Learning How to Learn [Deep Dive]

The Map Your Education Never Gave You

Quick Disclaimer: Human beings have 3 “centers”- the lower center, the heart center and the mind center. This teaching is an immersive deep dive into the MIND CENTER and INTELLECT.

It is the HEART CENTER that is best at sourcing NEW, living information from the “field of intelligence”.

It is the MIND CENTER that is best at utilizing EXISTING information from the past/present- things that already exist.

Creating COHERENCE in these 2 centers AND the communication between them is an integral part of spiritual mastery.

Todays post will focus almost entirely on the MIND center and how to upgrade your intellectual instrument, so that when you use your mind to act out the instructions from your heart- you get far more out of it.

How we filter information, make meaning of the world, connect dots, and ultimately reason about the world is an extremely important piece of the spiritual path- as these are each obstacles that stand between us and objective reality.

In a later post, I will be deep diving the HEART- and how living intelligence can be sourced through the heart in ways that the mind simply cannot do. Stay tuned for that!

-J

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Take a moment & reflect on your entire upbringing & past education.

Middle school, High school, College, Post-Grad..

Were you ever taught HOW to actually learn?

The underlying mechanics- what learning actually is, how to move beyond memorization and into channeled alchemy..

Or were you merely taught what to think?

If your upbringing was anything like most people’s- the answer is the latter.

Most of us will go our entire lives without ever making the learning process conscious.. navigating one of the most important territories of our life, entirely by default.

This means we lack CHOICE in how we show up to new challenges, skill gaps and weaknesses that present themselves..

...the default tends to be overwhelm, avoidance, or quietly convincing ourselves we’re just “not that type of person.”

Instead of what could be.. enthusiasm, curiosity, and the quiet confidence that comes from understanding how true learning works.

If you’re subscribed to ‘Higher Yield’, I am going to assume you’re quite interested in creating more wealth for yourself.. otherwise you probably wouldn’t be here.

What’s paradoxical about wealth creation is that it’s almost entirely an INSIDE JOB.. & a core piece of that journey is learning how to upgrade your mind, your mental models, your paradigms through which you see the world, and so on.

That’s what today is all about.

I want to preface this post with some context as to WHY I am taking the time to teach you this.

If we distill wealth creation down to an almost molecular level, absolute 1st principles..

Wealth Creation is largely a game of information asymmetry- dressed up in different clothes, markets, and applied contexts.

In 2 words (information asymmetry)- this is the honest truth behind how I’ve managed to compound my investment portfolio at over 54% annually, for many years.

Not IQ, not “outworking the competition”, not selling my soul or sacrificing my values, and not “insider information”..

Anyone who actually plays these games at a high-level knows that- as an investor of any type- all we’re actually doing is trading information via probabilities.

… that’s it.

But in order to develop information asymmetry on a given topic- you usually have to be pretty well-read, a unique thinker, able to distill complexity down into simplicity, have excellent mental models, and so on.

These are the truly rare & difficult aspects of investing- not looking at charts or companies financials or whatever most people think investing is all about.

What I am teaching you today is probably THE most important META SKILL that sits underneath all of your aspirations for wealth.

Before we get into the meat of todays teachings, a quick story for you..

When I was 21 years old, I graduated college and moved back in with my mom- set on building up my first business from scratch.

I didn’t have any experience & I had never built anything like that before.

I was $50,000 in debt, and I didn’t personally know any successful business owners or entrepreneurs I could consult at the time to point me in the right direction.

So I started out like most people would..

Consuming a ton of books, studying textbooks, buying courses, and doing extensive internet research, etc..

I was seeking to establish a broad base of “real world competence”, not just in my craft at the time (Fitness & Health).. but business & life itself.

Those first few years were extremely foundational for me- I devoted my ENTIRE BEING to the process of becoming a LEARNER- with the intention of transforming myself from the inside out.

I knew I wasn’t who I desired to be in this world, in order to serve humanity in the ways I dreamed of.

I knew I needed to transform myself, from the inside out..

School never did this for me, it simply trained me to get really good at memory recall & rote memorization.

But I wasn’t simply seeking to gain new information that I could store in my brain to later recall or regurgitate..

… that isn’t true learning.

I was seeking to embark on a journey that would CHANGE ME, at the very core of who I was.

How I sourced information, the ‘meaning making’ that went on inside of me, the dots I was able to connect and pull from the ether, and so on..

At the time, I had no conscious plan behind what I was doing- I want to be very clear about that. What I am sharing is something that I’ve only realized through meditation & self-examination, looking back.

