
Today I’m going to share everything I learned about learning.
The real stuff.
So you can attain the kind of knowledge that lets you do cool shit.
Get’s you into rooms, and if you’re into that sort of thing, makes you a truck load of money.
Here we go:
1. Change your identity
The best way I know to learn is by immersing yourself so deeply into a subject that you become one with it.
This means you have friends doing the same thing. This means talking like people in this group, dressing like them and being them in all the ways that matter.
This was me when I was a writer:
This was me when I was learning how to play the guitar:
You see—you can't wear sunglasses indoors by accident.
Groupthink can be bad.
But when you’re trying to learn something as fast as possible.
Groupthink is like steroids for your brain.
There’s a reason why cults and military training camps isolate new members from the rest of the population.
It’s the same reason why it’s hard for you to learn a language—no matter how many courses and Duolingo streaks you have—Spanish just doesn’t click.
But children easily pick up languages from their parents without trying. They can even become bi- or even tri-lingual because of this immersion.
When you join a new social group your brain has to form a new identity. And it picks everything associated with the new environment you’re in.
Most people fall into groupthink subconsciously and inherit both the negative and positive traits of the group.
To be an ultra-learning Jedi you have to consciously put yourself within the influence of a group whose members you want to be like.
When you want to learn anything figure out what identity you have to assume, find other members in this group, and inject yourself into their reality field.
Become one with the source.
2. Do the work
Sometimes the greatest blocker to learning is learning itself.
It’s easy to confuse the action and steps of learning with the understanding needed to do things.
Learning isn’t just spitting facts about a subject. It’s about being able to do something useful with what you know.
Some learners get stuck in what’s known as Tutorial Hell.
This is a hopeless dimension filled with self-doubt, loathing, tears—sometimes alcohol—and endless online courses.
I’ve been there, and the only way to avoid it is to get uncomfortable, immediately.
By doing the work.
If you want to be an author. Publish something.
ANYTHING.
Want to be a programmer? Make an app.
Do the thing.
Start a business. Release an album. Talk to her.
Just do It!
This is why being part of a social group that does what you want is so important. Because in every social group, people have expectations of what you should do.
If you’re part of a group of filmmakers you’re expected to make a film.
If you’re in a very physically active social group. People will talk when they see you slipping.
These activities might be far outside what most people would expect from you. But in your chosen social group this is the norm.
And as humans, it is our nature to want to conform.
Use this to your advantage.
3. Keep it fun
I’ll tell you what the greatest hindrance to learning is—BOREDOM.
School has left most of us with the expectation that, if you don’t feel like slamming your face on your desk out of boredom, you can’t possibly be learning anything.
If you’ve ever played a video game online you’ve likely been shocked by how skilled some players are. Even when they’re half your age.
You understand that humans are prepared to learn very complicated skills, for no apparent gain, if they find it fun.
When you learn on your own you should do whatever it takes to keep learning fun.
For example I used to hate learning maths in school because I couldn’t quite get to grips with it’s difficult topics.
But, becoming an adult I knew I needed to master it.
So, I got creative on how I could make it fun.
Some things I did:
I found the shortest lessons on YouTube and a great teacher (Jack from TL Maths)
I started from scratch—literally nursery level—and kept climbing up.
I put the video on 2x speed since it made the teacher lively (can’t do that in a classroom)
I muted the audio and played techno music over it
Was this the most effective way to learn? Probably not.
Was it fun? Hell Yeah!
The most important question is:
Did I learn anything?
And I’d answer:
“..more maths in 4 months than 18 years of school.”
I worked my way from preschool to A-level maths.
I even understand proofs now.
And my eyes don’t automatically glaze over when I see equations. I now have a very deep respect for the subject.
But I never would have gotten this far if I hadn’t made it fun.
Unlock your potential
These three principles helped me go from an undereducated dropout to a multipotentialite (learned this one from Charlie) ultra-learner.
You’re not going to be in your 20s forever. And I won’t tell you that learning new things will be easy.
It won’t.
For one, it sucks up your free time.
I’ve drifted from close childhood friends and even some family members.
For another, you're always a beginner.
I’ve lived without food security, got evicted because I couldn’t make rent, been depressed, and felt like a failure more times than I can count.
But…
I have a secret.
Something that keeps me going.
And I’ll let you in on it…
I’m obsessed with improvement.
A while ago I learned that happiness was a very fleeting thing. It came and went and I didn’t have control over it.
I found that what I could control… What I could even compound. And what was more stable than happiness…
Was improvement.
Getting better at the things I loved was a feeling that stayed even at the worst of times.
My obsession with improvement is partly driven by my need to make more money. Which stems from never having it growing up.
But primarily, my obsession is driven by my need to avoid boredom. Which stems from having too much of it growing up.
Excitement and a chance to make enough money doing what you love.
Isn't that what we all want?
I think you understand.
So I say become an ultra-learner, so you can become whoever you want.
So you can do whatever you want.
Do it all.
And experience everything.
✌️
P.S.
In case you're wondering, I did finish that romance novel I started when I was 15. And it is now my mission to ensure it never sees the light of day.
Thanks for having me Charlie!