What Would You Learn In 1 Year?

Recently I’ve come across a number of examples where people took a specified period of time (I’m using one year) to learn something new. One man had always wanted to learn to play a musical instrument. He made up his mind and set aside some time to finally learn. Another man talked of wanting to learn a new language. So he enrolled in an ongoing education course at a local community college to learn Spanish. Last night, while watching Real Sports on HBO I saw Lenny Dykstra (retired major league baseball player) remark about taking a year to learn investing. Prompted by a loss of $1.6M at the hands of his broker, Lenny vowed it would never happen to him again. So, his quest was to learn all he could about investing. According to the story - he’s been quite successful, too.

There are countless stories of people who have begun a quest to learn something new. I suspect many (maybe even most) quit too soon. Seth Godin claims many people don’t properly navigate the dip, the challenges that have to be endured to reach the other side - where success is found. I suspect he’s right.

I’m a speed-freak. Not amphetamines, time! I believe some things take time, but I also believe many things can be done or improved in a short period of time. People often fail to consider how quickly change or improvement can happen. I find speed invigorating. I find it difficult to get too passionate about goals that seem so far away. “Let’s work hard to increase sales over the next 12 months.” How about we work hard to increase them today? That’s the element of speed that appeals to me. The call to action. The need to do something effective right now - not tomorrow.

At heart, I’m like most - a procrastinator. Odd. Paradoxical even. But not really. In fact, it may explain why I love speed. It forces a procrastinator like me to get on with it. Giving me no chance to regress or hide. It forces passion to the surface. It heightens energy. It’s engaging and forceful.

What could you learn in one year? What would you learn, if you could devote yourself entirely to it, for a single year?

The learning curve is steep whenever we’re attempting to learn something new. Lenny Dykstra talked of subscribing to every single investment newsletter he could. Since he hates to read he got as many as he could in CD or DVD format. He devoted himself to learning about Wall Street, stocks and investing. He viewed it as challenging as the competition he once faced on the ball field. He was serious about it. I don’t know what kind of schedule he kept, but based on the reported success (and Jim Cramer’s endorsement that Lenny does indeed know his stuff), I suspect he spent many hours learning about things previously foreign to him. He evidently didn’t start the process and quit too soon. He finished what he set out to accomplish, and it appears his quest continues. He’s not done yet.

Maybe that’s a key. Maybe it’s erroneous to consider taking a specific period of time to learn something - thinking you’ll be accomplished and then you can stop. I recently bought a guitar because I want to be a rock star. Well, actually I bought it so I could fire up some new areas of my brain by learning to play a musical instrument. Mental health (and fun / frustration) was the real objective. It’s hard. It’s taxing. It’s not fun. I find it hard to keep going, but slowly I’m trying. Daily I struggle with it though. Some days I don’t pick up the guitar. Some days I just leave it in the case and blow it off. No benefit gained. The learning curve seemingly too steep! Then I must remind myself that if an acid-crazed junkie can do it in front an audience, then surely a middle-aged sober man can learn some meaningful chords.

I’m not trying to be Leo Kottke or Mark Knopfler. I just want to be able to play a few John Prine or Jackson Browne songs. I do understand it’s a work in progress, but seeing progress ain’t so easy sometimes. And therein lies another challenge - it’s hard to learn something or make positive change when you find it difficult to see any improvement.

The dieter loses the will after a week because they see no difference in the mirror or the scales. A lifetime of poor eating habits isn’t overcome with one week of reasonable eating. But we’re wired to want it now. We want to see progress. And if progress takes too long more often than not, we’ll say, “Forget it.” The dip sinks us and we never make it to yonder shore where success is found.

Back to our hypothetical - what IF you did take an entire year off work or other responsibilities and you could devote yourself to one pursuit? What would you pursue?

Some, like Lenny, would pursue things that would profit them financially. I suspect there are lots of us who would enjoy that pursuit.

Some might pursue an art - learning music, or a craft. Maybe even trek to Santa Fe and join the artsy folks who crank out jewelry, pottery, sculpture, paintings, drawings or other forms of fine artistry.

Some might pursue writing - poetry, screenwriting, a play, a novel, a biography, or just a series of magazine articles.

Some might pursue the launch of a dream company. They might use the year to fan the flames of their inner entrepreneur.

Others might pursue relationships. Maybe they’d use the year to learn how to better their marriage or their ability to parent.

Still others might pursue spiritual quests by taking the time to learn how to be more devout in their faith.

A year. 365 days. 52 weeks. It’s not really a long, long time. So much can happen in a year. So much can be accomplished in a year. So often a year passes and nothing changes. No improvements are made. No resolutions finished.

No matter. A year never requires a January 1st starting time. Your year could start today, right now. It doesn’t matter if it’s March 11th or any other date. That can be day one of your year quest. And it doesn’t even have to be a year. Maybe it’s an hour, a day or a week. Could you benefit from learning something new in an hour, a day or a week? Sure. We all could.

If I had an hour with a great guitar teacher I’ll bet I could learn more than I could in months on my own. If I had an entire day, or a week - all the better. And all the faster the accelerated learning. Whether it’s playing guitar, learning how to invest or any other pursuit which fails us because of our own ignorance - all that’s required is an investment in time directed with some attention and focus to that pursuit.

But alas, life happens. We’re busy people. We have errands to run, time clocks to punch, bosses to appease, spouses to please, kids to wrangle, phones to answer, emails to answer, websites to surf - who has time to improve? Who has time to learn? We’re busy living. Often times busy wishing our lives were better, but never taking the proper time to invest in making our lives better.

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, “To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming is the only end of life.”