The Threshold of Specificity
None of us are as smart as we think, especially when it comes to learning something new. I’m all about saving money by doing things like getting an “MBA” without going to business school, but teaching yourself a new skill all by yourself will only take you so far.
Taking a class or reading a book is great, but it has its limits. I’m calling that limit the threshold of specificity. After a certain point, you need to create your own personalized learning curriculum if you want to take your skills to the next level.
In other words, you have to do a little more work than just reading a book or taking a generic class.
Some examples:
- Learning a New Language: Taking a class or using software to learn some basics will give you a start. But if you really want to learn a language through and through, you’re going to have to take a one-on-one class that’s customized to your ability and to your needs.
- Learning to Play an Instrument: Same as learning a language—generic lessons will get you started but to truly become a master you need to take matters into your own hands. You have to practice for hours and years on end to really “get it.”
- Everything Else: How many books do you see in the “self help” section of the bookstore/library? Tons. People want to become better—that’s why you’ll see commercials promising the world at 12:30am on a Saturday night (I personally haven’t…um…seen them).
Busting Through the Threshold
I’m a huge proponent of online learning. Reading books, blogs, and magazines about any subject can definitely make you better at it. It’s how I taught myself the little I do know about advertising, investing, and personal finance.
But there is a limit to all this generically directed teaching. It can’t go past a certain point because all people learn in different ways and generic information can only take you so far. To go beyond that, you have to get more specific.
Enter the “Threshold of Specificity.” When you hit this limit, you have to get proactive to go beyond this level of learning.
You have to be able to say “I am different from everyone else in the following ways and here is how I am going to expand my learning.”
You have to tailor your learning specifically to yourself to take the next step.
You have to start putting more of yourself into the whole process and stop relying on external forces like books or self-help gurus to teach you the way.
You have to start being personally specific about what you’re trying to learn to ensure it applies to you and what you want.
For Example
I tried to teach myself everything I could about advertising by reading books, creating spec work, and interacting with people in that community. But eventually I hit a wall. I needed to actually become a part of the industry and start working in it to go further. And I did.
I couldn’t have learned what I learned without taking that step.
I’ll go into more detailed examples of how to bust through the threshold in another post. But until then, have you ever encountered the threshold of specificity in your life?
Image by mangpages
August 27th, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I have absolutely seen this, particularly in my strength training. I’m into some weird stuff, old-time strongman feats like tearing phonebooks and bending nails. But try and figure those things out for yourself–I couldn’t.
Like most things, there comes a point where you have to get some help from someone who has achieved the results you want. You don’t ask your mechanic to fix your PC and you don’t ask a Chinese Poetry PhD to teach you Finnish.
Good stuff.
take care friend