The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance

Josh Waitzkin, the inspiration for the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer, is no stranger to creating change in his life. Through various life events ranging from when he won his first National Chess Championship at age 8 to becoming the Tai Chi Chuan Push Hands Middleweight U.S. Champion, he has learned not only how to maintain balance in his life, but also how to realize what needs to change in order to be successful. In his autobiography The Art of Learning, Waitzkin discusses some of his life lessons that he learned from mentors in the two opposite environments of competitive chess and Tai Chi – lessons that can be applied in a multitude of areas, including life in general and, specifically, educational settings. By keeping what Waitzkin discusses in mind, teachers and educators can facilitate change and improvement in their classrooms, in their own lives, and in their students’ lives and learning.The Art of Learning is divided into three sections in which Waitzkin describes his learning, meaning that there are three areas of discussion from which educators can draw inspiration for facilitating change in a classroom. First, in “The Foundation,” Waitzkin describes his rise to fame in the competitive chess scene, delving into his experiences and interactions with chess Grandmasters Bruce Pandolfini, Mark Dvoretsky, and Yuri Razuvaev, as well as the lessons he learned from working with each of them. In the second section, “My Second Art,” Waitzkin moves away from chess and talks about his work and participation in Tai Chi, and how he progressed from a student to a master of the Push Hands discipline of the martial art. In the final section, titled “Bringing It All Together,” Waitzkin goes into more detail about the similarities of preparation and execution between chess and Tai Chi, and how he applies what he learned in one to the other. I found that, while reading each of these sections, each chapter within a section had its own theme and lesson, most of which I feel can be included in a classroom setting.In the book’s introduction, Waitzkin establishes his overarching theme of “I am best at the art of learning” by opening with descriptions of his attendance at the Tai Chi Push Hands championship in 2004. He reminisces on his life at the time that Searching for Bobby Fischer was in theaters, saying that he could not walk down the street without people asking him to “autograph their stomachs or legs.” He then says that this newfound fame was not truly helping him achieve happiness, nor was it aiding him in his “search for excellence.” After this experience, Waitzkin enrolled in Tai Chi classes under Grandmaster William C. C. Chen, whose classes encouraged meditation, reflection, and realizing that “the mind needed little physical action to have great physical effect.” Once he used what he learned in Tai Chi to make connections to his chess career, his life “became flooded with intense learning experiences,” ranging from watching water crash onto a shore to using basketball to work on Tai Chi mechanics. Ultimately, Waitzkin began to think about how he transferred his knowledge of chess to Tai Chi, and how this question became the central focus of his life. Waitzkin concludes with his primary theme of this book, which is that he is “best at the art of learning.” As soon as I read the introduction, I immediately began to think about what he could possibly mean by the art of learning. How is learning an art? Can someone “get better” at learning? How can I (or other educators) use what Waitzkin says to incorporate change and improvement with students? In the three sections I described earlier, Waitzkin goes into more detail and provides different techniques and suggestions that support both his main idea and facilitating change in classrooms.One idea that I found particularly helpful and applicable to a classroom setting is one that Waitzkin talks about in the first chapter. In this chapter, Waitzkin meets Bruce Pandolfini, a chess Grandmaster that eventually becomes his mentor and teacher. Waitzkin says that one of the most important aspects about Pandolfini was his educational philosophy, which focused on discussion rather than lecture. Whenever Waitzkin would make a mistake, Pandolfini would ask him his thought process and how he reached that conclusion. Actually, Pandolfini would ask Waitzkin his thought process on nearly every facet of his chess game, encouraging him to think about his own actions as well as finding different paths to reach the same conclusion. By doing so, Waitzkin was able to develop a deeper love and understanding of chess. Pandolfini’s philosophy aligns with my own values in regards to teaching. I am a firm believer in discussion and collaboration when working with students, and Pandolfini took this approach when working with Waitzkin. In my own educational experience, a majority of my classes were heavily lecture based, where discussion was not necessarily discouraged, but was not as prominent as I would have liked. In an educational setting, focusing on collaboration and discussion (as Waitzkin and Pandolfini did) will hopefully