How I Learn New Things

0:00everyone same happens here and in

0:02today's video I want to tell you and

0:05show you how I learn new things and the

0:09reason I want to do this video is

0:10because a lot of people have written in

0:14and asked and also commented on videos

0:17and said Sam how do you learn new things

0:20and you know learning things as a as a

0:23real skill and if you think about it you

0:26really have to learn how to learn which

0:30is kind of a different dimension that

0:32most people haven't thought about most

0:34people want to know what should I learn

0:36and how should I learn and if you think

0:38about it what they're really trying to

0:39do is learn how to learn and once you've

0:41learned how to learn then you can pretty

0:43much acquire any skill that you want

0:46because that's the one most important

0:49thing it's kind of like a cheat or a

0:50hack because once you learn how to learn

0:52then you can learn anything but what

0:55I've noticed is that most people don't

0:58know how to learn and they've treated

1:02learning is kind of like this thing that

1:05happened back when they were at school

1:06or college or whatever and now they're

1:07not learning anymore and let me tell you

1:12what like my process is I'll just make

1:14it real simple because you know in this

1:18process I didn't I didn't have at the

1:20beginning I didn't just think okay I'm

1:22gonna make this process and then follow

1:23this like I learned through trial and

1:25error and making a lot of mistakes and

1:28over time this process kind of emerged

1:31out of like what I was doing and I've

1:34honed it and refined it since so this

1:37process should be able to help you right

1:39away so the first thing I do is you know

1:44I don't just want to like learning takes

1:45a lot of time and it takes a lot of

1:47energy and you know you want to be

1:49careful what you put into your brain and

1:50what you learn because you don't want to

1:53learn something totally useless alright

1:54and so the first thing I do is I think

1:57well what am I trying to achieve this is

2:00the number one question this is where

2:02all of it begins what am I trying to

2:05achieve what is the end goal I have to

2:08think out into the future like what do I

2:10want to achieve and I get that clear

2:12crystallize it define it

2:13and then I come back to now and I think

2:17okay well what do I need to do in order

2:20to achieve that goal and quite often

2:22it's well I need to learn how to do this

2:27thing in order to achieve this goal

2:29because the goal is going to require

2:31action in order to achieve it but the

2:34action is going to require some sort of

2:36knowledge and strategy and process and

2:39tactics in order to implement it

2:42properly to achieve the goal all right

2:44so this is pretty much what I do in my

2:46brain I just think about the goal then

2:48what actions need to take place and then

2:51what knowledge do I need in order to

2:53take those actions in order to get their

2:54goal that's pretty much the process and

2:56then very quickly

2:57I'm specific I've gotten specific about

3:00what it is that I need to learn now let

3:02me give you an example of this so let's

3:05say that I want to learn how to like

3:09I'll tell you one recent write because

3:12it'll be it'll be easier for me to

3:14remember because I've been dealing with

3:15it like right now so this year and last

3:19year a huge focus of mine has been

3:21hiring great talent and also managing

3:25great talent like really smart people

3:27and so what I want to have what's the

3:31goal that's it's a team of really smart

3:33talented people working hard and doing

3:35great work okay there's the goal now how

3:39do I do that well I need to hire them

3:40and then I need to manage them and make

3:44sure they're doing good work now of

3:46these actions which one is like a

3:49prerequisite to the others right well

3:51there's no point in learning how to

3:52manage great talent and make great

3:55talent productive unless you have them

3:58so the clear obvious one is hiring that

4:02comes first okay now we've got a prior

4:04to prioritization now how do you hire

4:07great talent now this becomes very very

4:11specific I need to hire great talent all

4:13right that's the action I need to do but

4:15how now I need some knowledge because

4:17that library of information is into my

4:19mind I know I need to take that action

4:21if I take that action I should get that

4:22goal but I don't know how so this is

4:25this is how I typically arrive at

4:27something

4:27and then I would think all right well

4:31who they're beat this is the best thing

4:34to do

4:34you don't go try finding the most

4:36popular books on it you don't go try

4:39finds the fanciest guru on it with the

4:42most cars what you do is you think what

4:45company is actually doing it that's

4:49that's the best test because you know

4:52the the person who is like I always

4:56think about it this way the person who's

4:57best equipped to teach you how to ride a

4:59bike is not like somebody with a bunch

5:03of cars in a fancy Instagram and a bunch

5:05of followers who claims they know how to