Initially- I was driven purely by an intuitive pull to become an exceptional thinker and learner. I couldn’t really logically explain why I had such a strong drive to master this topic at that time..

That journey led me down a path that ultimately changed my life and who I was to become.

I had no idea at the time that my GIFT in this life.. would wind up becoming teaching & catalyzing transformation for thousands over the coming decade + many more, over my lifetime.

I devoured every book I could find on habits, spirituality, behavior change, psychology and neuroscience… even venturing into the realms of evolutionary biology, hypnosis & the subconscious mind.

I became obsessed with learning everything there was to know about HOW THE HUMAN BEING WORKS.. underneath the surface.

When I was 23, I began my daily meditation practice- after my 1st real spiritual awakening.

I began to study and map out my ‘inner terrain’- observe my different ‘parts’, my shadow, my inner child, my higher self, my fears, the minds looping, and allllll of the complexity that is “us”.

This took my study of ‘how the human being works’ to whole new heights and accelerated everything I was learning from books and mentors.

These days, people look at what I’ve built and focus on the external results that I’ve been blessed with.

They don’t see what’s underneath.. that everything I’ve achieved is a downstream effect of learning to think differently.

No one taught me what I will be sharing with you today, nor have I ever really shared this publicly.

But- after 13 years, I finally felt ready to put all of this together for you and give you a glimpse into my mind..

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In this deep dive, I’ll be detailing 8 PRINCIPLES that you can start applying IMMEDIATELY in your life, to skyrocket your consciousness & learning ability.

This isn’t some list of annoying productivity hacks or corny tips for remembering anything you read.. those are all gimmicks as far as I’m concerned.

You won’t find many of these talked about in any book, course or lecture..

This is because much of what I have shared today has been learned through directly immersing myself in the field of intelligence, and communicating with & studying consciousness via direct experience.

There is certainly value to be gleaned from books and human information- but when you have access to the source of ALL of creation itself, why would you opt for a human interpretation of it over direct experience…?

Put simply- we will be covering the actual mechanics that sit underneath your conscious awareness and dictate how you interact with reality itself.

The better you can bridge the gap between objective reality (consciousness unobstructed) and your subjective reality- the more wealth you can create IN your reality.

The inverse of that is equally true as well.

My goal by the end of this is to teach you a framework that- once you internalize it- fundamentally changes how you approach every skill, every challenge, and every area of your life where you currently feel stuck, limited, unqualified or constrained.

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1) Learning is Not “Putting Information in your Brain”

If I had a dollar for every time someone has responded “oh yeah, I knew that” after I shared something with them- I’d be a hell of a lot richer than I am today.

The fundamental misconception here is that learning is defined as ‘what we store in our brain’s memory’… and that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Learning is not simply adding information into your brain and attempting to recall it later.. That’s regurgitation.

True learning is the process of upgrading the models you use to perceive, predict, make decisions, and act- in a given area or domain of your life.

Most people confuse exposure with learning.

They read books & articles.

They watch videos on YouTube & listen to podcasts.

They may even highlight what they read & take extensive notes..

& as a result, they genuinely feel smarter.

The underlying presupposition here is that the purpose of reading or studying is to retain information on the pages one is reading.. but this doesn’t scratch the surface of what is actually going on in your neurochemistry & consciousness.

Real learning is a comparison process. You encounter a NEW mental model of the world, hold it up against what you ALREADY believe, and then ASK: does this downgrade my current understanding, upgrade my current understanding, or replace it entirely?

This one paradigm shift alone can change your life.

Generally, your primary focus when learning should NOT BE to attempt to memorize or retain information (in the specific sense), your focus should be on upgrading the mental models through which you see the world through.. to be “less wrong”.

Most people don’t know why they believe what they believe, and yet- they are more interested in defending their beliefs than seeking objective truth.

Don’t be like most people!

Intelligence can be loosely defined as the speed at which one is able to update their mental models of reality- without needing the update to be flattering to their sense of self.

If your models of the world are wrong, you will suffer unnecessarily.

The degree to which you will suffer is largely proportional to HOW INCORRECT your models of the world are..

For example, if you believe that desiring money makes you greedy or a bad person.. your reality will reflect those mental models you insist on seeing the world through.

Wrong models are just wrong maps- and wrong maps take you somewhere you never intended to go.

In that sense, my aim with this comprehensive deep dive is to help you start to make more accurate meaning of the world, and ‘learn how to learn’ more effectively.

If you can manage to do that, you will get 10x more out of my Substack than others- who will simply read the words, try to remember them for later and then go about their life unchanged.

