Want to get better at anything faster? What if you could easily hack your brain to pick up new skills? You might think it takes natural talent or genius to master a craft, but the truth is that anyone can learn anything with the right approach.
In “Get Better at Anything: 12 Maxims for Mastery“, learning expert Scott H. Young reveals the simple yet powerful framework that helped him teach himself MIT’s 4-year computer science curriculum in just 12 months and become a world-class chess player in just two months. Young’s 12 principles show you how to learn any skill in record time by optimizing the three pillars of effective learning: watching others who’ve already mastered it, practising intelligently, and getting clear feedback.
Imagine being able to pick up any skill you’ve ever wanted – music, sports, languages, business, tech, you name it – with confidence. In this book, you’ll learn how to find the difficulty sweet spot that stretches you just enough to keep you engaged and growing. You’ll discover why the mind is not a muscle and how to tailor your practice to the unique way your brain builds new skills.
Whether you want to ace an exam, snag a promotion, run a marathon, or take up a new hobby, these field-tested techniques will put your learning on the fast track. Stop wasting time on ineffective study methods and start using the science-backed secrets of ultralearners to make any skill stick. “Get Better at Anything” is your blueprint for becoming smarter, faster, and better at whatever you set your mind to.
Introduction: How Learning Works
Understanding how learning happens speeds up skill growth in any area. Seeing what others do (learning from them), trying it yourself (practice), and getting input on how you did (feedback from experience) is the most powerful combo for learning.
Find someone skilled at what you want to learn. Watch what they do, copy their actions, and then ask for tips on how to improve.
Read a book by an expert in your field. Apply their key ideas in your own work. Reflect on the results to see what worked well or needs tweaking.
Take an online course teaching a new professional skill. Complete the exercises and projects. Get feedback from the instructor or other students.
Part I: See: Learning from Others
Chapter 1: Problem Solving Is Search
Solving problems means looking through different options to find a solution. Watching experts shows you quicker ways to search. You can solve problems faster by learning better search methods.
Watch a mechanic troubleshoot a car issue. Notice the steps they use to narrow down the cause. Follow a similar process when your car has problems.
See how a star student tackles math word problems. Pick up on their techniques for identifying essential info and equations to use. Apply a similar approach.
Learn different brainstorming methods, such as mind mapping or reverse brainstorming. Choose one to generate more solutions for work challenges.
Chapter 2: Creativity Begins with Copying
Creativity often starts by copying what exists before making new things. Imitating experts jump-starts learning and creativity. Copying speeds up the learning process.
Paint by imitating the style and techniques of your favourite artist. After building core skills, start putting your own spin on paintings.
Write articles or social media posts inspired by the voices and formats of writers you admire. Adapt their approach with your unique topics and personality.
When learning guitar, start by mastering popular songs. Once you’ve nailed the basics, write original melodies and riffs using those foundations.
Chapter 3: Success Is the Best Teacher
Examining people or strategies that work well gives valuable insights. Success drops hints you can study and copy. Spotting success stories and learning from them speeds up personal growth.
Read biographies of successful entrepreneurs in your industry. Look for common mindsets, habits, and decisions that helped them thrive. Then, put those to work in your business.
Ask a fit friend what eating and exercise routines helped them get in shape. Test out the ones that seem doable for your lifestyle and goals.
Notice what top salespeople say and do to close big deals. Practice their most effective phrases and techniques in your own pitches.
Chapter 4: Knowledge Becomes Invisible with Experience
As people become more skilled, their methods can start feeling automatic and hard to explain. Knowing this can help you draw out their expertise in ways that are easy to learn. Breaking expert knowledge down into bite-size steps is a valuable skill.
Ask an expert chef to walk you through a complex recipe step-by-step, as if teaching a total beginner. Take detailed notes to capture info they might otherwise assume or skip.
Have a seasoned public speaker break down the outline, delivery techniques and mental prep they use for knockout presentations. Build on each element in your own talks.
Shadow a master carpenter for a day. Ask them to narrate their thought process out loud as they work to expose the subtle judgments and tricks of the trade a novice wouldn’t know.
Part II: Do: Learning from Practice
Chapter 5: The Difficulty Sweet Spot
Learning happens best when a task is hard enough to stretch you but not so hard that you get stuck. Slowly making things tougher leads to ongoing growth. Knowing how to match the difficulty level to your current skill matters a lot for progress.
Start jogging by alternating 1 min of running with 1 min of walking for 20 mins. Each week, walk 15 secs less & run 15 secs more until you can run the whole time.