5:07teach you how to ride a bike it's not

5:09the person with seven PhDs from Stanford

5:12on bicycle riding who sees that they can

5:16teach you the theory of riding a bicycle

5:17it's the person who you see riding the

5:20damn bike that's the person so what I do

5:23is if I want to learn how to hire great

5:25talent then I look at what companies

5:27have great talent right and then I make

5:29a list of them and then what I do is I

5:32want to find what people within that

5:34company are responsible for the hiring

5:36of the great talent and then I find

5:39those people and then I research those

5:41people and I dig into it and quite often

5:44really talented people they have

5:47recommended books or they have

5:49philosophies like what makes someone

5:52really good at taking actions is they're

5:55like people who are highly skilled they

5:57have something called like conceptual

5:59integrity and what that is is they will

6:01have their own philosophies beliefs and

6:03principles that it's kind of like a

6:06belief system that they hold in their

6:08mind and all of their actions and

6:11behavior are an alignment to this belief

6:13system this is how really talented

6:15people do things not so talented people

6:18just kind of do a whole bunch of

6:19different things and there's no

6:21conceptual integrity between these and

6:23they're constantly changing right so

6:25these people are chaos to learn from

6:27because they themself are cows any -

6:29cows you don't want anything from that

6:31library it's corrupt so you look for the

6:33people that are within good companies

6:36responsible for the thing that is

6:38actually being achieved and

6:40we try to pick apart their philosophy

6:43what are the principles what are the

6:46heuristics like given this situation

6:48would they do X or Y and what are the

6:51parameters for these different decisions

6:52and then we want to trace back the nodes

6:56in the map where these people learned

6:58because in order for this person within

7:01this company who has talented at hiring

7:03people then who has this belief system

7:06which seems to be very good at taking

7:10actions that relate to hiring good

7:12people how did they get that belief

7:14system because people aren't just born

7:16with some belief system and people don't

7:18just wake up one morning to be like oh

7:20I now have a new philosophy of

7:23hiring telling people it doesn't happen

7:24like that they have to go out and get it

7:26they have to consume information and

7:30they have to be influenced by different

7:32people and different things throughout

7:35their life in order to learn this

7:38philosophy and so I want to learn where

7:40they learned that from and quite often

7:42these people they leave a lot of clues

7:45and quite often on purpose because

7:47really telling to people like to share

7:48information and they'll often say a lot

7:52of them even have books and so you can

7:55go and find these sources and then I

7:57will that is how I'll find my way to the

8:00information all right and this is pretty

8:02complicated but it's pretty simple at

8:05the same time because before I read a

8:08book I want to make sure that my logic

8:11to arriving at their book is sound I

8:14don't want to go on and ask some dude

8:17like on Facebook or go into a Facebook

8:20group and say hey what's the best book

8:21on this it's not a good idea what you

8:24you don't want to just ask your friend

8:26who has a shitty e-commerce business

8:29making 20 bucks a month with no talent

8:31other than himself who isn't even really

8:33talented so really nothing like how do

8:37you hire good talent and then aw dude

8:39you got to read this book like no don't

8:41do that ever you have to find these

8:44sources of information by going through

8:46like the correct path so I'll just say

8:49it again so it's crystal clear for you

8:50to find the goal then

8:53break it down into the actions you need

8:56to take to achieve that goal then the

8:58knowledge that you need to have in order

9:00to take that action in order to achieve

9:01that goal then once you know what

9:04knowledge you need to to know then what

9:08company is taking that action and

9:09achieving that goal really well then who

9:12within that company is taking that

9:13action in achieving that goal really

9:14well and then what is that person's

9:17belief system and philosophy really

9:19understand that write it down and then

9:21how did they acquire that belief system

9:23in philosophy we want to find their

9:25source materials and then we want to

9:26read those things right and then after

9:28we've read these different things like

9:30that say there's four or five different

9:31books then we're able to really

9:35understand in depth how this person

9:37built their belief system and then we're

9:39able to build our own kind of belief

9:41system on the on the subject of hiring

9:44great talent and make it our own and

9:46tweak it a little bit because we don't

9:48just want to copy these verbatim not

9:50just because it's not because of any

9:53reason like oh you shouldn't copy people

9:54like if you're if you could just copy

9:56them and it worked I would just say do