2) Your Intention & Attention Are Superpowers

Your conscious mind is not a great processor.. It’s more like an executive dashboard.

It receives a tiny, compressed, curated summary of what your nervous system has already filtered.

In other words- you do not consciously perceive reality.. you consciously perceive the brain’s simplified rendering of reality.

Take a moment, close your eyes and really sit with that fact, as it is imperative to fully grasp- before we go any further.

You do not consciously perceive reality.. you consciously perceive the brain’s simplified rendering of reality.

This is why intention & attention are so powerful.

You are not just “adding knowledge” to the water & tissue filled oval sack in between your skull…

You are training your subconscious faculties (RAS) to notice specific patterns more efficiently & make more context-specific meaning of the world.

This system in your brainstem filters & largely dictates what your conscious mind can physically notice, perceive, or tap into.

Where you focus your intention & attention, you increase energy.

Where you increase energy, you provide more substrate for transformation.

& where you provide more substrate for transformation, you give your unconscious & conscious faculties the best chance at remodeling the way in which you make meaning of + relate to objective reality.

But there’s a catch..

3) You Need a Map, You Can’t Accurately Perceive Reality

The brain has very limited conscious memory bandwidth, roughly ~40-60 bits/second..

Most raw data coming in from the field of intelligence gets filtered by our subconscious faculties- which can handle closer to ~11 million bits/second.

That’s roughly a ~250,000x difference in what our conscious & unconscious minds can handle, at any given time.

250,000 to 1. Read that again.

When you’re trying to learn something new, become someone new, or see the world through new eyes- it’s going to require more than just thinking about said things with your attention/intention.

You also need to maximize the amount of CONSCIOUS BANDWIDTH your mind can devote towards the topic or aim..

& since that bandwidth is 250,000x more limited than your unconscious mind, you’ll need to COMPRESS incoming information into something your conscious mind can actually work with.

For anyone who has ever experienced a plant medicine journey or accessed enlightened states of consciousness- you likely experienced very quickly how hard it was to filter what you were experiencing or had experienced into WORDS…

This is exactly what we’re talking about here- the conscious mind is seriously limited compared to what your unconscious faculties can perceive.

Thus, the value in utilizing compression..

Compression allows the unconscious mind to “imprint” knowledge into long term memory, & allow a new way of thinking to become second nature… or what we often call habit.

This is where mental models and 1st-principles thinking really shine.

If you’re a student of mine or have consumed any of my work over the last few years- you’ve likely heard me use these terms repeatedly.

That’s because THEY WORK.. EXCEPTIONALLY WELL.

& it’s not just me who thinks this..

Elon Musk, Aristotle, Rene Descartes, Richard Feynman- all EXCELLENT 1st principles thinkers, and big proponents of using “mental models”.

‘1st Principles Thinking’ is the act of distilling a problem or topic down to its most basic, undeniable truths- and then reasoning upwards from there. If you cannot distill something down to simple 1st principles, you don’t actually understand it yet.

When you’re first trying to think through a new topic or learn in an area you aren’t competent in- the amount of raw data you have to take in overwhelms the conscious mind.

Remember.. you only have ~50 bits per second to work with.

When the territory is unfamiliar and the problem is genuinely hard, your conscious mind will short circuit before it can ever see the full picture.

That’s just how the human system works..

1st principles thinking & mental models are the solution to this.

They don’t dumb things down.. they compress data into meaning. This gives your conscious mind something it can actually bite into, without losing the essence of what you’re trying to understand.

Just think about the amount of complexity & micro-problems that had to be solved for- before Elon could fire rockets into space, or train cars to drive themselves..

Rather than trying to approach complexity head on- Elon uses “1st principles thinking”- and distills complexity down to its core verifiable essence.. Then he works upwards from there.

This “meta” approach to thinking & learning is life changing, because it allows you the ability to think through massive complexity & problems without short circuiting.

If you lack accurate mental models, or don’t think this way AT ALL- you will take in that same information and likely just feel overwhelmed, unable to fully grasp higher level implications or struggle with the context of where to PUT said new information.

I want to quickly take a moment & stop here, to highlight how important this distinction is to your own understanding.

None of us had any conscious control over the body we were born into, and we have fairly little control over our IQ or intellect- but we ALL have autonomy over how we approach learning & problem solving.

When I started applying these frameworks, something shifted in my reality

I was solving complex problems in my life and connecting dots that others around me couldn’t even see.. and I knew it had nothing to do with my barely-above-average IQ.

Before I understood any of this, I went through life treating every problem like it was a nail.. just because a hammer was the only tool I knew to use.

