FIVE KEY POINTS

1. Our brains are built to learn the best when we’re operating at the edge of our abilities, outside of our comfort zones, and when we make a lot of mistakes.
2. Understanding that we can improve our abilities (having a growth mindset) is the key to learning. The most successful people in the world have this all figured out. They’re master learners, or as we like to call them – “Butt Kickers.”
3. Most of us struggle with learning because of our fear of failure, looking bad, and resistance to change. This mostly comes from a part of the brain called the amygdala aka “The Lizard Brain.” The Lizard Brain acts as an internal force driving us to have a fixed mindset.
4. The Lizard Brain is the brain of a wild animal. It’s hardwired to seek safety, avoid risks, and to fit in. This protected us back in caveman times, but now it keeps us from learning as much as we could.
5. As much as we would like to, we can’t kill the Lizard Brain. However, we can learn to dance with it and use it as a compass to show us we’re on the right path.

SPECIAL THANKS

We would like to give a HUGE shout out to Seth Godin for helping us out with the interview. He’s been one of our biggest inspirations through all of this and it was an absolute honor to speak with him. Thanks Seth!

Also, he just published one of the most unique and inspiring books I’ve ever read. Grab a couple of copies of Your Turn HERE – You’ll absolutely love it!

FREE POSTER

Screenshot it, download it, copy and paste it – it’s yours! Use it as a reminder of how learning really works. Feel free to post on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter!

Expert Interviews

For this V-Essay we interviewed two incredible coaches:

John Kessel

Director of Sport Development for USA Volleyball.

He’s one of the smartest cats around and an expert in motor learning.

Tom Black

Head Volleyball Coach at Loyola Marymount University • Assistant for Coach USA Volleyball

We were having a discussion with Tom about mindset and he dropped some key insights dealing with the whole block v random argument. Tom is the man.

Shortcuts:

Kessel – (1:03-1:33), (2:44-3:27), (12:53-13:58)

Black – (9:40-10:51)

Research Studies

Summaries about a number of block v random practice research. Fancy animated graphs + explanations.

Shortcuts:

Block v random practice: effects on skill acquisition – (8:01-8:40)

Block v random practice: baseball study – (8:41-9:06)

Block v random practice: basketball study – (9:07-9:16)

Key Points

Game skills are complex

Every time you do a skill in a game, regardless of sport, you have to read, plan, and do. We call this process the “total skill.”

It’s all about transfer

Transfer is the word motor learning scientists use to describe real learning. When they study practice and how it impacts skill acquisition they always look at what the people can do the next day rather than the improvements they can see during the practice stage.

Transfer = How much of the improvements made in practice actually show up the next day or in the game.

Block Practice

A traditional approach to practice that involves getting a high number of reps repeating the exact same movement over and over and over again (hitting 10 putts from the same spot).

Random Practice

A practice approach that randomizes reps – you never do the exact same thing twice (hitting 10 putts from different spots on the green).

Random leads to wayyyyyy more transfer – why?

In all of the studies we see a huge difference between block and random practice during the transfer test (the one that measures real learning). This happens because during random practice (when we never do the same thing twice) we are forced to read, plan, and do before every single rep.

During block practice we simply repeat the previous movement and the reading and planning are eliminated from the equation.

Block is easier to do, obviously, and will make us look better in practice. However, if we want to prepare to perform in an actual game, random is the better option.

Their staff explains how they do it:

This interview was the inspiration behind The Growth Mindset Playbook (a page dedicated to laying out the best ways to teach and implement growth mindset).

I’d like to give a huge S/O to Karch and his staff for being so incredible these past few years – I can’t explain how much they’ve helped the Train Ugly mission!

If you’d like to see the crew in action and learn more about their approaches, check out:

THE TRAINING THE GAP CONFERENCE

Lets’ change that.

Our environment changes about a million times faster than we do.

Think about it – in just the past few thousand years our world has been revamped again and again. What’s important changes. The way we structure society changes. How we get food. The way we teach. The way we learn. The way we get around. The things that are important to get good at. What we do for a living. It’s all changed SO much.

This is all GREAT. I can only speak for myself here, but I love that we have wifi instead of covered wagons. But there’s a big glitch in this system. And it’s us and our brains.

