The Best Way to Learn? Hands-on!

Posted on by Malcolm Munro in Self Management

What’s the best way to learn a new task?  You can learn the background, the theory, the technical details…or you can just jump in.

My son on I-270 in MD.

In the Navy, the training mantra was “See on, do one, teach one” which worked well.  Military folks can do tasks that civilians need certifications to do.  I even put a filling into a patient’s tooth in the Navy (and did a good job by the way) without having one day of Dental School.

I find the best way to learn a new task is to just dive right in.

My son got his learner’s permit last week.  On the way home, I let him drive on I-270 in Maryland.  He found himself entering the freeway on an abbreviated on-ramp with no merge.  No better way to learn how to speed up when you merge.  Is there a risk?  Yes, but what’s the alternative?

I see lots of cars with a “Rookie Driver” sign in the back window.  I’m guessing that means that other cars need to either take it easy when driving around them or to excuse the driver in advance for making a bad decision.  Then of course there’s the Subaru commercial where the father gives the newly-minted driving daughter a laundry list of requirements before she goes out on the road solo for the first time. “Stay off the Freeways – we haven’t gone over that yet” he says to the girl (who in his mind is 5 again).  Seems to me that new drivers are being babied into this important new skill set.  No wonder there are so many bad drivers on the road!

My father taught me to drive by taking me into downtown Santa Ana, CA during rush hour.  I was taken up on the California Freeways right away.  It made me a better driver.  After all, you can talk about navigating the road, but nothing beats actually being on one.

The management skills class I’m teaching this week is designed for the attendees to start immediately using the coaching and feedback techniques.  Hands-on beats theory any day.

What task are you desperately trying to learn right now?  Are you reading tech manuals, _______ for Dummies books, or YouTube “how to” videos?  Why not just dive in and give it a try?  This is the training process I’m using in training my son to drive.  Soon, we’ll be tackling the Capital Beltway and then downtown DC at rush hour.  Since he’ll be driving on his own soon, no better way to learn how to navigate the hostile world of driving in the DC/Metro area than hands-on!  So far it’s working for me.  Try it for yourself and see.

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