Time Management Tuesday: An Ultralearning Case Study, Principle 9, Experimentation

Almost done with this ultralearning arc.

Gail at a Van Gogh Exhibit

This chapter of Ultralearning by Scott Young begins with another lengthy case study, but this one is about Vincent Van Gogh, and I liked it. Van Gogh didn't take the traditional-for-his-time route to becoming an artist, which was to attend art school or apprentice in a studio. According to Young, Van Gogh was not perceived as having much talent and was considered odd. Thus he became a self-educator. Inspiring story.

Young's point with this chapter seems to be that true mastery of a subject comes when you've acquired enough skill that you need to move on from instruction to something else. You need to do something with what you've learned.

He gives examples of types of experimentation and how to experiment.

Our Case Study: The whole point of what I'm trying to do is to learn enough about a subject so I can use it as a jumping off point for fiction, to create a character, to create a plot point or two. So on the one hand, I will be doing something more with what I've learned. On the other, I don't think I can be described as experimenting with the field I've been studying. I'm not trying, for instance, to come up with a new theory of history. (Great Man Theory, Marxist Theory, Feminist Theory, etc.)

Hmm. My historian character is trying to take a nontraditional route to getting into his field. Maybe I should consider this Van Gogh business some more.