The problem is.. not EVERY problem is a nail.

Without the ability to step back and identify what kind of problem you’re actually dealing with, you spend your whole life hammering at things that were never nails to begin with.

What I’m describing is effectively a ‘meta-skill’.

Your IQ doesn’t necessarily get smarter.. your models of reality do.

4) Understanding Is Compression

To understand something is to make it simpler, without making it false.

Read that again and really sit with what this means, before moving on.

Whereas a beginner sees 100 disconnected pieces, a master sees ONE interconnected pattern.

In order for this to occur, the brain has to consolidate information from the realm of the conscious mind- to the realm of the unconscious mind- where it can be imprinted into LONG TERM memory.

It does this through something called a “schema”- a vast array of details compressed into a usable structure.

This is another way of thinking about the usefulness of mental models and heuristics.

Let’s say you read a 300 page book on architecture, but you’re a software developer by trade..

On the surface, this may seem like a waste of time to pursue- but for anyone who is deeply familiar with my work, you know I am a huge proponent of “skill stacking”.

After you finish the 300 page book, unless you have a photographic memory and are some form of savant- you will need to use your conscious mind to COMPRESS the key models/heuristics/principles that you took away from that book- into a form of “schema” that you can save for later.

For those who are A.I. fluent, allow me to use an analogy!

What I’m describing isn’t very different from the .md files that we use to train & provide repeatable instruction files for A.I. agents and such- in their native language.

Markdown (.md) files have character limits, so does the human mind.

Our minds & nervous systems optimize ruthlessly for EFFICIENCY, no wasted space!

When we go to “save” information into our processor (the subconscious mind)- it is extremely useful to imprint a form of visual or mental MAP of the concepts or principles, rather than trying to remember a bunch of quotes or random facts.

If I had to give ONE tip on the topic of compression, it would be to step back from what I am saying and reassess HOW YOU SPECIFICALLY LEARN, when you sit down to learn.

Let’s do it right now actually, since you are learning as you read this very word!

This write up contains a LOT of words and information- too much for you to retain and regurgitate.. So what do you do?

Well, so far- you’ve probably hung on a few particular concepts or things I’ve shared that emotionally resonated the strongest with you.

At the end of this- if I were to put you on the spot and quiz you, it’s very likely you would maybe be able to explain those core 2-3 concepts to me.

Not bad, but certainly not superhuman.. Which is what this write up is intended to help you become!

Here’s my challenge for you.

After each section of this deep dive, before you move on, stop and explain out loud- how what you just learned connects to a concept or principle that you already know.

Not my words. Your words.

Your synaptic connections. Your meaning making & contextualizing.

That one habit is compression in action..

It’s the difference between reading this and actually allowing the new information to restructure how intelligence organizes in your mind.

A given section in this write up may be ~500 words- you can’t possibly store that to rote memory.

What you CAN store, however, is a “compressed zip file” of the simplified meaning that you make from the entire ~500 word section.

3 excellent questions you can ask yourself to improve this “meta-skill” are:

• “What is the one sentence TLDR of this entire section?”

• “How would I draw or simplify this into a visual diagram?”

• “What is the core principle beneath the examples?”

The better you get at simplifying complexity, the better learner you become- full stop.

.. because real learning isn’t about storing information. It’s about understanding something deeply enough that you can reconstruct it from scratch, in your own words, from your own internal map.

5) It’s Supposed to Suck

To actually trigger adaptation & growth, learning must stretch you.. If it doesn’t, you’re likely not learning much at all.

I’ve had the following belief projected onto me more times than I can count..

“If it was meant for me, it would feel easy.”

Here’s why that’s so dangerous: it presupposes that ease = good and pain = bad.

& that one assumption- left unexamined- is quietly responsible for more stagnation, unfulfilled potential, and spiritual bypassing than almost anything else I’ve encountered.

I’m not calling anyone out. I’m naming an archetype that I think most of us have lived or known at some point.

Learning is not very different from spiritual work & inner healing.

To quote my mentor: “healing hurts”.

The idea that healing is supposed to feel LIGHT and GOOD and UPWARDS is… well.. detrimental in & of itself! (Sorry new agers)

The reality of truly healing is absolutely BRUTAL.

It’s gritty. It’s dark. It’s isolating at times..

You feel like you’re going literally insane.

There is no way around that- it’s built into the nature of unwinding into your “true self”.

In the same way (see how I’m using cross-discipline analogies to deepen comprehension 😉)- remodeling your CONSCIOUSNESS and how you make MEANING of the world- is not supposed to be easy or feel smooth.

