3639: Rules of Ascendancy: Learn to the Task, Not the Test by Isaac Morehouse on Authentic Achievement

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[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_03] This is Optimal Living Daily. Rules of Ascendancy, Learn to the Task, Not the Test, by Isaac Morehouse of IsaacMorehouse.com, and I'm Justin Mollick. Happy Friday, welcome to the podcast where I simply read blogs to you for free covering personal growth and self-help topics like mindfulness, minimalism, self-care, meditation, and a lot more. If you like this show, I'd greatly appreciate you sharing it with someone and getting them to subscribe. It goes a really long way to keep this all going, and it really means a lot.

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_03] It always makes my day to hear about people sharing it or see people sharing it online, so thank you for that. But for now, let's get right to today's post and start optimizing your life. Rules of Ascendancy, Learn to the Task, Not the Test, by Isaac Morehouse of IsaacMorehouse.com. I'm gonna describe three types of people. I call them average, elite, and ascendant. One of the differences between the three

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_03] is how they approach learning, pain, prestige, or purpose. Average people learn what they need to avoid pain. Elite people learn what they need to get the grade, ace the test, win the award, gain certification, impress people, and obtain honors. Ascendant people don't care about accolades or awards or tests or stickers or stars. They learn exactly what's needed to solve a problem that matters to them exactly when it's needed. No more, no less.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_03] No sooner, no later. If you want to be average, avoid pain and learn like a lab rat. If you want to be elite, bulk up on tons of just-in-case knowledge so you'll never look dumb and you can chase prestige and external validation. If you want to be ascendant, the best of the best creators, dreamers, doers, and rebels, find meaningful challenges and projects, pursue them, and learn what you need to complete them. Tasks versus tests. Mitchell Earl built a horrible website.

[00:02:56] [SPEAKER_03] He got an A for it. The website sucked because Mitchell didn't particularly want or need a website at the time. It also sucked for the same reasons that helped him ace the computer class in which he built it. He spent the semester on it. It met all of the specific course requirements, hyperlinks, number of pages, content, layout, and followed the recommended steps. It was meant to be a digital resume of sorts, but it was ugly and useless in the real world. In fact, Mitchell didn't use it after the class as it would have lowered rather than raised his professional value.

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_03] Oh, and he didn't remember any of the techniques he used to build a site once the class was over. A few years later, Mitchell was in Praxis and eager to improve his writing, build an audience, signal his value, and discover meaningful work for his entrepreneurial tendencies. He wanted a good website, so he built one in a few weeks. He took some tips from the Praxis community, ignored others, picked up a few new skills via YouTube, and put together a great site. To this day, he can tell you how to integrate WordPress

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_03] with opt-in forms, customize themes, improve SEO, get hosting set up, and a lot more. He used those skills to build a new website for his business partner where he now works. When he had a specific task that was meaningful to him based on his own desires, Mitchell built a vastly superior product in far less time and routine-specific skills that he had to pick up to do it. He only learned exactly what the task demanded, not what the test required. This made the learning faster, more intense,

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_03] more fun, and more useful. Just in time versus just in case. My son is really into video games, art, design, and entertainment media. He's a creator. Having learned myself the slow, hard way how important marketing and sales skills are to creators, I'm always trying to impart bits of wisdom to him. He might need it when he decides to sell his creations someday. He ignores me. There's nothing in his daily experience that demands the advice I supply. It's just an old guy giving him insight

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_03] without any current context. That's exactly how I felt in college and marketing classes. There were all these words and charts and concepts and case studies that really didn't mean anything to me. Sure, someday when I'm trying to promote a product, target market will be important. Yet when that day actually came, the classroom cramming did nothing for me anyway. I aced my classes, but I had to learn from scratch how to market when I needed it to survive. Any sooner and the info was worse than useless.

