“What’s more, those members of the organization that many assume to be the best at learning are, in fact, not very good at it. I am talking about the well-educated, high-powered, high-commitment professionals who occupy key leadership positions in the modern corporation.”
Teaching Smart People How To Learn, Harvard Business Review
One of the core concepts in all of our programs is the idea of “open loops” or not making sense of things too quickly. “Teaching Smart People How To Learn” is required reading before the first CCA class because it highlights one of the biggest reasons highly-driven individuals fail to make the progress in adulthood they expect to be making.
The quicker you try to make sense of something, the less you are actually learning. We use 6-word updates, journaling, and weekly case-in points inside the CCA program as “open-loop” tools. Outside of the CCA we generally recommend re-reading, watching, or listening to the content that has been the most helpful to you.
Reading a good book twice is almost always better than reading two different books. Taking the same curriculum twice is often far more useful than taking two different classes.
We have students that take the CCA multiple times and, without fail, the second or third time hits them completely differently. And we would expect it to, if the first go-’round was useful, you the student will be a different person the second time around and the same content will mean something entirely different. The same goes for a good book, a good educational series, or anything else that has an impact on how you see the world.
So why do we bring this up?
Few reasons.
First, we encourage you to think about the best content you’ve engaged with over the last couple of years and, before doing something new, go back to that content and go through it again. It will likely hit you differently. If so, you are growing. If not, you’re the same person you were when you started it last time, with the same perspective and probably the same habits. The next time through, don’t make sense of things or make any decisions quickly, let your brain wrestle with new ideas, and give yourself a chance to observe reality for a few days through the lens of the new ideas.
Second, last week we did five days of (Un)Exploitable and encourage people to sit with their questions, not to make sense of things or close loops quickly for a week or so. Tomorrow, Thursday the 30th at 11a pacific we’re doing a special, more interactive episode of (Un)Exploitable. It’s just an open discussion for anyone that can make it. If there was any (Un)Exploitable episode or concept that you’ve been wrestling with or applying we recommend that you go back and watch or listen to it again then drop in tomorrow and share.
The link to join will be posted on the Rigging The Game Telegram Channel.
Shortly after we will be sending out emails to everyone on the waitlist for CCA 5 to begin enrollment and our focus shifts to CCA 5 students. (Un)Exploitable will return back to “fly on the wall” or “over the shoulder” status but we thought it would be cool to just have an open chat with you before then.
Remember:
No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.
Heraclitus
See you tomorrow
Nic and Dan