如何做得更好TED---How-to-Get-Better-at-the-Things-You-Care-About

0 11Most of us go through life trying to do our best at whatever we do whether it s our job family school or anything else I feel that way I try my best But some time ago I came to a realization that I wasn t getting much better at the things I cared most about whether it was being a husband or a friend or a professional or teammate and I wasn t improving much at those things even though I was spending a lot of time working hard at them I ve since realized from conversations I ve had and from research that this stagnation despite hard work turns out to be pretty common 0 50So I d like to share with you some insights into why that is and what we can all do about it What I ve learned is that the most effective people and teams in any domain do something we can all emulate They go through life deliberately alternating between two zones the learning zone and the performance zone 1 09The learning zone is when our goal is to improve Then we do activities designed for improvement concentrating on what we haven t mastered yet which means we have to expect to make mistakes knowing that we will learn from them That is very different from what we do when we re in our performance zone which is when our goal is to do something as best as we can to execute Then we concentrate on what we have already mastered and we try to minimize mistakes 1 35Both of these zones should be part of our lives but being clear about when we want to be in each of them with what goal focus and expectations helps us better perform and better improve The performance zone maximizes our immediate performance while the learning zone maximizes our growth and our future performance The reason many of us don t improve much despite our hard work is that we tend to spend almost all of our time in the performance zone This hinders our growth and ironically over the long term also our performance 2 09So what does the learning zone look like Take Demosthenes a political leader and the greatest orator and lawyer in ancient Greece To become great he didn t spend all his time just being an orator or a lawyer which would be his performance zone But instead he did activities designed for improvement Of course he studied a lot He studied law and philosophy with guidance from mentors but he also realized that being a lawyer involved persuading other people so he also studied great speeches and acting To get rid of an odd habit he had of involuntarily lifting his shoulder he practiced his speeches in front of a mirror and he suspended a sword from the ceiling so that if he raised his shoulder it would hurt 2 54 Laughter 2 56To speak more clearly despite a lisp he went through his speeches with stones in his mouth He built an underground room where he could practice without interruptions and not disturb other people And since courts at the time were very noisy he also practiced by the ocean projecting his voice above the roar of the waves 3 14His activities in the learning zone were very different from his activities in court his performance zone In the learning zone he did what Dr Anders Ericsson calls deliberate practice This involves breaking down abilities into component skills being clear about what subskill we re working to improve like keeping our shoulders down giving full concentration to a high level of challenge outside our comfort zone just beyond what we can currently do using frequent feedback with repetition and adjustments and ideally engaging the guidance of a skilled coach because activities designed for improvement are domain specific and great teachers and coaches know what those activities are and can also give us expert feedback It is this type of practice in the learning zone which leads to substantial improvement not just time on task performing For example research shows that after the first couple of years working in a profession performance usually plateaus This has been shown to be true in teaching general medicine nursing and other fields and it happens because once we think we have become good enough adequate then we stop spending time in the learning zone We focus all our time on just doing our job performing which turns out not