I’ve been moaning and bitching the past couple of years about how smart I was in my teens and how I could learn any darn thing I set my mind to, then.

My school grades did not reflect it though.

And these days, my consulting solutions have been top notch, and yet, I struggle to sharpen the saw.

What gives?

It struck me today, as I finished watching some Python videos along my struggling Python journey, that I was understanding the concepts much better than I had in the past few months.

And then it hit me, like a ton of bricks!

There are two aspects to learning effectively (for me) …

  1. I need to vary my reading and use a lot of sources.
  2. I need to practice lots to gain fluency.

Lack of practice in my cocky youth led to me knowing much, but since I had no fluency, my grades suffered.
And since I’m not making an effort to gain various points of view now, I struggle to make syntopical connections and my learning suffers.

So in essence, if I make a concerted effort (in a structured, disciplined way) to read more, cast my net a little wider and practice a lot, I should be able to whoop 18 year old Jason’s ass!

Wish me luck!