4 Steps to Expertise

The world is changing at an accelerating rate. Your ability to learn and adapt will determine your future opportunities.

Though you must adapt, you still need an area of expertise. Your expertise serves as the foundation upon which you stack new learnings. Establishing expertise helps you adapt more quickly.

Luckily, you can develop expertise in just about anything.

In this article I am going to teach you how to earn the equivalent of a master’s degree without having to go back to school or attend a specialized program.

I’ll teach you a learning system so you can quickly expand your knowledge and gain deep understanding.

Adaptation is the future. You must learn more. Learn to build expertise.

Let’s look at the steps to building your own personal master’s program

The Learning System

To develop expertise, we need to address two factors:

1. Content in
2. Content out

“Content in” represents all the stuff you need to learn. “Content out” represents the output you need to create in order to anchor those learnings.

We cannot learn without doing. Real learning is in the action, in applying what you think you know.

For “Content in” we need 2 steps: What do you need to learn and what cadence to you need to learn it.

For “Content out” we also need 2 steps: How will you assimilate the content, and who will you teach?

Our system planning looks like this:

1. Content in
   1. Establish the curriculum
   2. Block time for learning
2. Content out
   1. Block time for assimilation
   2. Plan to teach

Let’s jump right in!

Step 1: Establish the Curriculum

This is a crucial step in the process.

We want to ensure we have a scope of work to learn from. We also want to learn a variety of perspectives.

In any area of study, there are varying opinions on the topics.

String theory vs. particle physics.

Endurance training vs. strength training.

Austrian economics vs the Chicago school.

Transformational leadership vs servant leadership.

Experts in a field can talk on all sides of the topic. Therefore, you must prepare to learn from a variety of thinkers.

So how do we find all sides on the topic? Let’s use economics as an example.

I am not an expert in economics, but here is how I would go about creating a curriculum:

Search the web for the following:

1. 10 Best books on economics
2. Top economists of all time

Using these results, you will notice some similar names and topics that come up.

These authors will inevitably have different opinions. That is good.

These results will also list seminal works on which other economists build their work on top of (or deviate from).

For example, The Wealth of Nations is a seminal work by Adam Grant. The Road to Serfdom by Hayek is another book that comes up often. Add these to your list.

If you stop there, you risk learning about only 1 viewpoint. This puts you at risk of falling victim to the Dunning-Kruger effect. You must read the alternate opinions to realize that not one opinion rules them all. For economics, you should also add books by John Maynard Keynes and Tomas Piketty.

Use web search as a tool to identify related topics and sub-topics things to learn about.

Which books do you repeatedly see? Which topics repeatedly come up? Add these to your list and strive to find 15-20 books on economics.

Now that you have your list, it’s time to block off learning time.

Step 2: Time-Block your Learning

If you read for just 18 minutes per day, you will amass 100 hours of learning over the course of a year. If you read for an hour a day on any topic, you will be an expert in that topic in 2 short years.

Imagine if you read for an hour a day over the course of your working career. You could develop expertise in 15 different areas. That is astounding.

To make time for learning, block it on your calendar. Treat it like a class… like you are going to school.

For me, the best time to learn is the morning. When I learn in the morning, I can be consistent.

It is the consistency that creates the value. Consistent learning stacks over time.

Plan it.

Block it.

Execute.

As you read these books, you will learn about the core topics and the variety of opinions on those topics.

You will be able to draw comparisons between the authors and their views. Also, you will eventually reach a point were you can draw conclusions on topics that the authors do not even bring up. Mortimer Adler calls this “syntopical reading.”

But reading is not enough. You must sit with the content, think through it, apply it, and assimilate it. This is where step 3 comes into play.

Step 3: Plan for Assimilation

Learning is in the doing. Sure, you can memorize stuff. But knowing and understanding come along with doing.

Therefore you must DO.

If you are working in the field in which you are studying, this step is simple. Just start applying what you learn.

But if you are learning a topic outside your day-to-day job, you will have to be more resourceful. If, for example, you are learning economics and you are not working in a field related to economics, you will be challenged. But, here are a couple ways you can implement what you learn.

1. Write papers.

More specifically, write argument pieces taking a side on a particular issue. You don’t have to look far before you hit a topic. Think about all the money flooding into Ukraine for the war effort. AND there is a war going on. Can you write about the economic impact of sending more money to that governmental system? Can you argue the opposite side of that topic, as well? What would be the economic impact to Russia if this war continues indefinitely?

The key here is to spend time thinking, analyzing, and arguing with yourself.

1. Find other learners to speak with.

If you find other learners, you can share ideas, challenge each other, and learn from them as well. It is also important to speak.. literally, speak… with people. Writing is great, but learn to speak the language of your topic.

1. Be clever

You might also find new ways to apply what you learn in clever ways. For example, the book Freakonomics describes scenarios where the authors used economic thinking to solve problems. It is a great book worth a read.

Doing is where the rubber meets the road. It helps you assimilate your learning, prune what you don’t use, and adjust what you learn to the situation’s requirement.

If you really want to learn something (and learn it fast) then you need to teach it.

Step 4: Teach it

When you teach something, you quickly realize the limits of your knowledge. This is GOOD. It forces you to step up, learn more, and create clarity within your own mind.

When you teach something, you will often get a “why” or “how” question.

“How does that work?”

“Why does that happen?”

These questions repeat until you get to a space you don’t know.

It goes like this:

“Strength training builds muscle.”

Cool. How does it work?

“When you lift heavy weights with enough volume, it damages your muscles, and they heal stronger.”

Yeah but how does that work? What makes them grow?

“Well, your muscle cells get damaged… and there is inflammation… and, uh, I know that protein synthesis is enhanced… and….”

See? I was only 2 “hows” deep before I start stumbling on that one.

When you teach something, it forces you to identify the limits of your knowledge.

The more you learn, the more you realize how much there is to learn and what you don’t know.

Not only does teaching highlight your limits, it reinforces what you know. If you teach what you need to learn, you will learn what you teach.

Find students. Find anyone who will listen. Teach.

To Wrap Up

You must continue learning.

You are either learning forward or falling behind.

If you want to be an expert in a field, spend an hour a day reading about a single topic. You will be amazed what you learn in a month, let alone two years.

While you read, also write, speak, engage, and teach.

The future is yours if you can learn.

I hope you crush it today. Go learn something!

Clark