If you want to become an expert, it's not as hard as you might think, but you have to make sure you do it the right way. A lot of people do it the wrong way, which means they waste time and never become experts in anything. Now you might be wondering, in fact, you probably should be wondering, what is this method, but more importantly, how do we know it works? And we know it works because of this man. This is Benjamin Bloom, and he spent his entire career, that was about five decades, researching expertise and what makes an expert. And what he found is quite incredible. There are six, six requirements to become an expert on something. And you don't need natural ability or natural talent, you just need to fulfill these six steps, and you can become an expert on absolutely anything. These are the six steps, and we'll be diving into what they mean in a minute, but first of all, I want to show you why they're so useful. Imagine you were going on a journey and only had a vague idea.

of the location of your destination. You didn't know your current location and also didn't know whether you going over roads or Fields or mountains or water. I wouldn't travel in that car with you. Bloom's method gives you a map, tells you where you are, where you should be going, and how to get there. I'm back in the car, brought my sources, Marmite, my top trumps, and my Mr. M cassette. It's going to be a lot of fun. Bloom's method is called Bloom's taxonomy, which is off-putting, but it has nothing to do with stuffing dead animals. I know that 'cause I looked it up. It just means a way of categorizing things. So instead of Bloom's taxonomy, just see it as Bloom's way of C izing something. Actually, that something is thinking because it's thinking and only thinking that will make you an expert. Here's how to do it. Imagine you wanted to become an expert Chef, you know, so you could have your own TV show and become famous for swearing at everybody.

might start with that classic Italian dish, spaghetti carbonara, and you're going to use Bloom's Taxonomy. Here's how you do it. Most experts can actually remember the thing that they're expert in, so it all starts here. You have to memorize the B.B. recipe. You don't have to understand the ingredients or techniques, just learn them. Use flashcards and test yourself. What are you trying to learn? Coding? Remember the syntax. Violin? Remember the notes. Physics? The formula. Experts know why they do what they do. They move beyond memorization, they understand. And at this point, you have to ask yourself lots of questions. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Do you add salt to pasta water? Why use pancetta instead of bacon? I don't know, but then I'm not an expert in spaghetti carbonara. For this step, you need to explain. If you have friends, explain it to friends. If, like me, you don't have any friends, explain it to yourself. Write it down in your own words. What does that bit of code do? Why did Beethoven overuse perfect

cadences experts can do the thing they're expert in. So the cooking expert doesn't just talk about making spaghetti carbonara, they make spaghetti carbonara. That's step three. Whatever you're learning, you have to do it: write the code, play the piece of music, solve the equation. Some people think that they can learn just by reading or watching YouTube videos. I used to. It's easy and it feels like you're learning, but your brain is tricking you. Don't be tricked. Do the thing. Remember, understand, and do. These first three steps are important, but they're not enough to become an expert. Bloom gave them a name: lower-order thinking skills. A lot of people spend their whole lives stuck here. To become an expert, you need to cultivate higher-order thinking skills. You need the next three steps. For that, experts understand what each component does and why it's there. They know what will happen if it's substituted or removed. Why does the recipe use butter? What would happen if that was changed to oil or if there was a

different amount or it was cooked at a different temperature. What's the difference between Pecorino cheese and Parmesan? Why three eggs and not two or four? Why are eggs needed at all? You can do it, but you have to know why you do it. If you want to be an expert, in another domain, it might be: What's each line of code doing in this particular code block? Or in Newton's equations of motion, what is each term doing? Why is it necessary? Break it down into its constituent parts. I just mentioned critical thinking. That's not criticizing everyone because you know you're great and they're rubbish. If you want that, Twitter, Reddit, or Stack Overflow is the place for you. Critical thinking is when you can read and analyze information from different sources and use it to form your own views, arguments, and decisions. It's Black Friday, and you get a notification about a fantastic deal on a washing machine. Here it is, this little beauty. It was $400 and has been reduced to just $39. What a deal you're having!

buy it, get it home, install it, and love it. But then a friend shows you this: you could have bought it for $249 a few months before Black Friday, and the store discounted it a month afterwards. This actually happened, with a consumer champion company in the UK monitored 200 products for a year and found only one of them was actually cheaper in the Black Friday sale. Critical thinking skills would have stopped you being conned; they're also essential for innovation, for creating ideas and problem-solving. Without critical thinking, some of the greatest inventions in human history would not have been possible. I'm thinking the wheel, the microchip. Being critical thinking is a skill that some employers will pay more for, so it's worth having, and it could lead to a better life. By learning Bloom's taxonomy, you'll develop these skills, probably have a better life. It's what I'm here for, it's what I'm here for. Experts can tell if what they do turns out as it should. They can also critique the works of others, so try your

dish does it taste the way it should? If not, why not? What about dishes by other chefs? Do they taste better or worse than yours? Why? What ingredients or methods have they used that you didn't? An expert will know just by tasting them. What's the difference between a good and a great carbonara? Or why does Mozart sound different to Beethoven? Can Bach's influence be felt in both? You'll often see Bloom's taxonomy written like this: there's a little triangle or pyramid with the sixth step, create, right at the top. And you create something. You use the skills that you've developed by remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, and evaluating to create something completely original. If you're learning coding, that might be writing some software that does something that you specifically want to do. If you're learning how to write, you write something original. If it's music, I don't know, write a piano concerto or something. Oh, that reminds me, it's time for me to listen to the Mismen. Now you know how to become an expert. I think you're going to love.

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language models and understand how they build vocabulary. And it shows you the importance of training data. So you get to compare models trained on Taylor Swift lyrics with ones trained on legal documents. Are you ready to start your journey towards expertise? Try everything Brilliant has to offer free for 30 days by going to brilliant.org/python-programmer. Or click on the link in the description. Or just scan the QR code. You'll also get 20% off Brilliant's annual premium subscription.

6 Steps to Expertise  in ANYTHING - No Talent Required!

Hi I'm Giles, I make videos about learning 🧠 I have a degree in physics, a post graduate certificate in Data Science and am a former medical physics researcher and before all that I was a financial journalist. 

I share the best evidence based learning techniques to help you learn anything you want (especially coding in python!)



6 Steps to Expertise in ANYTHING - No Talent Required!

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