HOW TO LEARN

HOW TO LEARN
Setting goals Set reasonable goals and do not expect too much of yourself or you will get
disappointed. If you are constantly disappointed with your progress, you will
eventually stop learning and stay at the same level for years. Remember that
mastery comes in stages.
“There was a time when Mr. Einstein was not quite sure what eight times
nine came to. He had to learn and he had to be taught.”
Jacques Barzon
If you improve just ten percent each year for five years, you will be twice as
good in five years’ time. Now ten percent does not sound like very much, but do
that each month and you will be amazed at how much progress you will make.
“No great thing is created suddenly any more than a bunch of grapes or a
fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be
time. Let it blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”
Epictetus
If you cannot draw an ancient Tuscan hilltop village with all its complicated
angles and odd shaped buildings, learn to draw a single house with a regular
roof in perspective. If you cannot draw a single house with a roof, then learn to
draw a simple cube. If you cannot manage to draw a cube, then just learn to
draw a square in the correct proportions.
Doing versus
reading
“A man learns to skate by staggering around making a fool of himself:
indeed he progresses in all things by making a fool of himself.”
George Bernard Shaw
You only learn by “doing” and not by “reading.” You may feel you understand
something after reading it, but you will only understand it at a superficial level.
Once you have actually experienced it for yourself, however, you will
understand it at a much deeper level. That is why it is important to actually do
the assignments, and not just read the lecture notes! I have had many students
say they already know all the information in a particular course unit and do not
need to do the assignments, but on looking at their paintings it is clear that they
are not practicing what they think they know, or have not internalized the
knowledge fully. I have had many professional artists, after a long period of
frustration, finally get around to doing the assignments. After a month or two,
they always say they learned something new and valuable, and it showed in their
work in the following months