Knowledge Ninja
Dang it.
I was distracting myself with useless memes when some self-respecting-looking bloke sits next to me, so I have to pretend like I'm useful too.
Srsly.
In other news, distractions are tough, but that's why I have Rambling. A dear friend was asking me how my writing has developed over the years. One of the most striking turning points was when I started Rambling. A bloke named Ericsson said any person who practices any skill for 10,000 hours will become an expert at it. That is easily disproved, but there is an undeniable correlation between frequent practice and noticeable improvement.
I cannot repeat this enough: Frequent practice is pivotal! I'm a tutor. It's pretty much all I've done for the past ten years. I tell my math students to practice math facts frequently. I tell my writing students to journal frequently. I tell all other students to read frequently. To an uncomfortably large extent, that's all it takes to improve one's academic skills.
It's pretty easy to tell who's going to be a cog: "When am I ever gonna use that?" "My writing's good enough." "I don't have time to read." Well, snap son, I guess you're never gonna use ingenuity either. I guess your burger-flipping is going to be good enough too. I guess you're not gonna have time to make money.
In contrast, I always know who's doing their nitty-gritty work. Instead of having to drag kids through how to add, subtract, multiply, or divide, we start working on algebra or geometry. Instead of having to drag kids through verbs, subjects, commas, and vocab, we start working on expressing real thoughts and supporting real points.
I'm not trying to say that, when you start reading books, you'll suddenly make money, but that's my point: it's not sudden.
Here's another way to look at it: ninjas. All sorts of rumors, history, humor, and myths orbit around the ninja, but most of us can agree that they are disciplined, skilled, and resourceful. One of the more compelling traits about such a trained warrior is that they can use their surroundings to their advantage. For example, there is a martial art formed around being in a sitting or kneeling position. "When am I ever gonna use that?" You're not. The one time you get attacked while you're sitting down, you're gonna get owned.
Many martial artists devote themselves to many skills and prepare for many situations. There are 18 disciplines in ninjutsu:
I was distracting myself with useless memes when some self-respecting-looking bloke sits next to me, so I have to pretend like I'm useful too.
Srsly.
In other news, distractions are tough, but that's why I have Rambling. A dear friend was asking me how my writing has developed over the years. One of the most striking turning points was when I started Rambling. A bloke named Ericsson said any person who practices any skill for 10,000 hours will become an expert at it. That is easily disproved, but there is an undeniable correlation between frequent practice and noticeable improvement.
I cannot repeat this enough: Frequent practice is pivotal! I'm a tutor. It's pretty much all I've done for the past ten years. I tell my math students to practice math facts frequently. I tell my writing students to journal frequently. I tell all other students to read frequently. To an uncomfortably large extent, that's all it takes to improve one's academic skills.
It's pretty easy to tell who's going to be a cog: "When am I ever gonna use that?" "My writing's good enough." "I don't have time to read." Well, snap son, I guess you're never gonna use ingenuity either. I guess your burger-flipping is going to be good enough too. I guess you're not gonna have time to make money.
In contrast, I always know who's doing their nitty-gritty work. Instead of having to drag kids through how to add, subtract, multiply, or divide, we start working on algebra or geometry. Instead of having to drag kids through verbs, subjects, commas, and vocab, we start working on expressing real thoughts and supporting real points.
I'm not trying to say that, when you start reading books, you'll suddenly make money, but that's my point: it's not sudden.
Here's another way to look at it: ninjas. All sorts of rumors, history, humor, and myths orbit around the ninja, but most of us can agree that they are disciplined, skilled, and resourceful. One of the more compelling traits about such a trained warrior is that they can use their surroundings to their advantage. For example, there is a martial art formed around being in a sitting or kneeling position. "When am I ever gonna use that?" You're not. The one time you get attacked while you're sitting down, you're gonna get owned.
Many martial artists devote themselves to many skills and prepare for many situations. There are 18 disciplines in ninjutsu:
- Seishin-Teki-Kyo‘yo‘ - spiritual refinement
- Taijutsu - unarmed combat
- Kenjutsu - sword fighting
- Bōjutsu - stick and staff fighting
- Shurikenjutsu - throwing blades
- Sōjutsu - spear fighting
- Naginatajutsu - naginata fighting
- Kusarigamajutsu - chain and sickle weapon
- Kayakujutsu - pyrotechnics and explosives
- Hensōjutsu - disguise & impersonation
- Shinobi-iri - stealth and entering methods
- Bajutsu - horsemanship
- Sui-ren - water training
- Bōryaku - military strategy
- Chōhō - espionage
- Intonjutsu - escaping and concealment
- Tenmon - meteorology
- Chi-mon - geography
The broader encouragement I wish to share is that no skill is ever truly a waste because there will be that one time having a certain skill will make all the difference. However, I will always encourage a person to practice at least one skill regularly instead of letting it corrode into "good enough" and ending the days feeling like nothing is growing.
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