Outsmart the Deal

It is a gloriously sunny day in London, and I hope you are having a glorious day too.?

Today we will be covering:?

- Neuroscience of Learning to Mastery

- Power of Testing to Mastery

Reading time: 4 minutes.

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We have a situation in the world that is dangerous. It is one of the biggest contributors to stagnation and a lack of results.?

One of the greatest ingredients to fulfilment is growth. Growth in skills, results, career path, money, and relationships. When we feel we are growing, we feel fulfilled.

Your skills have utility. They are vital to your growth and fulfilment.?

The problem is that we have too many dabblers.?

Too many people are only interested in surface-level knowledge. They seek what I call "showy knowledge".?

They will show their bookcases holding a hundred books but have only read a few of them and can only remember a tiny amount of what is contained.

They will listen to hundreds of podcasts but retain only a fraction of what they have heard.?

An even lower amount of that knowledge is applied to improve results.?

Sellers will read about their products, their customers, their customers' businesses and their buyer's roles but aren't able to share their detailed understanding in a way that shows they are knowledgeable and competent.?

This problem also manifests in the actions taken. We have all read books and been on courses to improve our skills, but a greater proportion of people don't spend time continuously iterating or honing the skills/knowledge they have learned.?

The result is a lack of progress that is very frustrating and similar to the feeling a hamster has on the proverbial wheel.?

Go back to School?

One of the biggest feedback from training programs, especially sales ones, is that "attendees are initially excited, but nothing really changes."??

Nothing changes because there is no system for creating, encouraging and supporting change.?

There are various important aspects in the neuroscience of learning, but the one I will talk about today is the importance of?feedback.

Your brain is constantly translating and interpreting the data that your senses and body are giving it. This aspect of?feedback?is vital for the brain to gather intel on what is going on to gain an accurate picture of the world and initiate any course corrections.?

In learning, testing what you have learned is vital as it gives you a more concrete understanding of how you have retained new information, your ability to apply it and your ability to create what I call?integrated knowledge.?

Integrated knowledge is your ability to connect what you have learned to other knowledge in order to expand its application and create a more innovative approach that gives you an edge.??

For example, the idea behind?Lean Startups?in the book written by Eric Reis came from the integration of cross-domains of rapid product experimentation, lean manufacturing from Japan and utilising customer feedback.?

Test yourself

The first and easiest way to test your newfound knowledge is to test yourself. I have a client at Gartner who sells advisory services to Marketing leaders. He is learning more about what marketing is truly about and what those leaders are responsible for, their challenges, their desires and how marketing really plays out in companies across multiple industries.?

My advice was for him to start by understanding the MBOs and responsibilities of his buyers. The problem was that he was unable to articulate what he had learned. My next advice was to test himself on whatever he learned by asking himself to repeat what he understood in his own words.?

If he is unable to articulate certain things or stumbles, he instantly has feedback that he needs to re-read the material, and he also has feedback on what he specifically needs to understand better.?

Carry on doing that until he is able to clearly and confidently articulate his new knowledge.?

Ask someone else to test you

You can also ask someone else to test you. This is powerful. Get someone else to ask you questions about the topic to see if you can answer their questions.?

Another technique you can use is to record yourself practising a set of skills you have just learned. The act of practising and applying what you have learned creates neural mechanisms that allow you to create more memory pathways that are strengthened over time.?

Read it more than once

You should also review what you have learned on a regular basis over an extended period. This, too, strengthens your memory pathway.??

There are many other aspects that are involved in the neuroscience of learning, such as using multiple modalities, sleep, exercise, using patterns, and mindset. We can cover those in future newsletters (reply to this email to let me know if you would like to learn about these).

For today, focus on testing yourself to really test if you understand what you are learning and if you are able to retrieve your new knowledge in a way that improves your abilities and results.?

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