9:59that and I would do that but the thing

10:01is is it doesn't work because every

10:03person has their own unique style and

10:06there's a lot of similarities and things

10:08but you know it's never just a carbon

10:10copy like a company that carbon copy

10:13someone else's thing that never works

10:14the same but you have to borrow some

10:17things but add in your own kind of

10:19unique twist to make it your own and

10:21then with reading all of this

10:23information from these different books

10:25or articles or whatever and studying

10:27this person who's really successful and

10:29maybe a couple of other persons who are

10:31successful and they're different

10:33libraries we're pulling all of that

10:36information together synthesizing it and

10:38forming our own belief system and then

10:41once we have the belief system that's

10:43built with you know solid foundations

10:46from these good sources of information

10:48then we now have a philosophy and a

10:52point of view and principles and now we

10:56also have some strategies and some

10:58tactics and now we can actually start

11:00applying those and practice that is when

11:02we switch from like the theory to the

11:04practice that's the action

11:06and then they say in this rolling

11:08example that I've got going here the

11:11talent 1 so I'll give you I'll just make

11:15this very real for you by telling you

11:17the actual kind of path that went

11:19through so with hiring great talent I

11:22looked at a company that has pretty

11:25decent talent and Netflix Google Amazon

11:29and but I pretty much say Google as

11:32number one and that Netflix is pretty

11:34good and then when I looked at Netflix I

11:37noticed that they had there there was

11:40this woman who worked at Netflix who was

11:43head of like head of people I'm pretty

11:47sure that's what they were chief people

11:50officer or something like that or chief

11:52talent officer it was one of those one

11:53of those ones and I've actually

11:55forgotten her name I'm really bad at

11:57remembering names but she's written a

12:00book called powerful and it's really

12:02good and you should read it if you want

12:04to find if what you want to do is hire

12:07and manage great talent then this is a

12:10good piece of information and then I

12:12bought their book I read it and then I

12:14found

12:15Netflix's culture dick and they've

12:18actually got this thing called a culture

12:20dick and it's like a slideshow

12:22presentation you can get it online it's

12:23a PDF and actually I'll put it beneath

12:25this video in the resources section for

12:27download as well as a link to that book

12:30but this culture dick is what they found

12:34that they had to create to hire top

12:37talent so they were having issues with

12:40hiring the wrong people and with also

12:42people behaving in different ways shapes

12:44and forms and what they quickly realized

12:47is that they had no conceptual integrity

12:49at Netflix for hiring people and for

12:52also managing people and what their

12:54standards were and it's a big problem as

12:57soon as you start hiring people

12:58conceptual integrity and talent becomes

13:00the number one thing it's the number one

13:02thing on my mind these days in for the

13:04past year it's pretty much what I spend

13:07most of my time thinking about in doing

13:08is managing telling people hiring

13:11telling to people and thinking of ways

13:13to do that at a higher degree

13:18so I found those two sources of

13:21information which were really good I

13:23also looked at Google and I found a I

13:26found a great book there too I looked at

13:28Google's principles and the mission

13:31statement and I looked at their kind of

13:33culture and things and I looked at a

13:36bunch of companies different strategies

13:39and in the people within those companies

13:41and what they did and then their culture

13:44and then also books that they had

13:46written or books that they had read and

13:48then I understood their belief systems

13:51and everything and I kind of created a

13:53hybrid I I researched about five

13:55different people and all of their source

13:57materials in belief systems and then I

14:00took those five and I collapsed them and

14:02refined them into my own and then once I

14:06had my own one I started implementing it

14:09in practice by taking actions and trying

14:11to hire talented people and this is

14:13where we kind of go into like stage two

14:15stage one is like the theoretical side

14:18of things you're you're not actually

14:20taking action in terms of trying to hire

14:22telling two people you're trying to

14:23learn how to hire talented people which

14:26is kind of the same thing but it's it's

14:27a little bit different and I noticed

14:29people miss this step a lot like a lot

14:32of people they try to jump straight into

14:33the action and you have to start with a

14:37little bit of theory seriously because

14:39the theory guides like everything and it

14:43shows you why you're doing what you're

14:45doing in it's just not then you know

14:47that you're you're not just taking

14:49mindless action or going around in

14:51circles