We don’t change, update, and evolve even close to as quickly as our environment. The world is like on version 987,988,900, we’re operating with damn close to the original system (version 1.4 if we’re generous), and our iPhones are even on version 6s.

Our current system was designed to keep us alive back when we literally lived in the wild – when had to hunt for lunch, and worry about becoming lunch to a saber tooth tiger.

We found that the best way to do this was to listen to our fear, to avoid taking risks, avoid making mistakes, avoid the unknown, and avoid standing out at all costs.

Because…
New or unknown = danger = death
Mistakes = danger = death
Standing out = getting kicked out of the tribe = death

Obey, play it safe, fit in, do what you know, live.

Again this approach was highly effective for that environment but is far less useful today.

And that is the glitch.

Today our environment/society favors connection and learning. Those who think differently, who love the unknown, enjoy challenges, thrive outside of their comfort zones, and don’t mind sucking and stumbling on the path to growth.

And our 1.4 software is built to resist all of those things.

This is why we:

• Hate doing things we’re bad at
• Hate public speaking
• Hate getting called on
• Hate asking questions
• Hate trying new things
• Hate doing things that might not work
• Hate the hard conversations

and

• Love doing things we know we’re good at
• Love our comfort zones
• Love fitting in
• Love the sure thing
• Love playing it safe
• Love small talk

In other words we resist the things that lead to more connection and learning while steering towards the things that hold us back from connection and learning.

So we’re faced with three options:

1. Wait a few million years for our software to catch up
2. Continue on resisting and avoiding the good stuff
3. Learn how to function/override the software

1. nope – we aint got time for that!
2. no – hell no
3. yes – and let’s talk about that

You may be thinking something down the line of: “ok hollllld up – how do i beat this glitch? how do I conquer it? how do I turn it off? And when I first learned about all of this I was asking the same exact same thing, my friend. I even have video evidence…

Here is me asking my hero those questions + plus his brilliant response:

Boom.

The resistance, the “lizard brain”, that feeling in your chest, that fear – it is all a sign that you are in the RIGHT place. And as long as your life isn’t in danger you should do the exact opposite of what it tells you to do!

“Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do… The professional tackles the project that will make him stretch. He takes on the assignment that will bear him into uncharted waters, compel him to explore unconscious parts of himself.” – from Steven Pressfield in The War of Art

The fear is not going anywhere. We can’t let it run us. We can’t get rid of it. But we can USE it.

The best marathon runners don’t learn how to not get tired – they just learn to run with the pain. Just like the best performers don’t learn how to not get nervous – they just learn to dance with the fear.

With practice, we too can learn to lean into the fear, to dance with the fear, to use it as a compass that leads us to the opportunities and experiences that will help us the most.

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For more on this topic:

How fear impacts our ability to learn – video
Growth and resistance – article
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield – book (one of the best you’ll read)

Support the cause…
The Train Ugly Shop
The info and content on our site will ALWAYS be free – but we might try and sell you a fresh T-shirt or poster every now and then;)

Let’s talk about a great source of ignition and how (sadly) we’re really great at squashing it.

Take 2 min, check this out, then we need to have a quick talk.

https://youtu.be/ttztouyK2dg

Sweet, huh?

What I want to focus on is young Rory’s reaction and mindset when he saw Tiger taking the PGA tour by storm.

When Rory was watching Tiger he adopted the powerful belief that: “If he can do it, so can I.” This attitude is one of the most effective sources of ignition in a young student or athlete and a great display of a growth mindset. He saw someone great, was in awe, realized that the greatness came from years of work and dedication, and believed if he too worked that hard he could get better. IGNITION.

Unfortunately the more common reaction to this is to look at the situation with a fixed mindset.

As parents, coaches, and teachers we can help the situation. Watch performances, concerts, and games with your kids. Point out a great musician, athlete or singer, and explain how that person became great.

Greatness comes from years and years of hard work, mistakes and stumbles, and tons of grit and effort.

As one of my favorite musicians, Macklemore said:

“The greats weren’t great because at birth they could paint – The greats were great cause they paint a lot.”

For more on ignition and it’s role in the learning process check out The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle.

For more on mindset research click here.

For more on learning and how it really works click here.