If you’re trying to learn something brand new, and it’s feeling smooth- you aren’t anywhere near your threshold or “growth edge”.

That information is either not nearly advanced enough for you, or you already have some degree of familiarity with it- and thus, a “place to put it” in terms of context & meaning making.

Allow me to outline what TRUE LEARNING should feel like, in the moment.

Let’s say you’re reading a book or consuming a course..

Right off the bat- there are going to be words or phrases you just don’t know- you may think you know what they mean.. But you aren’t sure.

It’s crucial you stop to look them up.. And not move past the sentence until you’re crystal clear on why the author used that word and what the sentence is intended to MEAN, energetically.

Subtle nuances lie between what is said and not said, as well as in things like word choice.

If I say “unwinding into your true self is going to hurt”.. vs. “evolving into your true self is going to hurt”- those 2 sentences have profoundly different implications, both in terms of what was spoken and what was suggested on a more subtle level.

In this hypothetical instance, it’s your job to marinate on the word “unwinding”..

Picture what it means visually, energetically FEEL into the word.. Why did I choose that word? What picture does it paint in your system?

This is a crucial part of learning.. The skill & practice of internal, meta-cognition.

Thinking about your thinking.

Notice we are still only 1 sentence into my example!?

“Slow is Fast, and Fast is Smooth”

As you are taking yourself through the deeper implications of what I could possibly have been implying by the word “unwinding” and what that might mean to YOU, and your specific journey..

Your mind & consciousness are experiencing “hormetic stress”- the good kind of stress.

You’re straining, at your EDGE, trying to compare or contextualize what that sentence may be intended to mean, and where that might fit into (or differ) from the way you currently think about healing or spiritual growth.

This feeling & internal process is the “fertilizer” required for true learning & upgraded meaning making.

As you read on, maybe I share a concept that goes a bit above your head.. Either in depth or breadth.

Rather than just blowing past it, take the time to really sit with it and re-read it, until you understand it deeply.

If you can’t sit there and explain it back to me in your own words, then you may want to pull up a thesaurus, dictionary, or even ask A.I. to rephrase the sentence or paragraph in an “easier to comprehend way”.

What you’re looking for is the ONE SENTENCE (TLDR) that can summarize that whole section.. But they have to be YOUR WORDS- or they aren’t “sticky” enough for your subconscious to hang onto and file into long term memory (meaning).

I could go on, but I think you likely get the point here..

The process I just walked you through is the opposite of sexy.

In today’s world, the average person’s attention span is absolutely COOKED.

The average person doesn’t read anymore.. Instead, we ask ChatGPT for a ‘10 bullet point summary’ and even that- we quickly skim.

True learning cannot happen when you outsource your understanding.

I use A.I. every day of my life, I would consider myself A.I. fluent and was an early adopter in the technology.. And yet, I am saying this.

Human nature already had the odds stacked against us.. biases, cognitive shortcuts, and an almost gravitational pull toward comfort and familiarity.

Then we built a world where you never have to think hard again if you don’t want to.

Google it. Ask ChatGPT. Scroll until someone explains it in 30 seconds.

The temptation is everywhere.. & most people aren’t even aware they’ve stopped thinking for themselves.

But my Substack isn’t for “most people”.

If you’re here, you’re different.

I know that because no “normal” person is taking the time to read a meticulous, bordering on autistic write up, about “how to learn” and “metacognition” 😂

The most important takeaway from this section is to embrace the “suck”, and understand that knowledge compounds over time..

& forms something I call “Mental Leverage”.

Mental Leverage is the idea that, in the beginning of learning ANYTHING, it sucks. It doesn’t FEEL good..

But if you can push through, the 2nd time is a little bit easier. The 3rd time easier still.

By the 10th time, an hour of focused effort yields what used to take ten- because the mental models are built, the vocabulary is internalized, the core principles are mapped.

The friction that stops most people is gone. What remains is pure leverage, compounding over time.

The territory becomes familiar. The map becomes second nature. You’re effortlessly forming connections across domains that you couldn’t even see before!

Extrapolate that across hundreds of repetitions and you enter a different category entirely.

I experience this constantly- sitting in on earnings calls, researching investments, consuming the exact same information as Wall Street & the Big Institutions.. yet the insights I extract are things most people in that room never caught, never connected, never even registered.

It’s as if I’m pulling things down from the ether..

This is the compounded result of years spent building better mental models, more accurate meaning-making frameworks, and a uniquely personal lattice of interdisciplinary knowledge.

What emerge from that foundation are insights so unorthodox.. so far outside conventional thinking.. that they create an almost unfair advantage in whatever domain you apply them to.