14:51you've got some kind of theory and

14:53hypothesis behind the action that you're

14:56taking and so that stage one is really

15:00finding those telling to people like

15:02looking at their source information

15:04understanding all of that stage two is

15:06implement implementing it in practice

15:09and then as you're actually executing it

15:12day to day you'll notice that little

15:14things that off and you have to tweak

15:16things and this is tweaking your belief

15:18system your principles in your

15:19philosophy

15:19right and then you start tweaking this

15:22in practice and you're going back and

15:24forth a bit between the theory and the

15:25practice and then it gets really sharp

15:28and then you find a groove and it gets

15:30very effective so

15:32for me it took me about I would say I

15:36was working through the theory stage of

15:38how to hire and manage selling to people

15:40for about a month

15:42honestly I read a lot of books that I

15:44studied a lot of people I was just

15:46devouring information for about a month

15:48and theory I kind of got the belief

15:50system together and then I've been

15:52taking action for like six seven months

15:54on this and honestly I didn't get to a

15:57spot where I was actually good at it and

15:59where we actually started succeeding

16:01with it until about six months and I was

16:05implemented this stuff like every day so

16:07that shows you there that's kind of like

16:09in to end how I learn things and that's

16:13a universal kind of framework or concept

16:17that you can take and use to learn

16:19anything and so just run through it real

16:21quickly again first of all define what

16:23you're trying to achieve what is the end

16:25goal then what actions need what actions

16:29do you need to take to achieve they

16:30didn't go then what do you need to know

16:32in order to take those actions to

16:33achieve that end goal then once you find

16:35out what you need to know if there's

16:37multiple pieces which pieces must go

16:40first prioritization then with that one

16:43piece that must go first who or what

16:46company is actively doing this in

16:50reality like not someone who's got a New

16:53York Times best-selling book on talent

16:55no not someone who's got a lot of

16:57Facebook followers on talent no not

17:00someone who just sees this like you want

17:02to look at a company that actually has

17:04talented damn people and then they must

17:07know what they're doing right just like

17:09the guy riding that bicycle he knows how

17:11to ride a bicycle because it is he is

17:13writing it so just finds those people

17:15and then who within the company has that

17:18information then what is that what is

17:21their belief system and philosophy

17:22oniton principles where did they acquire

17:24those raw materials to build that go

17:26learn those raw materials sometimes

17:28those raw materials will lead you to

17:29other all materials and other people go

17:31study those ones too and then look at a

17:34few different people and then collapse

17:36all that information together form your

17:38own that stage one which we're working

17:40in the theory stage two then we're going

17:42into the practice then we're going to be

17:44making changes to our belief system in

17:46only going back and forth between these

17:47until we arrive at a point where it

17:49works really well and that's when you've

17:52got something that's like a proof of

17:55concept now you have a theory

17:57that when applied in practice works when

18:00you have those two things you have likes

18:03you have something very powerful because

18:06you know no theory I don't

18:09I think theory is useless unless you can

18:11apply in practice and it works as

18:13intended pretty much every time and so

18:16that's what you're aiming to get not

18:18things that you do and work but you

18:20don't know why and not theories that

18:22sound great but when applied don't work

18:23you must have both a theory that when

18:26applied and practice works and when you

18:28have both of those things you've

18:29successfully learned something and at no

18:32point before that have you actually

18:34learned anything because you could go

18:37read some books on something doesn't

18:39mean you've learned it well you could go

18:41get a degree in something doesn't mean

18:42you've learned it or you could get

18:45famous for for something doesn't mean

18:47you've learned it you've only learned it

18:49when you have a theory and you apply and

18:51practice and it works that is the

18:54definition of something that is learned

18:56and then you're never done either it's

18:58always continuously you know you have to

19:01get better better better better better

19:02plus the environment and the world we

19:04live in changes and so we have to adapt

19:06and move with time as well so just

19:09because you've learned something and

19:10it's working never make the mistake of

19:13thinking that this is now completely

19:15done you know you'll probably be able to

19:17get a good life out of that but then it

19:21will need tweaks in maintenance along

19:23the way to keep its edge and keep its

