One of my favorite books over the past two years has been Josh Waitzkin’s The Art of Learning. Last time I “read it” I actually listened to it while I drove from New York to the opposite side of West Virginia and back.
I found it very compelling, but did not have the opportunity to mark up the book, jot down notes and revisit parts that liked. So I’m reading it again, or for the first time with pen in hand.
It’s better than I remember it. There is something of note on literally every page.
Waitzkin is interesting because he became the best at two entirely different endeavors. He was a chess champion at a young age (9-17), the source of inspiration for the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer,” and a World Champion in Tai Chi Chuan Push Hands, a form of martial arts, later as an adult.
In the book he dissects the process of learning, which requires that he very thoughtfully think through the steps in his process of learning.
His first chess coach is a great example for youth coaches and his Tai Chi coach valuable for adults, but at the heart of this book are the insights of an elite performer who has taken great responsibility for his own journey and success.
Notes (theme/topic/insight)
His first coach–Excellent Example for Youth Coaching
There are many individual and nuanced points Waitzkin makes about his first coach, but the bigger point that stands out is ability to find balance in his approach. He nurtured love of the game and discipline around principles. Sometimes the training was serious and other times all about the fun of competition.
Losing didn’t bother him–he just took this as an opportunity to learn, whereas winning was thrilling.
His first teacher Bruce Pandolfini, a master level player himself–provided a critical environment that was more focused on love of the game and learning than on winning tournaments.
Began with building trust and learning about each other. Only then progressed to teaching the game.
Taught principles and let him learn them through playing. No memorization.
Found the balance between a disciplined approach to the game and the competitive street approach he found in the park. Difficult balance to find.
Acted as a guide more than as an authority
Had him explain thought process out loud after decisions. (Similar to Peak)
Was not an authoritarian, but also did not give false praise or patronize. Built confidence in this honest approach to the decisions.
After asking about thought process asked questions to guide him to a better decision.
Not afraid of silence
First year–no tournaments. “…learning and passion first, and competition a distant second.”
Played in central park against adults. Did not expect winning to be easy.
He put him into positions to learn how to finish a game and do well in the middle of the chaos. Most kids his age were memorizing opening moves and learning how to crush lesser players right out of the gate.
Waitzkin was learning to be at ease in the stressful times. “As the game went on, their confidence shrank and I became a predator. Noticing these tendencies, Bruce started calling me Tiger. He still calls me Tiger.”
Most importantly he created a safe environment for him to grow:
I was unhindered by internal conflict–a state of being that I have come to see as fundamental to the learning process. Bruce and the park guys had taught me how to express myself through chess, and so my love for the game grew every day.
Used visualization, studied classic games, continued to get more and more complex after JW’s return from his first defeat.
Finding your next coach
Outgrew his coach same year as Searching for Bobby Fisher came out (fame outside chess world)
New coach at 16, midst of growing fame, tried to change his style and approach, studying the masters–time of alienation from game.
Two coaching styles to choose from:
Yuri Razuvaev was like Yoda
- training like a spiritual retreat, individualized to the person
Compares to mom with horses–“don’t break the horses spirit…make your intention the horse’s intention.”
Mark Dvoretsky–most important author for chess pros in the world(only at home with chess)
Developed and advocated a comprehensive training program same for all, break them down and fit into his program
–full-time coach was protege–started studying Karpov, asked wrong questions, lost trust in own intuition
–factor in leaving game, but not the only factor
“…the fields of learning and performance are an exploration of greyness–of in-between. There is a careful balance of pushing yourself relentlessly, but not so hard that you melt down. Muscles and minds need to stretch to grow, but if you stretch too thin, they will snap….The effects of moving away from my natural voice as a competitor were particularly devastating. But with the perspective of time, I understand that I was offered a rare opportunity to grow. much of what I believe in today has evolved from the brutal testing ground of my final years of chess.” p89
William C Chen –Tai Chi master
–understated teaching style, shared through osmosis
–spoke softly, moved deeply
–“gems were afterthoughts, hidden beneath the breath, and you could pick them up or not”
–very mortal, no fancy words, no spiritual claims (like Yuri Rzauvaev/Yoda)
–insight, but wisdom was very physical
–“he read the body like a great chess player read the board”
–“if I was ready I would learn”
–breathing should be natural state (before years of stress)
–calm healthy presence comes from breathing well–oxygenate the body
in Push Hands–allowed him to learn by doing, getting beaten by better students, small corrections, slowly molded him into shape
Perspective:
After his first significant loss the family left on a long-term fishing trip. Painful experience that quickly dissipated. Parents created this environment.