That’s what’s available on the other side of what I’m teaching you today.

That’s what I’m pointing at.

There will come a day- sooner than you think- when you’re sitting in a room consuming the exact same information as everyone else, and walking out with something most of them completely missed.

That gap between you and everyone else in that room is what Mental Leverage feels like, experientially.

6) We Learn Through Contrast

A concept only becomes truly useful when you know what it is and what it is not.

Think about that for a moment.

Contrast, comparison & reflection require structure to exist..

Without structure, consciousness is just raw data- it’s not until it organizes into some form of structure that intelligence can form.

& as humans- it’s through relativity (structure) that we are able to input raw data and turn it into context specific knowledge.

Allow me to give you a specific example..

Imagine you’re walking down the street right now- and you hear loud, chaotic noise..

Your body would likely contract- right? It’s unpleasant. You would likely want to move away from it.

Now imagine your favorite song coming through your headphones.

The ingredients that I just outlined are identical.

Same air, same waves, same raw material..

What’s different is their structure, organization & coherence.

Noise (chaos) transforms into music (order) the moment it’s given a form it can house itself in coherently.

The process of learning is no different.

What I am describing is metaphysics 101.

Once consciousness organizes itself inside structure… coherence and intelligence can emerge- & this isn’t merely a human phenomenon. Every living thing responds to coherence when it encounters it.

It’s why genuine beauty transcends language, culture, and species. Why a piece of music can move someone to tears in any country on earth. Why a truly remarkable insight- one that points at something real- carries an almost aesthetic quality to it.

Real truth is beautiful. And beauty, at its core, is coherence made visible.

The problem is we live in a world that mistakes measurability for truth. If something can be proven from one or two angles, it gets stamped as unquestionable.. even when it collapses the moment you examine it from a third or fourth.

Here’s what the intellectual savants understand that most people don’t..

Coherence IS intelligence.. & the more coherence you can discover across seemingly unrelated systems, the more intelligence you can tap into.

One lens forms an interesting idea. Five lenses makes that idea even stronger. Fifteen lenses… across completely unrelated domains? That’s when you know you’ve likely stumbled onto what you could call a universal or supreme truth.

Einstein’s Theory of Relativity holds up universally. Every condition. Every context. Every angle. That universality is the standard real understanding should be held to.

Knowing something in one context is familiarity. Understanding it means it holds up everywhere…

- bottom up and top down. Theoretical and observed. Atomic and macro. Cause and effect & systems-level.

The more angles a single insight survives, the closer you are to objective reality, and the less distance between what you think you know and what is actually true.

I realize this particular section is intellectually dense. Take a few moments to sit with what I am speaking to and do your best to make meaning & contextualize what I am saying, before moving on!

At it’s core, this is what learning is really all about.

The best learners develop a feel for the “golden thread”- the underlying principle that runs beneath the surface of seemingly unrelated domains.

Skill stacking, comparison via analogy or heuristic, building a dense lattice of mental models- this is how you develop a form of intelligence that transcends any single field of knowledge.

Do this long enough, and something shifts.

I can’t tell you how many breakthroughs I’ve had or very complex life problems I’ve solved, by stepping WAY outside of that domain and looking at things from the perspective of physics, or nature, or consciousness, or art, or mathematics, or sports.

Oftentimes, problems go unsolved for years in certain domains or crafts- because “it’s hard to see the picture, when you’re in the frame.”

The most powerful move you can make is to step back, practice meta-cognition, and approach the problem the way a child would- with no prior assumptions about what tools are supposed to work.

That’s when completely original insights become available to you- seemingly out of thin air.

This section may sound esoteric to some.. but it’s what gifted thinkers & learners have practiced all throughout history. They just don’t tend to share this kind of information publicly.

Here are a few questions you can start using to build this muscle:

• “Where else is this true in life?”

• “Where does this idea/concept break down or not apply?”

• “Does this principle apply in nature?”

• “What isn’t science factoring in or considering about this?”

• “What might the industry experts be overlooking?”

7) You Must Have a Feedback Loop

Learning requires constant error correction & the routine + gradual updating of mental models that may become outdated- as your subjective map of reality expands.

Without a solid feedback loop built into your life- you can spend years practicing the wrong thing, and become quite skilled at being wrong!

This is one of the biggest blindspots I see students get snagged on, who may be doing great in many of the other areas we’ve talked about today..

Human nature leads us to broadly do whatever we can to avoid criticism, rejection, and failure- especially in front of others.

