My playbook for rabbit holing a curiosity is below:
I start with how tos.
I learn the most popular methods, techniques and hacks available.
I put the how to into practice, top it up with hacks.
I reflect on the lived experience of the how to.
Now that I had an experience, I try and pick up the why and what behind.
I reflect heavily on the correlation between why what and how.
If this experience was interesting I go deep into the nuances.
Now I create another project/lived experience to put all things I learned into practice.
Pick up more nuances on the go.
Reflect and cull out the first principles.
Now create the third project and do it with only first principles.
Reflect on all the lived experiences and pick up the highlights.
Recently I add one more step to the rabbit hole. Thanks to Feynman. Teach a cohort around why what and how for free or write a series.
The questions from the cohort makes me dig deeper.
The path in mastery continues.
Rinse and repeat.
Our schools always taught the science first and then the applications. For the real world, I understood starting with application keeps the curiosity alive more than starting with the science. It keeps me grounded in action than in theory.
I made it a commitment to not talk about something when I don’t have a lived experience. This restricts the number of things I talk about. It has served well all these years.
You can steal this playbook if you want to learn something experientially. It is not a silver bullet. It needs a lot of action. That is how learning sticks.
🥂to lived experiences!
