Have you ever crammed for a test? Or overloaded yourself with information on a subject you were trying to master? You study for hours on end trying to learn the concepts and remember them. And then you take the test and you find you haven’t actually mastered all the ideas. Maybe you get an average score or worse maybe you bomb.
But I put in all the work you say. Am I just dumb? Is learning this hopeless?
This kind of experience can be disheartening and confusing.
You didn’t get the result you wanted so you go back and continue your studies. You practice. And this is where something interesting starts to happen. Problems you found impossible before start to become easy. You might not get them immediately but if you stick with them 9/10 you get them right. Where previously you ran out of strategies or knowledge, now the well is deeper. You can access more than before and things start to click.
What the hell is going on? You didn’t study more the second time around. You didn’t suddenly become smart. So why do you now seem to get what you didn’t before?
I call this the lag and the catch up. And the in between is where most people quit. So what’s going on?
All that studying was valuable for sure. But when you tested yourself you were still in the processing stage. You weren’t quite ready to tap into all the knowledge you had gained. And the result didn’t line up with your expectation. So you decide you’re dumb. Or a bad test taker. Or this is all you’re capable of. And maybe you resign yourself to that. Or you give up. Move on to something else.
This is really tragic. All the pieces are there but the one thing you haven’t given yourself is the time to fully absorb it and then tap into it in practice and then in the real test. Why are we this hard on ourselves? I’d never tell my kids to stop trying to read because they can’t get all the words on the first try. I’d encourage them to keep trying. They just need time.
What differentiates a novice from a master, or a good test from a bad test is sticking through the lag and letting all that information become available to you. This isn’t a default happening. You still need to review and practice and revise. But if you stay the course you’ll start to experience the catch up. This is where learning becomes knowledge becomes skill. And most people don’t have the discipline to make it this far. They let other things get in the way. Self defeat. Time. Motivation. Focusing on a score rather than the process.
Experiencing the catch up takes patience and perseverance and consistency. But you’ll never get there if you’re always focused on the end result. Sure we don’t always have the luxury of time but we then have to accept that we may not get the results we want.
Learning is like throwing a boomerang. It doesn’t come back to you right away. It spins out in front of you and at first actually gets farther away. It doesn’t appear to be coming back at all. This is the lag. This is where others walk away. But if you stand your ground long enough, and it’s often a matter of seconds, the boomerang will start to turn and head back towards you. And this is where it’s really critical to continue to stand your ground. Because if you do the boomerang will come back to you exactly where you stand. And when you catch it you’ll have gained the wisdom that comes with making it through the lag. You’ll understand what the process is and what the end result can be.
This isn’t about perfection. After all even those that get a perfect score or result aren’t actually perfect. This is about staying the course. Trusting the work you have done will come back to you tenfold if you stick with it.
It’s been a while since I’ve written so forgive my ramblings. Curious what you think? Have you ever experienced the lag and the catch up?
FYI – Seth Godin writes about this extensively in his book The Dip and a very fine teacher who shall be called “Greg” talks about “the memorization stage” on his platform GregMat.com.
Hugs.