Evolutionarily speaking- being “wrong” in front of the tribe used to be synonymous with DEATH- which is part of why so many people have irrational fears of public disagreement, speaking out against a crowd, and even public speaking.

But if you want to become an exceptional learner- there is no way around creating an environment in your life where you consistently and proactively receive direct and honest feedback- even if it doesn’t feel good.

Without this one step- bad habits, incomplete thought processes & incorrect paradigms & mental models set in.. and once they’re at the level of the unconscious- they are VERY hard to change.

One of my biggest “cheatcodes” as a learner has been teaching to groups of students & presenting my ideas publicly on social media for over a decade.

It is through this process that I am really able to refine what I actually believe, reflect on WHY I believe that, and really stress-test if I could possibly be wrong or misunderstanding said thing.

There is not a single time I can recall, where I’ve sat down to put together a masterclass or in-depth “deep dive” teaching on a subject.. that the process of putting all of my thoughts/knowledge down on paper doesn’t reveal MULTIPLE blindspots, cognitive biases, assumptions or errors in thinking that I was harboring.

Yet, I couldn’t see them before sitting down to “teach” them.

I’m constantly being sent “back to the drawing board” to go fill in gaps, see where I was lazy in my thinking or assuming something to be true without actually researching it deeply enough.

& btw, what I am describing to you literally occurred in the process of me writing this deep dive that you’re reading right now..

The version of “me” that existed BEFORE spending the amount of hours that I’ve spent going from “I have some sense of how this works” to “my deep dive teaching is ready to go”- is completely different from the version of me that NOW exists, after completing this endeavor.

This feedback loop allows me to find and correct my own cognitive laziness IN REAL TIME, repeatedly. Over the course of years- this has turned me into such a better, more accurate and honest thinker & learner.

The simple heuristic is: If you cannot teach what you think you know to an 8 year old, in a few sentences, in a way they can understand it- you don’t actually know it.

One thing we built into the LUC to help with this: students picked a company from our approved LUC investments list, did a full deep-dive research thesis on it, then presented their investment case to the group.

There were panelists who would ask questions and stress test ideas.. & they would receive anonymous feedback form ratings in a variety of areas afterwards- to gain feedback as to where they excelled and where they can improve on going forward.

Part of what they were graded on and guided to do was take complexity and make it really SIMPLE.

After 100+ hours of research, study, and preparation- can you explain to me the investment thesis in ONE SENTENCE?

If you can’t, you likely have more true learning to do!

No amount of reading words or watching videos on the topic can give you that insight, it has to be derived from within you- in the process of transferring raw data into SIMPLIFIED MEANING.

THAT is true ‘1st Principles’ understanding.

Without great mentors, teachers who push you, or outlets/practices like writing your thoughts down & sharing them with others- you are missing out on a huge feedback loop that separates the best thinkers and learners from everyone else.

There’s a level of self-honesty you simply cannot reach on your own.. you need skin in the game.

You can tell yourself to be rigorous. You can promise yourself to be intellectually honest.. but until you’re forced to put your ideas in front of people whose opinions you respect (or the entire internet)- you won’t truly confront the gaps, the lazy thinking, or the places where you’ve allowed bias to breed.

I would be NOWHERE near the wealth of knowledge, nor quality of thinker I am today, had I not chosen the path of being a teacher to countless others.

It’s not everyone’s path.. but everyone CAN and SHOULD find simple ways to create a feedback loop between what you learn (inputs) and what you think you know (outputs)..

This is another reason why I highly encourage FAMILIES to get involved and go on this journey TOGETHER. You can discuss ideas, continue conversations deeper at home, hold each other accountable, and so on.

In the LUC, we had TONS of families who participated as a family- and I personally love to see that. Can’t recommend it enough, if you want to get far more out of your ‘Higher Yield’ experience!

(If this is something that potentially interests you, we offer a substantial discount for families/friends who want to join as a group- each with individual accounts! More info below)

At the VERY least, simply writing these few things down for yourself after every learning session will go a LONG way:

1. Few key takeaways from the learning session?

2. How did you arrive at those concepts/models?

3. Why are they so important?

4. Can you explain them via analogy or metaphor, from an unrelated area?

Small change, huge difference in result over time!

8) Congruences & Identity Determine What Sticks

Identity determines repetition- plain and simple.

If you believe “I am someone who learns hard things”, “I am the co-creator of my life” or “I am capable of what I set my mind to”- you naturally behave differently from someone who thinks intelligence is fixed or that they’re a victim.

I would be remiss if I didn’t close out on the one area that really dictates whether all the mental approaches that we covered today even stick… identity.

