A Prolific Learning Principle: Focus on Consistent Progress

Consistent Progress is a Cornerstone of Prolific Learning

Prolific learning is based completely on consistently improving on an ongoing basis. As you put time and effort into enjoyable and effective learning methods, you will see consistent progress. A small consistent amount of progress each day can add up over time to significant skill levels.

Few of us have learned to treasure consistent progress over months and years. Years upon years of formal education and regimented training have left us accustomed to our progress being measured by deadlines, schedules, curricula, tests, and standards. We’ve come to measure our progress against what others think of it. Countless people have come to think of themselves as “stupid” or “slow” or lacking talent because of this. Fewer people, but still many, have come to think of themselves as “smart” or “talented” because their progress was faster or better than others. In both cases, both those who are “stupid” or “smart” often fall short of their potential. Formal systems have taught “stupid” people that it’s an exercise in futility to even try to learn some things. Formal systems have taught “smart” people how to succeed in meeting deadlines, standards, and taking tests. Both are often left far short of acquiring real skills that can enrich their lives.

The reality is that our real progress in anything tends along a continuum. Progress in learning is ultimately about our brain internalizing certain things due to consistent exposure to something in our natural daily life. We can take short cuts to temporarily cram information for tests, but that is quickly lost. Long term learning occurs when we make something a part of our daily regular lives and our brain becomes accustomed to it. Our real progress occurs as things slowly become familiar to us.

One of the biggest hindrances to consistent progress is setting explicit goals and deadlines. We can decide to spend 30 minutes per day studying a new language. We cannot predetermine how many new words we can have memorized in a month or what level of skills we will have. We can perhaps cram and force ourselves to work hard to pass a vocabulary test in a month. However, this is far different than however many words our brain has naturally internalized in a month that we have at our disposal to understand. If we use enjoyable and effective methods of learning, in one year, we will be familiar with many more words than if we force ourselves to meet a series of arbitrary rote memorization goals over that year. The more appropriate the methods we use, the more progress we will get for our time and effort.

We need to learn to measure (and treasure) the consistent progress we make as something becomes more and more familiar and we become better and better at doing it. Prolific learning is about making something a familiar part of our life. It is not about meeting arbitrary and particular short term goals and deadlines. It is about putting in time and effort in an enjoyable and effective way so that our brain consistently internalizes what we are learning. We consistently can make progress and keep improving over time. What we are doing simply becomes more and more familiar and we become better and better at doing it.

Consistent progress is something that stays with us for a long time. A general observation is that the faster you “learn” something, the more quickly you forget it. Prolific learning is about acquiring longterm skills we can use for life. It’s not about meeting deadlines by being able to do the bare minimum to pass some test.