19:27sharpness over time and you want to you

19:30want to be aware of those when things

19:31are getting a bit tired and not working

19:32as they used to you need to update that

19:34library of information in your mind

19:36update your theory make some tweaks and

19:38then get back to that level of

19:41performance and then it's good again and

19:42really what you're trying to do in

19:44business as you're trying to collect

19:47like a latticework of these theories and

19:50concepts in your mind so that you can

19:53handle anything so you know when it

19:56comes to accounting and tax when it

19:58comes to hiring management

19:59when it comes to like your your

20:03organizational structure how you

20:05structure your teams and how you

20:07structure the workflows and how you

20:09partition tasks and everything and

20:11load-balanced them within your network

20:13of people and then also how you do your

20:16marketing how you do everything you want

20:20to have these concepts and these

20:23theories about how to do everything and

20:26they should work and actually get the

20:29intended result when implemented and

20:30practice and when you start to get a

20:33collection of these things that's when

20:35you start to make leaps and bounds and

20:37business because when you arrive at

20:40these different situations day to day

20:42you're no longer guessing you're and

20:44you're no longer having to just go and

20:46read books all the time before you can

20:48do anything like you start to get into a

20:51zone where all of these things that

20:54you've learned they start to come

20:56together and you're able to apply them

20:59to all these different areas in life and

21:01business and that's when things get

21:03powerful and I know early on when I was

21:06an entrepreneur I'd learn these

21:07different things I could learn sales at

21:09learn accounting at learn tax I would

21:11learn marketing funnels landing pages

21:13Facebook heads Google AdWords SEO

21:16websites copywriting and you know I'd

21:20learn all sorts of different things and

21:21quite a lot of the time I felt pointless

21:24I was like why am i learning this thing

21:26and man is taking so long to learn this

21:28thing but in hindsight like all of this

21:33stuff they were like kind of building

21:35blocks like little Legos right and each

21:37one didn't seem they're important and I

21:39kind of wondered am i real is this

21:41really going to be they're important but

21:43once I started to get like a collection

21:45of these illegal blocks together they

21:48became more than the sum of their parts

21:49so if we look at like five blocks right

21:53well there's just five blocks but when

21:55we look at all the possible combinations

21:57of five blocks there is many and that's

22:00what you don't see when you're learning

22:02the things you know you just see them as

22:04the individual parts but when you

22:06combine them together over time they

22:08become a lot more than the sum of their

22:10parts it grows exponentially in the

22:12moves and strategies and things you can

22:14deploy gets like limitless and that's

22:18the point where you know I don't think

22:20most entrepreneurs hang on until they

22:23might learn a little piece here a little

22:24piece there but they don't keep going

22:26they don't keep building up their little

22:29Lego blocks and my advice to you is to

22:33use this process I just shared with you

22:35to learn things it works real well and

22:37it's a good just no-nonsense way to do

22:40it you know you're not looking at what's

22:41popular you're not looking at some

22:44idiots recommendation who shouldn't be

22:46giving a recommendation which is what a

22:48lot of people like to do you know a lot

22:51of people like to give recommendations

22:52doesn't mean you should listen to them

22:53and also it's not about what's famous or

22:58what's popular or trendy or anything

23:00like that it's just about grounding our

23:04grounding it in like reality so if

23:08somebody is actually doing it in

23:10practice then we want to learn what

23:15they're doing what their philosophy is

23:17behind that doing and the building

23:19blocks on which they built their belief

23:22system of how to do the thing they're

23:24doing successfully right we're just

23:26tracing it through and then when we know

23:29that we're grounding everything we learn

23:31in like solid evidence because in the

23:35modern day you there's too much

23:37information and there's too much to

23:39learn so it's not about learning in the

23:42modern day it's about learning how to

23:44learn and learning what to learn the

23:48what and the how is so important you

23:52know because anyone can learn something

23:53but knowing what to learn and how to

23:56learn it those like the key pieces and

23:58hopefully with this strategy I shared in

24:01this video you're able to go out and use

24:03it and learn things and improve yourself

24:07your life and your business a lot faster

24:09so if you liked this video just click

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24:20other things like that

24:21so thanks for watching and I look

24:22forward to seeing you in the next one

24:24soon