to be a great way to improve But the people who continue to spend time in the learning zone do continue to always improve The best salespeople at least once a week do activities with the goal of improvement They read to extend their knowledge consult with colleagues or domain experts try out new strategies solicit feedback and reflect The best chess players spend a lot of time not playing games of chess which would be their performance zone but trying to predict the moves grand masters made and analyzing them Each of us has probably spent many many many hours typing on a computer without getting faster but if we spent 10 to 20 minutes each day fully concentrating on typing 10 to 20 percent faster than our current reliable speed we would get faster especially if we also identified what mistakes we re making and practiced typing those words That s deliberate practice 5 23In what other parts of our lives perhaps that we care more about are we working hard but not improving much because we re always in the performance zone Now this is not to say that the performance zone has no value It very much does When I needed a knee surgery I didn t tell the surgeon Poke around in there and focus on what you don t know 5 43 Laughter 5 44 We ll learn from your mistakes I looked for a surgeon who I felt would do a good job and I wanted her to do a good job Being in the performance zone allows us to get things done as best as we can It can also be motivating and it provides us with information to identify what to focus on next when we go back to the learning zone So the way to high performance is to alternate between the learning zone and the performance zone purposefully building our skills in the learning zone then applying those skills in the performance zone 6 15When Beyonc is on tour during the concert she s in her performance zone but every night when she gets back to the hotel room she goes right back into her learning zone She watches a video of the show that just ended She identifies opportunities for improvement for herself her dancers and her camera staff And the next morning everyone receives pages of notes with what to adjust which they then work on during the day before the next performance It s a spiral to ever increasing capabilities but we need to know when we seek to learn and when we seek to perform and while we want to spend time doing both the more time we spend in the learning zone the more we ll improve 6 54So how can we spend more time in the learning zone First we must believe and understand that we can improve what we call a growth mindset Second we must want to improve at that particular skill There has to be a purpose we care about because it takes time and effort Third we must have an idea about how to improve what we can do to improve not how I used to practice the guitar as a teenager performing songs over and over again but doing deliberate practice And fourth we must be in a low stakes situation because if mistakes are to be expected then the consequence of making them must not be catastrophic or even very significant A tightrope walker doesn t practice new tricks without a net underneath and an athlete wouldn t set out to first try a new move during a championship match 7 44One reason that in our lives we spend so much time in the performance zone is that our environments often are unnecessarily high stakes We create social risks for one another even in schools which are supposed to be all about learning and I m not talking about standardized tests I mean that every minute of every day many students in elementary schools through colleges feel that if they make a mistake others will think less of them No wonder they re always stressed out and not taking the risks necessary for learning But they learn that mistakes are undesirable inadvertently when teachers or parents are eager to hear just correct answers and reject mistakes rather than welcome and examine them to learn from them or when we look for narrow responses rather than encourage more exploratory thinking that we can all learn from When all homework or student work has a number or a letter on it and counts towards a final grade rather than being used for practice mistakes feedback and