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_03] I developed a bias against what would later be important concepts because I despised being forced to chase grades by memorizing stuff that didn't help me achieve my goals. When it matters, once is enough. The entire modern education apparatus is built on just-in-case learning. Better know how to multiply fractions just in case you find yourself tasked with preparing a report on some data someday. Better know when the Treaty of Versailles was signed just in case. Well, I'm not really sure there even is a case for that one

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_03] unless you want to be a guest on Jeopardy. Otherwise, Google it. I talked to a bright young guy, an executive at a growing startup who sent me a financial report to proof a few months ago. I noticed a mistake. He calculated the percentage increase from month to month incorrectly. I pointed it out and sent a four-step explanation I found on Google. He laughed about forgetting, said thanks, fixed it, and never had that problem again. Yet how many hours had he been forced to sit in a classroom doing a unit on percentages? And for what?

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_03] When he needed the knowledge prior to an important board meeting, he found it fast. Oh, and my son learned more about marketing in one evening of playing Mario Maker than I did from all those classes. Real learning is hard, but sneaky. I played a lot of Lego as a kid. My kids do now. It's a pastime full of pain, anguish, and maniacal, just one more minute almost done late into the night. When you have a vision for a build and you must, must find a way to solve it within perfect pieces, your brain is stretched

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_03] and your creativity awakened. It's hard work that can even take a physical toll. Ever bent over digging through a bin of plastic blocks for an hour? It's frustrating, but it's deeply meaningful and fun. You're on nobody else's timeline. If I asked my kids if they were learning anything while playing, they would laugh. Yet I'm totally convinced, just like me, they're learning more from Lego than they would if I made them do algebra instead. Real learning happens when you're absorbed in solving a real problem, one that matters to you.

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_03] It took a complete abandonment of lessons and a deep personal interest in Calvin and Hobbes for my son to learn to read. The same pattern can be spotted in all real learning. Knowledge is overrated. Knowing a bunch of stuff isn't that valuable. Knowing what you need to know to solve a problem, reach a goal, or become a better version of yourself is hugely valuable. Often this requires first figuring out what's non-essential and ignoring it. Conscious ignorance is hugely valuable.

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_03] What you don't waste time or energy worrying about, what you don't memorize just for prestige or fear of embarrassment, are what determine how much room you have left to learn what does matter. This is also why I advocate completely ignoring the news. Don't be prepared, be hungry. It's not about what you know or even who you know. It's about what will improve your life, how to learn it, how much of it to learn, and when. Goals and dreams are better than grades and information. Meaningful tasks and challenges

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_03] are better than memorized facts and textbooks. Go do some cool stuff and go be what you want to be. When you need to learn to take the next step, you will. It'll be better than any arbitrary data cram for any class. Average people can learn the basics when shoved. Elite people can learn that, plus a bunch of other stuff that's meaningful to others, not them. Ascendant people discover who they are, who they want to be, and learn what it takes to close the gap between the two.

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_03] You just listened to the post titled, Rules of Ascendancy, Learn to the Task, Not the Test, by Isaac Morehouse of IsaacMorehouse.com. And I'll be right back with my commentary. Summer nights used to be brutal for me, tossing, turning, flipping the pillow, until I discovered Cozy Earth. Their temperature-regulating sheets have completely transformed how I sleep. Wic away heat and moisture, helping me stay several degrees cooler even during the hottest nights. I honestly noticed the difference the very first night.

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[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_03] both a bachelor's and master's degree in business. Some of that info was helpful, but as with all programs, there will be information that you'll never use. That's just the truth of it. I don't think his answer is to skip school, but we should definitely be cognizant of this. I've definitely learned a lot more and gained more skills from doing things I needed to get done with my business, whether that be building a website, marketing, even finances and taxes. I learned that stuff way faster and remembered it better when I needed to use it in real life for my business

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_03] compared to using it in school, just because it's not actually necessary in school. There's probably some biology happening there where our brains store it differently based on these different situations. So I think the takeaway is to strive for that ascendant level. Discover who you are and what skills you need to get where you actually want to be and use those skills in real life. That should do it for the Friday episode. Have a great weekend if you're listening in real time, and I'll catch you over the weekend where your optimal life awaits.