As a developer, I used to think that to learn a programming language, I had to take a lengthy video course and review all the videos. I will think that it is only after I have completed all the videos in the course that I will consider myself an expert. Furthermore, I will wait until the end of the course to start thinking of personal projects on which I can apply the newly obtained skills.
By thinking this way, finishing the course was a nightmare because it quickly became boring as I felt that some parts were irrelevant to me.
Also, that feeling of not finishing the course would affect my emotions negatively as I will think that, I would never become an expert.
This thought ruined me until I found out about the threshold theory, thanks to James Clear
Threshold theory
Lewis Tenman, from Stanford University, in 1921 embarked in a study to determine how the amount of knowledge you have – genius – is related to your creativity
The results were remarkable and contrary to popular thought. It indicated that not everyone with the highest amount of knowledge was directly creative. There were plenty of smart people who were not creative.
The study showed that to be creative, there is a minimum amount of knowledge you should have, called the threshold. Once that minimum is attained, knowledge no longer has an impact on creativity. Rather, the more you put in practice, the more your creativity skills increase.
Larry Page, founder of Google, did not need to know all the C programming language before trying to build Google. Having threshold knowledge, he continued with practice and dedication.
That threshold knowledge can be obtained using the learning just enough strategy. But before diving into the strategy itself, let us explore other reasons why the strategy is critical in our contemporary times.
The necessity of learning just enough
In this ever-progressing technology world, we constantly need to be up-to-date to continue to be relevant. We need to differentiate ourselves from the crowd by being competent in our field. Further, to deliver products that shape the world differently, we need to have the latest skills.
All of these demands from us the need to learn fast and retain more.
However, courses and tutorials are ever-increasing in size, books are huge, yet our time is limited. Between our personal and professional duties, creating time to learn becomes difficult.
As an example, if a course is 35 hours, then because you need at least twice its duration to comprehend what is covered, this implies you will have to actually spend 70 hours on it.
The problem becomes how do we navigate between our limited time and the need to master a skill? By using the learning just enough method
Using the learn just enough method
The reality is that you don’t need to learn all the oxford English dictionary before you can speak English. Once you master a minimum set of words, you can engage yourself in a meaningful dialogue.
Once you have a certain amount of knowledge, provided you put in the practice that follow, you are on the right path to mastery.
Here’s are the 3 steps to learn just enough
- Focus: concentrate on learning the core concepts, skills or information that directly contribute to achieving your goal. Avoid getting sidetracked by details or advanced topics that aren’t immediately necessary
- Iterate: Adopt an iterative approach to learning. Start with the basics, apply them, and then gradually build on that foundation as needed. By quickly applying the skill, your motivation remains at the top.
- Practical Application: Emphasize practical, hands-on learning. This helps solidify your understanding and ensures that your learning is immediately useful. Apply what you learn as soon as possible in real-world scenarios. Start with a small project you are passionate about.
Josh Kauffman, points that we need 20 hours of learning and that should give us sufficient knowledge to tackle problems in our field. Yes, 20 hours that is only what you need. The rest of the knowledge comes in with practice and repetition.
When you take a course, just allow yourself 20 hours of learning. That is apply step n °1 for at most 20 hours. While learning, try as much as possible to iterate, i:e after each major chapter, see how you can start applying what you have learned on a small real-world project you are passionate about. This is step 2 and 3.
The good thing about this method is that you are not paralyzed by tutorial hell. Tutorial hell is that tendency to want to continue reading tutorials as a pretext for not actually applying the skills already gained. You always feel as not prepared enough to tackle a task so you keep on postponing it with the pretext of the need to read another tutorial.