The Art of Learning
by Josh Waitzkin

  • Personal Development
  • Ashto = 3/10
  • Jonesy = 3/10
The Art of Learning

The Art of Learning – by Josh Waitzkin

Josh Waitzkin was World Champion in Chess and then became a World Champion in Thai Chi push hands competition. A super interesting life journey and this book ‘The Art of Learning’ is ultimately his autobiography. We were expecting a little more ‘how to’ tips for learning, but there were a few gems hidden within the anecdotes that we’ve extracted to share with you.

“An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance”

 

The Art of Learning (dot point) Summary

 

Josh Waitzken – childhood chess prodigy and martial arts guru.
· Won junior national chess championship in 1993 and 1994.

· ‘Searching for Bobby Fischer based on Waitzken

The aim of the book is to uncover learning as he sees it.

 

Chess

· Began playing at 6 years old

· He became a prodigy of the street, playing against brilliant beaten men living in shambles aflame with a passion for chess

“Each loss a lesson, each wins a thrill, everyday pieces of the puzzle fell together

· International master at 19 years old.

Losing to Win

· Taking a vacation when everyone else is working super hard. You become refreshed

· Investing in loss

 

Two Approaches to Learning

1. Entity theorists. “I am smart at this” Belief system is that their ability is ingrained into themselves and unalterable. A fixed thing that cannot evolve.

2. Learning theorists “I got it because I worked hard at it”. Novice can become the master.

Learning theorists a far more likely to rise to the level of the game. Children who orientate success with hard work have a “mastery orientated response”

Chess – people who focus on early positions become one dimensional and only care about winning. He chose to focus on the end game and only care about learning.

· At school, we are taught to focus on what is easy and ignore the subjects that are harder.

 

Loving the Game

“We need to put ourselves out there, give it our all and reap the lesson, win or lose. There will be nothing learned from any challenge if we don’t give it our hardest. Growth comes at the point of resistance. We learn by pushing ourselves and finding what really lies at the outer reaches of our abilities

 

The Downward Spiral

Be aware of the downward spiral then you can turn losses into wins.

A girl crossing the road with her headphones in, in a different world totally not at the moment. She went to cross the road but there was a biker that almost bore her down coming the other way and gave her a solid but harmless bump. This was a critical moment in her life. She could have walked away. But she turned around pissed off and started yelling abuse at the rider! A car came away and cleaned her up.

“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, the layer of detachment builds”

 

Numbers to leave numbers/form to leave form

A process where technical information is integrated into what feels like natural intelligence. Practice what goes into your conscious goes into your subconscious so your conscious can concentrate on more minute things.

 

Beginners Mind

Wanted to get out too much pressure

Traveled to Europe to live in Slovenia where he found the Tao Te Ching., Taoist philosophy.

Tao Te Ching provides a framework to help sort out his complicated framework to material ambition

Found Thai Chi, “As if my insides where being massaged while my mind floated happily through space. As I consciously released the tension from one part of the body at a time”

The lesson of Thai Chi – breathing should be a return to what was natural before we got stressed out by years of running around a hectic world and internalizing bad habits.

 

Investment in Loss

Lose the ego, be happy to lose In order to win in the long term.

He got beat up by this gun but learned a lot through this Evan guy

Michael Jordan had won as money points on the siren, however, he has the record for missing the most shots on the siren.

 

Using Adversity

In a push hands tournament, he broke his hands 6 weeks before the national championships. Was told he had no chance of playing.

  • Trained with one arm for a month and learned how to block attacks with one arm
  • As one arm got super strong the other started to recover
  • At the time of the championships, he could block with one arm and then attack with the other.
  • The injury came as a huge source of inspiration.

 

Slowing Down Time

  • “Intuition is the most valuable compass in the world. The bridge between the unconscious and the conscious mind.”
  • His trained mind is not necessarily working faster. It is working more efficiently. The conscious mind has less to deal with as the rest is all embedded into the subconscious.
  • Practice is Key

 

Mystical Illusion

  • “If the opponent does not move, then I do not move. At the opponents slightest move, I move first”

 

Building Your Trigger

“Too many of us live without fully engaging our minds, waiting for the moment when our real lives begin. Years pass in boredom but that is OK because when our true love comes around, our life will begin.

 

Making Sandals

“A man wants to cross the land, but the Earth is covered with thorns. Two options, pave the road and the other is to make sandals”

  • Learn to flow with a distraction like the blade of grass in the wind.
  • If you have a problem with someone. Learn that the problem is yours and not the other persons.
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