If you are not congruent with making mistakes, growing through them, and choosing truth over familiarity and cognitive biases- I would start there.

The science here is very simple.

Most of long term learning & memory happens during our sleep processes..

Our beliefs, emotions & identities literally TAG knowledge and learnings as either “important” or “unimportant” during the synaptic pruning & memory consolidation stages of sleep…

& guess what determines what is perceived as “important” to your nervous system?

Your congruences.

Your beliefs.

How you perceive yourself.

How you direct your intention & attention.

This is why I practice various forms of self inquiry, meditation, reflection, and studying my internal world DAILY- and have for over a decade now.

This is why I’ve prioritized working with coaches & mentors for the last decade- who possess elevated mental models, paradigms and beliefs that I don’t (yet).

This is also why the FOUNDATION of my entire life is spiritual- not career based, or appearance based, or money based or status based..

Those areas are great but they sit on top of WHO YOU TRULY ARE.

Most people will read 10 ‘self help’ books before they will ever look in the mirror, feel into their heart and really face the pain, fear, sadness and aloneness that they hold onto.

Take a moment & notice where that landed in your body as you read that..

THAT is where the real work is- and the more you LEAN INTO that area of “self development”- the more coherent, integrated and YOU you will become.

I had every limiting belief, congruence & unhealthy coping mechanism under the sun when I started my “adult life” and set out to try and make something of myself in the world..

& no one handed me the MAP I am handing you!

It is a very common misconception to think of learning & change as purely cognitive- it is not.

It is biological, it is metaphysical, it is emotional, it is psycho-somatic, and it is identity-based.

The very substrate that makes up YOU must change.

This may sound like a lot.. & it is, I am not going to lie to you.

- but can you think of a more worthwhile and important human endeavor, while on planet earth…?

I can’t..

& just remember, this is over a decade of lived experience and synthesis- you don’t need to master ANY of this overnight.

Pick 1-2 things and start working on them immediately, that’s far more important than getting down on yourself because there is a large gap between what I am speaking to and your current “self”.

You can do it, I believe in you!

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Now, let’s come FULL CIRCLE to where we started today’s teaching.

Picture the version of you, that when faced with a new challenge.. immediately feels that ‘all too familiar’ feeling of overwhelm, disconnection, doubt, or insecurity.

Then the stories & ‘meaning making’ creep in…

“I’m just not that type of person”, “others have it easier than me”, this isn’t for me”, “I’m too busy for this”...

I could go on and on- but I think you get the point.

What we are examining here is not a personality trait, nor is it fixed.

This is merely what a person looks like when no one ever handed them the map.

Overwhelm & doubt ARE the default when you’re flooded with too much, too soon.

Uncertainty has a tendency to create a FREEZE response in people- but this is a muscle that CAN be and will need to be TRAINED.

What I’ve put together for you in this extensive write up is not a map of the external world.. but of your INTERNAL world.

This is how your own consciousness actually learns, upgrades itself, and becomes more coherent- at the level of the mind.

But I want to be very clear about something before we part ways..

The map itself will not change your life.

Learning to USE it will.

Reading this once and feeling inspired will produce absolutely ZERO long-term benefit to your life.

Returning to these principles, practicing them intentionally in your day to day life, letting them slowly reshape HOW YOU SHOW UP in the little moments- even when it’s messy..

THAT IS LEARNING.

& that’s when the compounding begins.

Mental Leverage doesn’t accumulate in a week or even a month. It accumulates across thousands of micro-decisions to lean INTO the difficulty, instead of away from it.

To lean into your ‘growth edge’ over & over- and understand that “the way out is through”.

To build your own understanding, instead of borrowing conviction!

To consistently seek feedback & mentorship, even when it’s uncomfortable!

To approach a brand new domain with a child-like curiosity & enthusiasm, instead of hiding behind old familiar stories from the past!

Over time, if you can commit to this, these decisions won’t just make you a better learner & thinker..

They will transform you into a completely unrecognizable person!

The real question is: what are you going to do with this information?

How are you going to move this information from sitting at the level of your MIND- and integrate it at the level of your BEING?

Please.. don’t just close out of this write up and move on with your life.

Sit with what you’ve learned.

Talk about it as a family.

Compress it into your own unique understanding.

Turn my shared wisdom into mental models you can actually USE.

Apply them immediately.

Let them change you.

Then go do it again & again.

Happy learning,

-J

PS: This piece represents over a decade of lived experience & countless hours spent synthesizing + distilling into one post. If it moved something in you, please ‘restack’ / share this post or send this to a friend who would find value in it & drop a like/comment for me letting me know what was most impactful for you!