New Cognitive Research Shows Gaining Knowledge and Achieving Mastery Comes Down to the Rule of 7

 

 Think you don't have the talent for entrepreneurship? For leadership? For programming, for design... for whatever pursuit you may want to, um, pursue? 

According to HubSpot co-founder Dharmesh Shah, people – me included – often conflate talent and skill. To Shah:

• Skill is something that's learnable
• Talent is the rate at which you can acquire a particular skill

Makes sense. Some people have a talent for math can acquire math skills more easily than someone – also me included – who doesn't have a talent for math. That doesn't mean I can't get there, though. It just might take me longer.

Science agrees, at least to a point. According to a study published last month by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (h/t to Wharton professor Ethan Mollick), students improve in academic performance at the same rate with each study/practice session.

"Whereas initial knowledge varies substantially across students," the researchers write, "we found learning rate to be astonishingly similar across students."

The real difference tends to lie in initial knowledge. (Think of that as "talent"). Yet with practice, any student can reach a "mastery level." 

How long does it take to master a particular knowledge component? On average, about seven sessions. 

The Rule of 7

Call if the Rule of 7. As the researchers write:

Our evidence suggests that given favorable learning conditions for deliberate practice and given the learner invests effort in sufficient learning opportunities, anyone can learn anything they want. (my bold)

Granted, our ceilings may vary. My initial talent (and because of that, my knowledge) of math is probably lower than yours.

So while we both may learn at the same rate, my math skills will likely never match yours – unless you stop trying to learn. That's where perseverance kicks in. In many pursuits, the person who finishes first is often the last person to give up.

But still: as Shah says, most of the things you may want to achieve require skill, not talent. Take software engineering. 

While a highly complex skill, at a fundamental level, software engineering involves functional decomposition: Taking a problem, determining the highest order of function required and then breaking it down into smaller and smaller supporting functions until, as Shah says, "individual functions at the atomic level are so simple they're trivial".

The good news? Most pursuits, no matter how involved or complex, can be broken down the same way.

Say you want to start a business. At its highest order of function – building and running a thriving small business with dozens or even hundreds of employees – the thought might seem overwhelming, especially if you don't feel you have a "talent" for business.

The key is to break it down into lower level functions. Accounting. Sales. Marketing. Management. Customer Service. Operations. Fulfillment. 

Still sound daunting? Keep breaking each into smaller and smaller functions. Take accounting; at the simplest level, you just need a way – a notebook or a spreadsheet works fine – to track your expenses and revenue. (It won't take you seven practice sessions to learn that).

Later, it might take seven sessions to get a solid handle on the ins and outs of sales forecasting.

But that's okay, because accounting – at least to the degree required to run a small business – is a skill you can acquire, regardless of the level of math or financial "talent" you bring to the table. Given you invest in sufficient learning opportunities, you can learn anything you want. 

I'm not a math whiz – I still have to ask my wife how to calculate certain percentages – but I've gained sufficient accounting skills to run my business and to understand and make smart decisions regarding the financial and tax complexities involved in our rental properties. 

Given my wife's talent – her initial knowledge – she got there faster than me, and will always be ahead of me... but I learned what I need to know, and am still building on that knowledge.

Which is the real key to the Rule of 7: You can learn anything you want to learn. As the researchers write:

Some readers may object that near constant student learning rate unrealistically implies that everyone can master advanced level calculus or interpret abstract data.

Indeed, not everyone has favorable learning conditions nor will everyone choose to engage in the substantial number of practice opportunities required.

However, our results suggest that if a learner has access to favorable learning conditions and engages in the many needed opportunities, they will master advanced level calculus.

Even so, you don't have to become an expert in your pursuit. Take small business; you don't have to be the Elon Musk of innovation and the Sara Blakely of sales and the Mark Cuban of venture capital.

You need to be good at a number of things... and great at one or two. 

So don't let feeling you don't have the talent for a certain pursuit hold you back. Break it down into lower and lower level functions.

Then apply the Rule of 7 to relatively lower level functions, and commit to studying, practicing, and getting feedback on your performance. (A simple way is to test yourself, both for the feedback and because testing yourself significantly increases both learning speed and long-term retention).

As Shah says, regarding starting a business:

Figure out what set of skills you need to acquire. Some you'll be good at acquiring, because you have the talent. Others you'll have to grind it out more than other people may... but it's doable. It's a doable thing.

If I can do it, anyone can do it.

The last line is self-deprecating, but as research shows, also accurate. Depending on your initial knowledge – your level of talent – it may take a while. It may take five, or six or even seven sessions to gain a firm grasp.  

And that's okay, since "given the learner invests in sufficient learning opportunities, anyone can learn anything they want."

Because you may not have the talent... but if you embrace the Rule of 7, you can always acquire the skill.