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Young brains -

It is no great secret that children are better at learning new skills than adults. Young people seem to start a new hobby and take to it with a speed adults can only dream of.

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Young brains -

This is because children are better at picking up patterns implicitly, i.e. understanding that an action will have certain consequences without understanding what is actually going on.

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Hope -

After the age of 12, our ability to absorb new information begins to dwindle. However, all is not lost for people wanting to learn a new skill after the tender age of 12.

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Hope -

In fact, our brains retain “neuroplasticity," which is what enables the brain to rewire itself in response to new challenges, well into adulthood.

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'Beginners' -

In January 2021, American journalist Tom Vanderbilt published his book ‘Beginners,’ in which he sheds light on how to learn effectively as an adult.

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Top tips -

The book combines the science of skill acquisition with some things Vanderbilt learnt during a year he spent pursuing a range of new skills, such as singing, juggling, and surfing.

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Beginner's mindset -

The first and perhaps most important takeaway from the book is to adopt a “beginner’s mindset.” If you want to adopt a new skill as an adult, there’s no point striving for perfection.

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Beginner's mindset -

It is much more important (and effective) to just get going and realize that there is pleasure in the learning process itself; there needn’t always be a goal.

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Beginner's mindset -

This is in fact the attitude that most children take to learning; it’s simply that as adults we become preoccupied with achieving targets and striving for goals.

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Learn from your mistakes -

Another basic principle of good learning is to learn from our mistakes. This may sound obvious, but all too often we forget the importance of analyzing our actions.

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Learn from your mistakes -

It is tempting when practicing a given skill to simply repeat it over and over again, without properly analyzing after each repetition what went right and what went wrong.

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Deliberate practice -

This is what psychologists call “deliberate practice." Without it, practice is at risk of becoming futile.

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The importance of variety -

You should also try to make sure that your practice is varied. This is perhaps less intuitive than deliberate practice, but is nonetheless an important tip that Vanderbilt emphasized.

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The importance of variety -

In his book, Vanderbilt talks about when he was learning to juggle. Rather than juggling in the same spot with the same balls, he mixed it up.

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The importance of variety -

He found that it helped the learning process to switch the objects and change how high he was throwing them. He also tried it while sitting down and walking.

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Repetition without repetition -

According to one scientist, this practice of “repetition without repetition” helps the brain to become more flexible and able to deal with unpredictable situations.

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Teaching -

Interestingly, it also seems that we learn better when we know that we will be required to teach the skill to others. The reason for this documented phenomenon is unclear.

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Teaching -

It may be that the expectation of having to teach others increases our levels of curiosity, thus priming the brain to pay better attention and lay down stronger memory traces.

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Teaching -

So next time you learn a new skill, why not imagine yourself teaching that skill to someone else? You may well find you pick it up more easily than you otherwise would.

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Watch a novice -

Watching others doing the skill that you are trying to learn is also helpful. But according to Vanderbilt, you shouldn’t restrict yourself to watching experts only.

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Watch a novice -

Vanderbilt found that it can also be useful to watch other amateurs, because you can observe directly what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong.

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Don't over do it -

Another practical tip is to choose a new skill that is easy to integrate into your current lifestyle. This will help you to avoid getting hung up on the idea that learning is a huge time investment.

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Don't over do it -

Vanderbilt found, for example, that he was able to improve his drawing in the time it would normally take for him to binge watch a TV box set.

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Why? -

By this point you may well be wondering, “but why bother?” It may seem unnecessary or even a waste of time to spend time learning a new skill when you already know what you’re good at.

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Multiple benefits -

However, research shows that there are multiple benefits to learning a new skill as an adult. For instance, you may be able to counter some of the mental decline that comes with age.

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Combat cognitive decline -

In one study, a group of adults aged between 58 and 86 attended courses on a number of subjects. After a few months, they had made progress on those skills, but also improved in general cognitive tests.

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Combat cognitive decline -

In fact, when it came to the general cognitive tests, the group of adults matched the performance of a group of adults 30 years younger than themselves.

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Increase your creativity -

Vanderbilt suggests in his book that it’s best to practice multiple skills rather than focus on one in particular. Indeed, this may even increase your creativity.

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Increase your creativity -

In his book ‘Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World,’ David Epstein noted that Nobel Laureates are more likely to have pursued artistic interests than other scientists.

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Improved thinking and decision-making -

Even the frustration associated with learning a new skill may be beneficial. Research suggests that the ability to recognize the limits of our knowledge is important when it comes to thinking and decision-making.

Sources: (BBC)

See also: Life skills parents can teach their children for success

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