Hi guys, happy Friday!
Clarification: not “how would you become an expert?” but “how DO YOU become an expert?”
How have you become an expert on any topic?
What did you do? What was the most effective part of what you did?
Here are my items in which I’ve become an expert (I guess answering this question kind of makes you brag):
* How to run a start-up company
* How to do accounting for a company
* How to rock climb
* How to ballroom dance
“Expert” is a person’s own definition, but when you’re commenting here, please just brag! :) Don’t hold back. Let it all out. I’m a fan of bragging among friends! One of the ways that I define expert is that I could teach an intro class in any of those above topics, and that’s my personal indication of expertise.
How do I become an expert?
* Practice something diligently – e.g.: rockclimbing 3x per week
* Do it a long time, for many years – e.g.: running a company and accounting
* Take classes! – I love taking classes and learning from experts – rock climbing, dance, going to hear CEO’s speak
* Form my own opinions on the topic, OWN the topic – be able to teach rockclimbing, implement company decisions, take a position on the correct way to do something in business.
* Read or watch videos or go live to see more of the topic.
Welcome to Friday questions! Look forward to reading your answers. :)
I became an expert in NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) by falling flat on my face using it…many, many times :P
and then crawling back up again for more!
1) By practicing the techniques again and again on people, always experimenting to find out what works and what doesn’t.
2) Reading about new principles, techniques and methods that I could use, and testing them out.
3) Going into many many coffee chats with fellow NLP practitioners on what they’ve found worked and didn’t work, and playing around with new ideas.
4) Coaching it!
Last, but not least, and possibly most important of all:
5) Loving it (yummy).
Alvin, what a great comment! Thank you. Your site looks great and I’ve been there a bunch! I especially like your #3 – talking with other people about what works and what doesn’t. And totally agree with your #4 – teaching it makes you know it. Awesome! Have a super weekend. :)
Neat question! I’ve DONE things to become expert in systems thinking, personal management, leadership, teaching, information graphics design, interactive computer graphics, and writing.
The steps I seem to have taken with all of this:
1) Be Utterly Self-Aware: In the early stages, I note how I emotionally react to things. When I identify something that feels very good or very bad, I become aware of the situation that is causing it and make a note.
2) The Power of Three: When I notice that I’ve noticed something three times and that they all seem related, I take that as a sign that I need to investigate further. It’s often just a fuzzy feeling, but I am driven to discover the root cause. This is a very intuitive moment.
3) Find the Root Causes, or Synthesize Hypothetical Ones: Because I don’t like to remember a lot of unorganized facts, I try to distill the essence of the observation into “great verifiable truths” or principles. I often will free-associate, consider extremes, transplant other ideas, into the same mold, etc…it’s like playing with a lot of mental toys in a big sandbox. My analytical side notes what happens in each interaction, and my intuitive side tells me if it’s warmer or colder. This is actually a pretty chaotic process and happens very quickly.
4A) Research, then Write It Down: Once I have gotten to the point where I have a good feel for what I’ve discovered, I will do a more general review of the field (Google Searches, Bookstore, Magazines, People) and try to write down what I think is important. This is more of an analytical, linear stage. Principles are written down as concisely, precisely, and succinctly as I can muster (which I can remember). New and old insights are clustered around these principles. Examples are forged, based often on the original triggering experience, and sometimes on related information.
4B) Reduce to Practice: Having had the insights and written things down, it’s time to put it to the test. Does it work as expected? This is when I have to get out of my head and engage my body and the world, otherwise all of the above is just a thought experiment.
* 4a and 4b often occur at the same time.
5) Try to Explain it verbally to an interested person. That’s the real test. If I can engage someone in a conversation about the subject, then I have passed my own version of an oral examination, and have achieved a new level of expertise.
I love doing all the above continuously and constantly…you can’t shut me up :-) I think it’s the finding of connections buried under lots of things, it’s like finding secret treasure. I love collecting insights.
Oh, there’s ONE NEW step that I very recently added (or should add, I should say)
6) Have a Conditioning Regimen: Having the insight and the knowledge is great, but to be really on-the-ball about it, practice practice practice! Find the resistances and push through them, and you will become stronger.
And this one just came to mind:
7) Evolve and Adapt: Expertise doesn’t stand still, so I like to see how my knowledge is changed over time, and by different circumstances.
8) Create a Whole System: These extra points are a good example of that…having identified a critical path or component (steps 1-5), I automatically try to explore from there to find related insights that are implied by the first-pass research, practice, and evolution as time goes on.
I think I’m a semi-expert on a lot of little things, and the way I’ve become that way is to read anything I can get my hands on and to talk to as many of the true experts as I can (as well as their critics, of course). But that’s just because that’s my job as a journalist! I’m not a true expert in any of those topics, in that I’m not the one doing the science or grappling with the ethical issues, but I flatter myself that I sometimes can write or speak about these issues as well as many of the true experts, and sometimes better.
The only topic I’m a true expert on is Lila. I get that way by getting up in the morning and just being! I’m afraid I’m a dabbler in just about everything else.
Hi Dave, cool points! I think I see #3 a lot on your blog: when you distill ideas, excapsulate the most important parts of an argument, etc. I think it’s really cool because on your blog we get to see you go through the process of summarizing those ideas. And yes, I absolutely agree with your #6 – “practice” – that’s super important. Your #5 is like my teaching it to people… that’s a good way to get stronger at it… I like your analogy to an oral exam. Thanks, cool thoughts!
Hi Lila, yes, I’d agree with that – I’m an expert on Senia more than on anything else. And even that, not always! :) That is very neat that by getting into topics very specifically you get to know them so much.
That’s a fun idea, getting to be an expert on yourself! Makes me wish I had more feathers and lived in a giant tree.
Hey, how does one become an expert in accounting? I need that!!!
I’m an expert on ice-cream and gelato. How I got to be this way:
1. I love it
2. I become obsessive about it. I make it into a game and incorporate it into my life: e.g., when I travel for business, I look up and visit homemade ice cream parlors in the area.
3. I make sure other people know about my obsession, so when they see a new flavor or brand on the market, they tell me.
4. I eat it lots and lots, and develop a discriminating palette
5. I read about it
6. I experiment with making it
I love Thao’s expertise. I may be an expert on chocolate. But I’m also actually an expert on losing weight, or at least on losing it using the Weight Watchers plan. That’s through the whole doing-is-knowing process, and the fact that I’ve been a WW member for 6 years. I’m considering training to be a leader during my sabbatical in Boston next year. Then I’d be a real expert!
Aww Senia you’re making me blush :) neat questions, I love your friday questions idea!
I have a different take. It’s not experience that’s the main thing. The bottom line is: are you experienced enough that you can tell people what’s going to happen? Like a car mechanic who can tell the issue with a few looks. Can you tell someone what’s going to happen, and then what you say comes true? So it’s not just about becoming an expert. It’s about figuring out how to make a result happen.