The break and time spent on a boat and in nature allowed his unconscious mind to work. Gained creative new solutions to chess problems, but not directly.
With Tai Chi–integration. “Had been an athletic guy who practiced a sport of the mind…I felt trapped in a cerebral bubble like a tiger in a cage.”
Why leave chess?
Chess champion suddenly found the game “alien and disquieting” due to his new celebrity as the subject of the famous “Searching for Bobby Fischer.” He no longer found the solace and depth in the game. He was 17 and isolated from the grandmasters of his game despite having won 8 national championships.
He found the book Tao Te Ching which extolled the wisdom of Buddhism and Taoism. He already loathed fame and the book helped in his path for inner tranquility. He sought out Tai Chi and extended his focus from only chess and his brain to his body as well.
Intrinsic Motivation:
Chess:
Developed deeper commitment that went beyond winning. He dug in from losing and responded with hard work.
I arrived at a commitment to chess that was about more than fun and glory. It was about love and pain and passion and pushing myself to overcome. It might seem absurd, but I believe that year, from eight to nine, was the defining period of my life. I responded to heartbreak with hard work. I was self-motivated and moved by a powerful resolve
Motivated by love of game allowed him to handle pressure
Burning passion for the game allowed him to keep normalcy even as an 11 year old because he was playing for the right reason
At 19/20-traveled the world, introspective, inconsistent competitor,but dove deep into psychology of chess and life
–“I was no longer primarily refining the skill of playing chess, but was discovering myself through chess.”
–Still famous at home and his focus had shifted–less of a competitor at chess
In order to be a great competitor need to return to freedom of a child, but must maintain “harmony with your unique disposition.”
Tai Chi– practiced for hours each night as he learned 60 basic moves (Peak–deliberate training)
“It took full concentration to pick up each valuable lesson, so on many levels class was an exercise in awareness. While his method worked very well for me, it also weeded out students who were not committed to serious practice.”
Open to the timing of learning something new– “humility training”
Devoted to training –learned with “open pores’–no ego (others would try and explain themselves when corrected)
Mental Representations
(Mental representations is term from Anders Ericcson’s Peak my notes on Peak here)
Made good decisions without always knowing why. Intuitive and unconscious. Saw multiple moves ahead.
“…sensed a logical thread to positions that seemed irrational”
“numbers to leave numbers” –deliberate training to build mental reps
- critical position from a game,where intuitive had not been up to the game
- recalled his attacking positions
- pick apart opponent’s defenses
- integrating the evolving structural dynamics it had not quite understood before
- “soaked in countless patterns of evolving sophistication”
- thinking –unhindered, free, faster
- 6 hours at a time, 30 hours a week, until–“all complications dissolved”
- “I couldn’t explain this new knowledge with variations or words…”
- “I am describing a process in which technical information is integrated into what feels like natural intelligence.’
“Techniques that are hidden within form started to come out of me spontaneously…partners would go flying away from me without my consciously doing much at all. This was trippy, but a natural part of systematic training.”
“In both fields players tend to get attached to fancy techniques and fail to recognize that subtle internalization and refinement is much more important than the quantity of what is learned.”
Competitor
Chess:
As a superior competitor he could dictate the battle– did not need to play a predictable safe memorized game. Comfortable in chaos
“One of the critical strengths of a superior competitor in any discipline…is the ability to dictate the tone of the battle.”
Endurance compared to peers–mental as well as physical
Losing hurt “losing is brutal”
Importance of regaining presence after making a serious error–avoid the downward spiral as a competitor– momentum is not by accident.
–Don’t let the first mistake get to you (avoid compounding errors)
–Don’t push with hollow overconfidence–
–“Distance between winning and losing is minute”–make your way back to the momentum you had
–De present to this moment where it can go either way–pause, breath, be aware or get up and go (“psychological flushing”)
“Growth comes at the point of resistance”–find challenging opponents
Entity vs Incremental Theory (Growth mindset) and Impact on Process vs Goals:
Addresses fixed (entity) versus growth (incremental) mindset
Need to find balance between these. Don’t just make it process goals–need a focus on results as well.