Begin learning Spanish with a vocab app that uses spaced repetition to quiz you. Move to simple stories, then podcasts, then conversations as you level up.
Take on freelance projects that require you to learn one or two new skills. As you gain competence, pick jobs that demand a slightly bigger leap.
Chapter 6: The Mind Is Not a Muscle
Mental skills don’t improve exactly like muscles do from basic repetition. You have to understand how specific mental processes grow. Matching practice to cognitive demands boosts learning.
To improve your focus, follow a “distraction diet.” Set aside blocks of time for deep work without phone, email, chat, or browsing. As you adapt, increase the block length.
Improve memory with mnemonics. Create vivid mental images for names or facts you need to recall. The weirder the visual, the more likely it will stick.
Strengthen critical thinking by considering the opposite. Make yourself argue against your own opinions on complex topics. Look for blind spots in your logic & revise your stance.
Chapter 7: Variability Over Repetition
Mixing things up in practice leads to skills that hold up under pressure better than endless drills. Adding some variety to practice sessions helps you learn faster and deeper.
Studying a foreign language? Supplement textbook exercises with phone chats, writing emails to penpals, watching movies, and trying to read the news in your target language.
Learning tennis? Alternate hitting balls from a ball machine with practice matches against real opponents of different skill levels and playing styles.
Working on public speaking? Practice your talk in different rooms, in front of various-sized audiences, under time pressure, and while being heckled so you’re ready for anything.
Chapter 8: Quality Comes from Quantity
Producing a high volume of attempts often comes before making high-quality work. Making a lot of stuff fast can beat perfectionism and speed up gains.
Write 500 words a day in a journal. The daily practice will make you a faster, more natural writer than agonizing over one perfect essay a month.
Learning to draw? Fill a sketchbook page daily with studies, not just one careful drawing per week. Rapid output forces you to loosen up and experiment.
Take a lot of photos from different angles when learning photography. Analyzing what works and doesn’t across many shots teaches composition quicker than a few precious shots.
Part III: Feedback: Learning from Experience
Chapter 9: Experience Doesn’t Reliably Ensure Expertise
Going through the motions doesn’t directly lead to expertise. To truly improve, deliberate practice and targeted feedback are needed with experience, not just repetition.
Be selective about the projects you take on at work. Go for ones that stretch your skills and offer blunt feedback to identify areas for growth.
Pair your daily drawing practice with an art class or group critique session to get expert input on your work. Use their feedback to hone your technique.
If you always argue with your spouse about chores, experience isn’t making you better at resolving conflict. You need to reflect, learn communication skills, and test new approaches.
Chapter 10: Practice Must Meet Reality
For practice to work, it should look like what happens in the real world. Matching practice to reality takes thought. Finding and closing gaps between practice and the real thing is huge for mastery.
Play a sport? Practice drills from actual game situations and physical demands on the court or field so your body and mind are fully prepared to compete.
Match flight simulator sessions to conditions and challenges pilots face on the specific routes & aircraft models you’ll fly so you can handle real scenarios.
Mock trial prep should mirror the pacing, environment, and tactics used to argue before a judge and jury. Nail down case details under pressure like at trial.
Chapter 11: Improvement Is Not a Straight Line
Progress doesn’t happen at a perfectly steady pace. It often involves getting stuck on a plateau and then leaping ahead suddenly. Knowing what a typical path looks like helps you stay motivated. Having a toolkit for busting plateaus and speeding up matters a lot.
If you’ve stalled out at the same running pace for weeks, don’t get discouraged. Change things up with sprint intervals or hill runs to prompt a jump in fitness.
When your chess rating won’t budge, analyze master games to get ideas for new strategies and moves that could jolt you to the next level.
If your sales numbers have flatlined, shadow a top seller and copy their most successful prospecting & closing techniques to get unstuck and hit quota again.
Chapter 12: Fears Fade with Exposure
Gently facing fears reduces anxiety and improves results. Seeing fear as an expected part of growth helps you push past mental blocks. Playing on the edge of discomfort is necessary to improve a lot.
Nervous about public speaking? Volunteer to introduce speakers at local events. Give short talks to small, friendly groups. Slowly increase the audience size and speech length.
Worried you can’t handle college? Take one class at a time at first. Build confidence with good grades before moving to a full course load.
Want to be more assertive at work but feel awkward? Practice saying no in low-stakes situations, like turning down social invites, and build up to high-stakes talks.
Conclusion: Practice Made Perfect
Together, the 12 principles make a step-by-step toolkit for getting better at anything faster by learning from others, dedicating practice, and receiving feedback from experience. Apply the concepts from each chapter to learn skills faster and more deeply.
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