From the category archives:

Intellectual

Life Goals and Learning Curves

by Haider on February 21, 2010 · 6 comments

in Learning

We are often told that with the right attitude we can achieve anything. If we believe in ourselves, the sky is the limit.

But while attitude and mindset play a crucial role in achieving our life goals, most goals are just not a walk in the park. They require some effort to climb uphill and cross a learning curve.

To simply ignore the fact that you don’t already know everything there is to know to reach your goal means you’ll be running around in circles wondering why you’re not making any progress. And the reason why you’re not making any progress is that you’re refusing to go in the direction where the learning curve is. You can’t see your goal and can’t find a way to get there because you have to go past the learning curve to get to your goal.

No climbing, no success.

Knowledge & Skills

When I talk about learning curves, I’m usually referring to two kinds of curves:

1) Learning something new

2) Developing a new skill

You can memorize what a keyboard looks like. That’s knowledge. But fast typing is a skill. You need both knowledge and skill to reach your goals. Both require practice. The more you learn, the easier it is to learn more.

What knowledge you need to acquire and what skills you need to develop depends on the goal you’re pursuing.

But what matters is acknowledging that you need to pass the learning curve to get to your goal.

Admit That You Don’t Know

One of the main reasons why we struggle to reach our goals is the refusal to admit when we don’t know. We find it offensive to say that we’re ignorant. It’s demeaning. It expresses a lack, when we should be singing our own praises and repeating positive mantras.

But if you’re unwilling to admit that you don’t know, you’ll never have the courage to face your learning curves. You will struggle to make sense of an incline when you’re expecting a flat surface. But rather than admit that the ground isn’t flat, you try to motivate yourself to believe that it is!

That’s not dedication. That’s delusion.

Learning curves can only be passed by learning something new. Admitting that you don’t know isn’t an insult. It’s a fact, and one you should embrace wholeheartedly.

Let people know you’re struggling to understand a concept. Ask for support. Seek out recommendations. Read up on the basics of a new subject, without thinking that it’s below you to admit that you’re a novice. You are, so act the part. You can only climb a learning curve if you know where you stand along the curve.

And remember:

Before you know, you don’t.

Before you can, you can’t.

At least that’s what Nature seems to tell us.

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Rationality and His Evil Twin

by Haider on February 13, 2010 · 6 comments

in Logic

Rationality is a celebrity, adored and respected by many. Known for his wise counsel, sound arguments and fair judgment.

But not everyone knows the dark family secret of Rationality, which many dare not think about, let alone mention.

Since I know the secret, I find it necessary to reveal it to my readers, so that they are no longer fooled by this ongoing deception.

Rationality has a twin brother. An evil twin brother.

What’s more, the evil one often pretends to be his good-natured brother, and takes advantage of his brother’s prestige for his own wicked plans.

The evil twin is known as Rationalization.

The twins are identical. They look the same and sound the same.

They are both logical. They are both consistent in their arguments.

But while Rationality upholds truth, Rationalization finds consistency in falsehood.

Rationality ensures that every statement is factual, whereas Rationalization often relies on assumptions.

Rationality respects evidence, but Rationalization values opinions.

Rationality uses reality as his guide, but Rationalization selects from reality that which serves his purposes.

Rationality judges ideas according to Reality, whereas Rationalization judges Reality according to his beliefs.

The twins sound the same, but their arguments are worlds apart.

Rationality equips Man with the right understanding of Reality to ensure his happiness, but Rationalization makes Man’s ignorance sound reasonable. What made this possible is the trust Rationality has built for himself, and the many accomplishments he helped Man achieve.

When Rationalization spoke, people thought it was Rationality, the brother they were fond of. Not knowing that Rationality had an evil twin that was sabotaging the good he worked tirelessly to establish.

And now, when Rationalization is to be condemned for the false arguments he has presented, his brother is taking the blame and losing his credibility and hard-earned reputation.

Which is why it’s important to know that the evil twin exists, and that we must not judge Rationality for the crimes Rationalization has committed in his name.

What conforms to reality is the work of Rationality. What doesn’t is the work of Rationalization.

What’s based on facts – and only facts – and never uses fallacious reasoning is the argument of Rationality. What mixes fact and fiction and fallacy is the concoction of Rationalization.

Whenever you use any logical argument, ask yourself:

Whose work is it: Rationality or Rationalization?

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Increase Your Learning Capacity

December 13, 2008

Our capacity to learn is not determined by our intelligence as much as it is determined but our attitude towards learning and our impression of how much we know.
Oddly enough, the more we think we know, the lower our capacity to learn is.
Why is that the case?
Because when we focus our attention on what we [...]

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