encourage students to want to learn and help them develop a deeper understanding of their subject area.An additional point of interest for me (which Waitzkin called investment in loss) was in the second section of the book during Waitzkin’s Tai Chi classes. In simplest terms, Waitzkin describes investment in loss as “giving yourself to the learning process.” In other words, learning comes by resisting old habits and accepting new ones, as well as not being afraid to make mistakes. In Waitzkin’s case, he began to focus exclusively on training, and was eventually was able to exploit other beginners’ habits in his classes. Because he ignored old behaviors, he was able to rapidly progress – he did not let his ego affect his learning. From an educational standpoint, this mentality is perfect for facilitating change in student attitudes. At the beginning of a school year, a teacher establishes an environment that will be set for the class. Depending on what the teacher says and how he or she presents it, students may not feel comfortable learning new methods for solving problems, may be afraid of making a mistake for fear of embarrassment from their peers, or be inclined to let their egos affect their learning. If a teacher exemplifies the mentality of investment in loss at the beginning of the year, the students will hopefully model this behavior, as well. To do so, the teacher can explain that making mistakes is acceptable (in fact, making mistakes is how we learn!), as well as being open to ideas that students have in order to show that new ideas help the learning process. By demonstrating investment in loss, students will hopefully make rapid progress as Waitzkin did with Tai Chi.A final takeaway I found in this book is when Waitzkin mentions “building your trigger” in the third section of the book. In this chapter, the primary focus is… well… focus! Waitzkin talks about focus in terms of important competitions, and “keeping cool” under pressure. He says that when thinking about high-stakes, high-stress times, it is important to avoid giving attention to the moment that “decides your destiny.” If this occurs, then stress, tension, and over-excitement are bound to be present, which will undoubtedly affect performance. To counter these feelings, Waitzkin suggests keeping healthy patterns in day-to-day life so that, when the time comes, everything feels natural. While Waitzkin is talking about Tai Chi in this particular passage, this outlook on focus and attention can also be applied in an educational setting. When I read this passage, I thought of students taking a test. Most likely, students will be nervous or tense about a test for a variety of reasons, meaning the nervousness can take over and affect their performance. If teachers and educators take Waitzkin’s approach, they can begin helping students by incorporating methods in their classrooms that make test taking feel “normal.” For instance, a teacher for an AP Calculus class can create tests with questions based on those found on actual AP tests. In doing so, when the AP test rolls around, the students will already feel like the questions are “normal” because they have grown accustomed to them in class. As a result, students will not be distracted by nerves and will be able to focus on the task at hand, which parallels what Waitzkin says about Tai Chi.As I read The Art of Learning, I thoroughly enjoyed how the book was written as a whole. By this, I mean that I could sit down, open up to any chapter I wanted, and discover a brand new theme different from any other chapter. Even though each of the three sections of the book were devoted to either chess, Tai Chi, or both combined (respectively), I felt that I did not need to read each chapter in the proper order to understand Waitzkin’s messages and lessons. It felt like a season of television’s Scrubs: I can jump into any episode of the season and not feel lost, but I can pick up on the story halfway through. Each chapter was relatively short, but had some themes that made me question both how I live my own life and how I will teach in the future. I also enjoyed the fact that Waitzkin has a desire for learning and improving anything he tries. In an educational setting, this is a perfect attitude to have – everyone is allowed to make mistakes (except on a test!), everyone is encouraged to explore and learn through discovery, and assessments help both teachers and students improve their educational experience.Even though this book was not written by an educator, per say, The Art of Learning has an incredible amount of inspiring material that can be applied to an educational setting. Waitzkin says in his Afterword, “mastery involves discovering the most resonant information and integrating it so deeply and fully it disappears and allows us to fly free.” By taking what Josh Waitzkin includes in his book and incorporating his messages into a classroom, educators will not only encourage students to think about their thinking (as Waitzkin did in his interactions with Pandolfini), but also how to become better learners and students. This book is an incredible read, resource, and guide for facilitating change in a classroom and life.