revision we send the message that school is a performance zone 8 43The same is true in our workplaces In the companies I consult with I often see flawless execution cultures which leaders foster to encourage great work But that leads employees to stay within what they know and not try new things so companies struggle to innovate and improve and they fall behind 9 00We can create more spaces for growth by starting conversations with one another about when we want to be in each zone What do we want to get better at and how And when do we want to execute and minimize mistakes That way we gain clarity about what success is when and how to best support one another 9 21But what if we find ourselves in a chronic high stakes setting and we feel we can t start those conversations yet Then here are three things that we can still do as individuals First we can create low stakes islands in an otherwise high stakes sea These are spaces where mistakes have little consequence For example we might find a mentor or a trusted colleague with whom we can exchange ideas or have vulnerable conversations or even role play Or we can ask for feedback oriented meetings as projects progress Or we can set aside time to read or watch videos or take online courses Those are just some examples Second we can execute and perform as we re expected but then reflect on what we could do better next time like Beyonc does and we can observe and emulate experts The observation reflection and adjustment is a learning zone And finally we can lead and lower the stakes for others by sharing what we want to get better at by asking questions about what we don t know by soliciting feedback and by sharing our mistakes and what we ve learned from them so that others can feel safe to do the same 10 26Real confidence is about modeling ongoing learning What if instead of spending our lives doing doing doing performing performing performing we spent more time exploring asking listening experimenting reflecting striving and becoming What if we each always had something we were working to improve What if we created more low stakes islands and waters And what if we got clear within ourselves and with our teammates about when we seek to learn and when we seek to perform so that our efforts can become more consequential our improvement never ending and our best even better 11 18Thank you 0 11 我们中的大部分人都在尝试尽我们所能做的一切 无论是我们的工作 家庭 学校还是 其他任何事情 我觉得这样 我尽力了 不过前段时间 我来到了一个认识 对于我最关心的 事情 无论是作为一个丈夫还是一个朋友 还是一个职业或者队友 我并没有好多了 所以 我花了很多时间努力工作 我已经从通过谈话和自己的研究意识到 即使努力工作 这种停 滞也是很常见的 0 50 我想和大家分享一些原因 为什么会这样 我们都可以做什么 我所学到的是 任何领 域中最有效的人员和团队 我们都是模仿生活故意在两个区域之间交替的生活 学习区域和 表演区域 1 09 学习区是我们的目标是提高 然后 我们做音乐设计改进 集中在我们掌握的方面 这 意味着我们必须期待犯错误 知道我们将从中学习 这与我们在演出区域所做的工作有很大 的不同 当我们的目标是尽可能地做一些事情来执行 然后我们集中在我们已经掌握的 我 们尝试 1 35 这些区域应该是我们生活的一部分 但是要清楚我们想要在每一个人身上 以什么目 标 重点和期望 帮助我们更好地表现和更好的改善 性能区域最大限度地提高了我们的即 时性能 学习区域最大化了我们的发展和未来的表现 我们许多人不会改善我们的工作的原 因是我们倾向于花费我们几乎所有的时间在表演区 这阻碍了我们的成长 讽刺的是 从长 远来看 也是我们的表现 2 09 学习区是什么样子的 采取 Demosthenes 政治领袖和古希腊最伟大的演说家和律师 为了成为伟大的人 他并没有花所有的时间只是一个演说家或律师 这将是他的练习区 他 而不是设计改进 当然 他学习了很多 他以导师的指导学习法律哲学 但他也意识到 作为 律师的补偿说服别人 所以他仍然学习了伟大的演讲和演艺 为了摆脱一个奇怪的习惯 他 不由自主地抬起肩膀 他在镜子前练习演讲 他从天花板上吊起一把剑 如果他抬起肩膀 就会受伤 2 54 众笑 2 56 为了尽可能多地说出他的最后一次 他用嘴里的石头讲了他的演讲 他建立了一个地 下室 他可以不中断地练习 不要打扰别人 而当时的法庭并没有嘈杂 他也被海洋践踏 将 他的声音投射在海浪之上 3 14 他在学习区的活动与他在演艺圈的法庭活动截然不同 在学习区 他做了爱立信博士 所说的故意做法 这是分解能力的组件技能 清楚什么欢迎来到我们的行动者 充分集中在 高级别的挑战外面舒适区 超越了我们现在可以做的 使用频繁的反馈与重复和调整 理想 情况参与技术教练的指导 旨在改进的气候是特定领域的 伟大的教师和教练知道 whatais 活动也可以给我们专家的反馈 正是这种在学习领域的做法导致了实质性的改进 而不仅仅 是执行任务的时间 例如 研究表明 经过前几年在职业中工作 表现通常是高原 这在教学 普通医学 护理等领域都是如此 发生在我们我们很好 我们都够好 足够的时候 我们停止 在学习区花费时间 我们专注于做我们的工作 继续在学习区度过的人们继续总是在改善 最好的销售人员每周至少进行一次活动 目标是改进 最好的棋手花费大量的时间不玩棋子 这将是他们的表现区域 但试图预测莫斯大师们做出反应 我们每个人都花费了许多 许多 许多小时在电脑上打字 而不会变得更快 但是如果我们每天花费 10 到 20 分钟完全专注于 打字比我们的 Curr 快 10 到 20 的速度 我们会变得更快 特别是如果我们还确定了我们正 在做什么错误和练习打字的话 这是故意的做法 5 23 在我们生活的其他部分 也许我们关心的更多 我们正在努力工作 但不是因为我们总 是在表演区而改善很多 现在 这并不是说表现区没有价值 非常好当我需要膝关节手术时 我没有告诉外科医生 在那里打招呼 专注于你不知道的事情 5 43 众笑 5 44 我们会从你的错误中学到 我找了一个外科医生 我觉得自己做得很好 我希望她做 得很好 在表演区域让我们尽可能地完成事情 它也可以是激励 当我们回到学习区域时 它为我们提供了识别下一步要关注的信息 所以高性能的方式是在学习区和演奏区之间交 替 有目的地在学习区中建立我们的技能 然后将这些技能应用于演奏区 6 15 当碧昂丝进行巡演时 演唱会期间 她在表演区 但是每当她回到酒店房间 她都会回 到学习区 她观看刚刚结束的节目的视频 她确定了改善的机会 她自己 她的舞者和她的 相机工作人员 第二天早上 每个人都收到一些笔记页面 然后再进行调整 然后在下一次 演出之前的一天工作 这是增加能力的螺旋 但是我们需要知道我们何时寻