T-Shaped Learning
While learning something new, remember that learning needs to be T-shaped -
Let us unpack this a little bit..
Going Broad or Building Familiarity 📏
While learning something new we don’t know where to start. Once we do start, we don’t know where to stop - we don’t know if what we know is enough or not. This is where going broad helps.
Going broad is like looking at the table of contents or the summary of a book. It gives you a quick overview of what to expect and gauge how much time it might take. It helps you figure out before you invest deeply into it, whether learning it is for you or not.
Going broad builds familiarity. Here are two ways to go broad:
Talk to people who are ahead in the journey. These could be experts, mentors, peers. Drew Houston, the Dropbox cofounder talks about this -
“Look for people who are one year, two years, five years ahead of you. You will learn very different and important things.”Find the alphabets first. Learning something requires you to learn its language first. Learn the fundamentals first.
Going Deep or Building Mastery 🥽
Once you’ve decided to learn something, focussing on too many things can be distracting. At this point it is important to dive head first into it. This is where going deep helps.
Going deep is like reading an entire PhD on something. It helps you full immerse yourself in the topic and get to know the details.
Going deep builds mastery. Here are two ways to go deep:
Find a credible structure. This could take the form of a course, a book, a class, a paper - find a format that works for you!
Remember to take a learning breath! While learning something new, make sense of it for yourself. Consumption and creation are both important for learning
So the next time you’re learning something, find your T. Go broad 📏, build familiarity first and then go deep 🥽 to build mastery.
This articles takes inspiration from the concept of ‘T-shaped people’.
You can read more about it here.