“Too much sheltering from results can be stunting. The road to success is not easy or else everyone would be greatest at what they do–we need to be psychologically prepared to face the unavoidable challenges along our way, and when it comes down to it, the only way to learn is by getting in the water.”
Evokes Carol Dwecks recent addition to her work “false growth mindset'”
Page 45 walks through how to build this in a specific young athlete
“–beauty of the roses lies in their transience’
Enjoy win–note lesson learned–move on
Empathy for loss–dialogue for discovery–let young athlete become astute on his own
“A heartfelt, empathetically present, incrementally inspiring mom or dad or coach can liberate an ambitious child to take the world by the horns.”
As adults–put yourself out there, win or lose, take the lesson–try your hardest –“Growth comes at the point of resistance.”
Psychological Strength/Processes
Experienced flow playing chess during an earthquake in India–made him dive into performance psychology
Developed method for finding flow–First learn how to avoid being distracted by mini earthquakes of our lives
Methodology for triggering states of flow
1. Learn to flow with whatever comes –develop the “soft zone”
2. Use whatever to our advantage
3. Learn to be completely self sufficient
4. Create own mini earthquakes–mental process feeds inspiration
- Contrast to “hard zone”– need the world to cooperate with you, perfect circumstances, quiet
- “soft zone” quietly, intensely focused, apparently relaxed, mental juices turning, resilient
- don’t fight it, but work with it ‘become at peace with the noise’–started training with blaring music
- become aware of tricks others use to distract (don’t become the victim
- wasn’t until into martial arts career that really learned how to use his anger/moods that arose
- most training is in everyday life
“My whole life I have worked on this issue. Mental resilience is arguably the most critical trait of a world-class performer, and it should be nurtured continuously….when uncomfortable, my instinct is not to avoid the discomfort, but to become at peace with it.” (p. 60)
Influences:
Tao Te Ching
- hermetic Chinese sage Laotse
- inward focus, underlying essence
- see false constructs around you
- resonated with his views “numbers to leave numbers”
- helped him resolve conflicts with fame and ambition
On the Road by Jack Keroac (freedom)
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig (depth over breadth)
Tai Chi vs Push hands
“Goal was not winning, but simply being” vs a martial art (idea to unbalance opponent), similar to chess “to defeat a 1,000 lbs with 4 oz”
Learning Process–Beginner’s Mind and Invest in Loss
“Investment in loss” –giving yourself to the learning process
Give up old habits
“…If a student of virtually any discipline could avoid ever repeating the same mistake twice–both technical and psychological–he or she would sky rocket to top of field.”–impossible, thematic errors occur (try to pick these out)
Early years of Tai Chi– “my mission to be wide open to every bit of information…learn from every error’
Clear interference — similar to The Inner Game of Tennis
Trained w/ those far more advanced–week after week, show up and get hammered “invest in loss”
–stopped fearing the impact, could take it, opponents started to slow down in his mind, could read intentions, and get out of the way, found his weaknesses, and then started to win…eventually this partner quit working with him as he started to win (Dweck’s Mindset work, see above entity) Opponent could not “invest in loss”
Beginner’s mind–vulnerable time, make sure you allow time to internalize skills, learn
–How do you maintain this humility and safety when no longer a beginner?
–Notes that after the movie came out he could not allow himself to “invest in loss” in chess any more
“It is essential to have a liberating incremental approach that allows for times when you are not in a peak performance state. We must take responsibility for ourselves and not expect the rest of the world to understand what it takes to become the best that we can become. Great ones are willing to get burned time and again as they sharpen their swords in the fire.”–p 113
Dive into the detailed mystery of the micro in order to figure out the macro–obstacle is attention deficit culture, hurts us as learners
All about fundamentals, releasing tension and cultivating energetic awareness
–“at times i repeated segments of the form over and over, honing certain techniques while refining my body mechanics and deepening my sense of relaxation”
Small movements for hours– building ‘feeling” (takes back to mental representation) –similar to early stages of chess, developing principles that were in mental framework and could then be applied to much more complex situations
“Making smaller circles”–like “numbers to leave numbers”–“touch the essence of a technique,and then to incrementally condense the external manifestation of the technique while keeping true to the essence.” –gives good example on p120
Takes many weeks and months, maybe years! with just learning the right way to punch–built technique, power, and “body just knows”
Know something done well, versus knowing a lot.
—-Depth beats Breadth.–true in chess and push hands.
A Short list of soccer books
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