Practice, feedback, knowledge - LEARNING

Last week I achieved a goal that, three years ago, I wouldn't even have set. I cycled 100 miles in one day. And I got up the next day feeling fine. This, for a 55 year old overweight woman, ain’t half bad.

(Before I go any further, for all you fast moving CTC cyclists out there, my stats are pretty poor – 8 hours plus cycling, average speed 11.6 mph, total time including breaks, 11 hours. Think I won’t be challenging Rebecca Romero this year – or ever)

Now, I’m pretty chuffed with myself. But the real question is how did I, someone who’d not ridden a bike since she was 12 or so, get here? And the answer is – knowledge, feedback and practice and more practice, feedback and knowledge. I bought a bike, joined a club and started to ride – practice. The club members gave me fantastic feedback about my progress – they never discouraged me, even when I gave up and walked up a hill. They gave me valuable hints and tips on my riding style. (Feedback) I talked to the experienced riders in the club, I asked for help in bike shops and I read everything I could find about bikes and bike riding - knowledge. My confidence grew – and that’s how I achieve my goal.

Together these three magic ingredients – practice, feedback and knowledge – add up to learning. And learning is my passion, because it’s through learning that we change ourselves and our lives. It’s learning that makes everything personally possible. Without this trinity of practice, feedback, knowledge we achieve very little.

There’s a very fashionable belief that what we only need to think about something for it to happen. There is, it seems, some evidence for this. But even this remarkable experiment shows that practice, even if it’s just in the mind, is essential. And I bet Dr Yue had to encourage his volunteers (feedback) to keep up with the exercises (practice) and he’ll have told them what to do in the first place (knowledge). So the trinity still remains all powerful – practice, feedback, knowledge.

So, for all those of you who hope that things will change through your thoughts alone, it seems unlikely. Thought is powerful, but it’s internal. I can think something is true, but I need knowledge to back up the thought and make it real. It’s practice that makes it happen. And it’s the feedback from others that makes the process golden. Through feedback we have more knowledge which gives us better practice – which leads to better results. A fabulous, virtuous, circle.