Learn Like a Pro summary

One day, Olav Schewe, one of the authors, was flying his remote-controlled drone when it got stuck high up in a tall tree. The branches were too high to reach – even with a ladder – and too thin to support weight. Olav had no idea how to get the thing down. And the more he focused on the problem, the farther he was from a solution. So what did he do?

Well, he started by doing . . . nothing. He relaxed and forgot about his predicament.

When you learn something new, you make connections at the microscopic level. Your brain’s long-tailed nerve cells, called neurons, link to each other using cellular appendages called synapses.

So when you’re trying to learn something new, like the meaning of the word “metaphor,” the neurons link up when you first hear the word. As you learn the definition, those links become stronger. Then you start noticing metaphors in different contexts, and those links become even stronger. This continues as you practice your new knowledge.

One morning, you wake up and feel a bit funny. You’re not yourself. In fact, you’ve transformed into a four-legged octopus! This octopus is a metaphor for your short-term – or working – memory, which the coauthors call an attentional octopus. The average person’s attentional octopus has four legs – each one holding a thought or concept in working memory.

The trouble is that the octopus’s legs are slippery – some more than others. They can’t hold a thought for very long before your focus turns into a precarious underwater juggling act. Luckily, your attentional legs link to your long-term memory and pull information from it as if it were a mental locker.

Imagine you’re trying to deliver a quality tennis serve. At first, it’ll be tough. For your first few lessons, you might focus mostly on your basic serving technique, keeping an eye on the ball each time. With enough training, though, it’ll become second nature. After all, during a fast-paced match, professional tennis players don’t remind themselves to look at the ball.

In the early stages of learning, you rely heavily on your declarative learning system, which is this conscious way of acquiring skills or knowledge. But how does it become automatic?

Barb Oakley, one of the authors, was studying electrical engineering when an exam was announced. It was clear from the get-go that it wasn’t going to be a breeze. Barb tried learning everything about the subject – electric circuits – that was brought up in class. She did practice questions and even explained difficult concepts to other students.

Yet, somehow, she flunked – while everyone else didn’t. How could this happen?

You’ve probably seen a contestant on a TV show like The X-Factor or America’s Got Talent react with utter disbelief when the judges give him two thumbs down; he was absolutely certain that his singing would blow them away.

And yet, to everyone else, it’s very clear that this guy didn’t have much talent. How did he get to this point without once questioning his chances for success?