“Evolution, Morpheus, evolution” – Agent Smith, The MatrixI’m a performance nut.Whether it’s trading, endurance racing, rock climbing, ju jitsu, or anything else. It doesn’t matter. If I’m doing it, then I’m obsessing over performance — and going to extreme lengths to improve and be better than the next.This is why trading and investing appeals to me. I like challenges. And there are few games more challenging than the markets.A big part of what we do at Macro Ops is study other top performers.And not just legendary traders, but the top 0.1% of performers from a variety of fields and disciplines.We dissect their daily habits, thought processes, and mindsets to find commonalities and linkages to success. We do this with the hopes of updating our own internal processes to improve our game.It’s a constant journey, an arms race of sorts, on the path towards complete mastery.Like Agent Smith said, it’s all about “Evolution, Morpheus, evolution.”A book that’s greatly shaped the way we approach this constant evolution is The Art of Learning, by Josh Waitzkin.For those of you not familiar with Waitzkin, he was the subject of the popular 90’s movie Searching for Bobby Fischer.Waitzkin was a child chess prodigy. He won his first National Championship (of eight total) by the age of nine. At 20 years old, he left the competitive world of chess and began devoting himself to learning Tai Chi Chuan.Within four years, he became the Tai Chi Chuan push-hands World Champion.Needless to say, Waitzkin is a Top Performer. The Art of Learning is the culmination of over five years of Waitzkin documenting his own learning processes.He deconstructs his methods down to the microscopic level, and successfully relates these rather abstract concepts in an impressively cogent and understandable writing style.The result is a book, comparable in content to Geoff Colvin’s Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World Class Performers from Everybody Else and Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success, but written in a first-hand narrative that makes for an entertaining and enjoyable read.The following are some of my favorite take-aways and observations. There are abundant parallels to trading and investing throughout.- Start With the FundamentalsWaitzkin stresses the importance of beginning with the core principles of your craft and attaining a strong grasp of the fundamentals.Too many people try to delve into the complex before they fully grasp the basics. It’s important to “embrace an organic long-term learning process“. The journey to mastery is a long and difficult road. Patience with the process is essential.Similar to how the heights of a skyscraper cannot be built without first constructing a solid foundation, the mastering of a skill must first begin with learning the fundamentals."The learning principle is to plunge into the detailed mystery of the micro in order to understand what makes the macro tick."Marine Corps Scout Snipers, generally regarded as the best combat precision shooters in the world, train to hit moving targets at up to a 1,000 yards.When they start their training they spend months practicing their shooting positions and dry firing (pulling the trigger without ammunition) before they ever shoot live ammunition.To a casual observer this probably seems superfluous — how much can go into a prone shooting position? Well the answer is… A LOT. Without mastering the basic but essential skill of a solid shooting position, the sniper will never reach out and knock targets a click away. I know this because I used to be a Marine Scout Sniper.The truth is, there are often many subtleties and nuances in the basic fundamentals of a skill.These are often invisible to the beginner because their skills are below the level where the cracks in their foundation become apparent. As a result… these nuances become easy to gloss over.Those who seek higher levels of performance must first master the very basics of their craft.- Expand and Refine"You start with the fundamentals, get a solid foundation fueled by understanding the principles of your discipline, then you expand and refine your repertoire, guided by your individual predispositions, while keeping in touch, however abstractly, with what you feel to be the essential core of the art."When you’ve developed a solid grasp of the fundamentals, you can then branch out and expand your toolkit to increasingly more complex skills. This is where you begin finding your “style” of play.You should not strive to imitate other styles or forms that do not naturally fit with your own predispositions. Doing so will likely create internal conflicts, and as a result, hinder development.For example, a value investor should not try to buy into momentum names with astronomical valuations. Buying high contradicts the investor’s beliefs about the market. This internal conflict would then interfere with the confidence needed to successfully buy relatively cheap “value” plays in accordance with the investor’s original strategy.Waitzkin stresses the importance of staying “true to yourself” while developing your skill set. Your craft should serve as a form of natural self-expression. This allows the creative process to flow organically, and is conducive to the deeper level introspection that enables advanced learning.- Make Smaller CirclesOnce you’ve established a foundation and built a repertoire of personalized tools, you can then begin to intensely ingrain those processes into your subconscious.Waitzkin uses the analogy of “making smaller circles”. This concept means to continually refine and deeply internalize your skill set."It’s rarely a mysterious technique that drives us to the top, but rather a profound mastery of what may well be a basic skill set."The more you tweak, practice, and perfect the minutiae of your craft, the more your subconscious mind builds connections. When old processes — which previously took focused effort — become internalized as part of your subconscious network, you can begin to focus on additional processes simultaneously. All while still expending the same amount of energy.As more and more of your processes become internalized, your conscious mind becomes free to operate in the present. This has the effect of slowing down your perception of time. It’s in this state where really interesting things begin to happen. This phenomenon is often referred to as being in the zone.Through the process of making smaller and smaller circles, you become more attuned with your strengths and weaknesses. This allows you to isolate the areas of your game that need to be tightened up.In his book, Waitzkin is constantly seeking players (in both chess and push-hands) that are better than him, or that play to a weak spot in his game. Through this constant state of challenge, he’s able to develop and evolve much quicker than those that stay in calm waters.Growth comes at the point of resistance. And for the champion, the process continues forever. The journey to mastery is a road with no end.- Presence of MindThe importance of maintaining presence and clarity of mind, especially after a mistake, is drilled home throughout the book."The first mistake rarely proves disastrous, but the downward spiral of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th error creates a devastating chain reaction."It’s part of human nature to be inclined to act on emotion, completely disregarding logical consequences. We see this behavior time and time again in sports. The professional golfer that botches a putt and follows up quickly, only to miss what should have been a tap in. Or the poker player on tilt who starts making irrational bets after a bad beat.Waitzkin discusses the need to remove ourselves from this vicious cycle. He says the way to accomplish this is to separate our conscious mind from our emotional state. This allows us to remain present in the task, and clear in our logic, by seeing emotions for what they are — versus letting them dictate our actions.Once you’ve successfully mastered objectiveness in your thoughts and actions, you can begin to channel these emotions to your benefit."There are those elite performers who use emotion, observing their moment and then channeling everything into a deeper focus that generates a uniquely flavored creativity. This is an interesting, resilient approach based on flexibility and subtle introspective awareness. Instead of being bullied by or denying their unconscious, these players let their internal movements flavor their fires."- CulminationOnce you reach a level of mastery in your craft, each “principle loses rigidity, and you get better and better at reading the subtle signs of qualitative relativity. Soon enough, learning becomes unlearning.”Waitzkin notes, that “the stronger chess player is often the one who is less attached to a dogmatic interpretation of the principles. This leads to a whole new layer of principles — those that consist of the exceptions to the initial principles.“Bruce Lee (a personal idol of mine) is a great example of this concept. His efficiency in many fighting styles allowed him to transcend the restriction of any adherence to a single form. He only used what worked and what flowed naturally through his process of self expression.Lee touched on the importance of fluidity, when he said:"Be like water making its way through the cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves."- Nurture over NatureFor those of you set on living lives of constant evolution, embracing strife for the sake of growth, and devoting yourself to mastering the means of self expression, I suggest you pick up a copy of The Art of Learning.The knowledge within these pages is invaluable to any trader or investor aspiring for greatness. The book drives home the wisdom that mastery is all about an unrelenting focus on process… and not on outcomes.If you heed that message and take it to heart, you should do quite well in trading.I’ll end with a quote from a personal hero of mine, Theodore Roosevelt (a man who never shied away from challenges):"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

