Scott Young

concepts such as interleaving practice, leech thresholds, or keyword mnemonics

Ultralearning: A strategy for acquiring skills and knowledge that is both self-directed and intense.

believe there are three main cases in which this strategy for quickly acquiring hard skills can apply: accelerating the career you have, transitioning to a new career, and cultivating a hidden advantage in a competitive world.

what else could I do that I was hesitant to try before? Learning, at its core, is a broadening of horizons, of seeing things that were previously invisible and of recognizing capabilities within yourself that you didn’t know existed.

new part-time projects, learning sabbaticals, and reimagining existing learning efforts

core of the ultralearning strategy is intensity and a willingness to prioritize effectiveness.

What matters is the intensity, initiative, and commitment to effective learning, not the particulars of your timetable.

Public speaking is a metaskill,” he feels. It’s the kind of skill that assists with other skills: “confidence, storytelling, writing, creativity, interviewing skills, selling skills.

Once, when faced with the choice between polishing an existing speech and creating a brand-new one from scratch, de Montebello asked what he should do. Gendler’s response was to do whichever was scariest for him.

The director taught de Montebello to give his speech dozens of times in different styles—angry, monotone, screaming, even as a rap—then go back and see what was different from his normal voice. According to de Montebello, that helped break him of the “uncanny valley” that happened when his normal speaking delivery felt slightly unnatural.