...or possibly a modern "art of war". Perhaps my expectations were too high but I can't help but be a bit disappointed with this book. The chess and tai-chi aspects appealed to my analytical sensibilities and experience in martial arts so I assumed these elements would better impress the ideas around "learning" in this book.I didn't get a lot practical advice that I didn't already know from this, though I admit someone new to this kind of content may well benefit. BUT, if I were still operating in a competitive environment, be it in sport or work, I would find this book much more applicable. A lot revolves around conquering an adversary through conquering the self. I do find that the "art of learning" as a title is a bit of misnomer. Also, Waitzkin often gets very detailed with his chess and tai chi examples and they do not, in my opinion, translate well to the written word or to someone who has little experience with either of these practices.

Interesting man, champion in chess and then in the martial arts. I don't know how much of these kinds of skills are transferrable from extraordinary people to the rest of us, but certainly some good food for thought and makes me appreciate that there are possibilities out there for us. I also followed a couple of the authors book recommendations and found them useful. So a good part of the "self-improvement" genre, which can so easily be overrun with charlatans. Not here: this is a good read from a legit author.

Enjoyed the read was entertaining and insightful especially when performing your best amidst distractions and annoyances, the only thing I thought he was behind on when it comes to preparing for an event is having anchors or personal triggers to get yourself into your peak performance state/zone within seconds.Josh does talk about other rituals that you will create to get into the zone but they are not always practical and can take much longer depending on the routine you create for yourself, such as periods of medidtation, breathing, and walking around. To get yourself into peak performance state within seconds I would recommend Dennis Waitely Winning, and or Tony Robbins Personal Power.But other than that don't let this put you off its a great entertaining read especially his story/journey, can spark some insights if you compete at competition level in any field you will be able to relate to some of the principles in your own field

I chose this book with a hope of finding lots of practical techniques for learning. And while learning about Josh 's fascinating chess and martial arts stories offered some insight into his learning, for me there wasn't enough practical tools I could take away. Nevertheless a great insight into the mind of a world champion and 2 totally different disciplines, an incredible achievement

This book really resonated with me-as well as having some great stuff on learning it's also part biographical. I'm not into chess at all but really enjoyed the sections on Josh's past tournaments etc.I watched the movie 'In search of Bobby Fischer'and loved it too and also some of the Tim Ferriss podcasts featuring Josh and found them a great help in deconstructing the learning process.