the Curious Persons

Guide to
Learning
Anything
in a relatively short amount of time

Stephen Robinson
An Introduction
of sorts

After 52 weeks of learning a new skill every week, I’ve boiled down the process of learning anything quickly,
effectively and without excuse into 6 (quite obvious) steps and 8 (soft and cheeky) pages.

Want to learn how to do something awesome? Here’s how…

This neither a book, blog, video or vlog, but a sharing of steps and strategies
used to learn a bunch of stuff, in a small amount of time.

The Curious Persons Guide to Learning Anything 2

Step #1
write it down
One of the greatest advantages human
beings have over…non…human beings, is
our ability to document. It allows us to get
completely immersed in a concept or idea,
write it down and, without warning, focus our
attention on something completely different −
all without having to worry about whether or
not we’re going to forget about it later that
day. And don’t worry I agree, stating a
conventionally known concept seems like an
odd way to start The Curious Persons Guide
to Learning Anything. But hear me out − The theory paraphrased to the left of this courageously
drawn picture is called “The Ratchet Effect”. It is thought
to be what allows us to build on and learn from previous
ideas and concepts passed on from our past selves and
Because I think that writing stuff down is
other people. Humans use it to build languages, cultures
and just about everything you can think of that involves
totally underrated.
more than a sitting to create.

Myself, and many of the folks I call friends, find it frustrating when four out of five − figuratively speaking of
course − of their favorite fantasies end up falling through the fold. Why did, and does this still happen while our
ability to write hangs so proudly above our heads? My theory, is that without some form of documentation, these
so called “fantasies” float around our imaginations and rarely gain enough traction to move up the next ratchet
(as seen slightly above where your eyes are currently focused in the italicized block of text in the middle right
portion of the page). Like the most vivid and memorable dreams leave our minds without the application of a
dream diary, so will our thoughts and desires without the application of a list.

When starting 52skillz, there were an immense number of things I had always wanted to learn, but never had
the guts to follow up on. By writing down the fantasy that was “52skillz”, I took a desire to learn and create
something new, and brought it one step closer to becoming a reality. Taking it from a wandering concept in my
head, to something I could tangibly hold on to, look at and work with.

The Curious Persons Guide to Learning Anything 3

Step #2
set a date

Tesla recorded his “eureka moment” when studying alternating current. Alexander the Great wrote down his
plans for world conquest. Michael Phelps documented his goals while on the path to becoming the worlds
greatest swimmer; but if it wasn't for the sense of urgency created by what each of these historic badasses
were up to, it is unlikely that anything noteworthy would’ve gotten done.

Same goes for you.

The Olympics are a pretty big deal, for many people it is the culmination of a lifetime of concentration,
dedication and hard work. Because its such a big deal, with a tangible date people can work towards, it
makes going through such an emotionally and physically taxing process a joy. Not something that is
bearable. Not something that is doable. A joy. Michael has the Olympics. You need to find yours.

For Example

Most of my life I've wanted to sing in front of a crowd, but never did anything about it. The classic excuses
about my innate musical ability, how busy I am or how “everyone will hate it” would come up and prevent me
from following through on what I wanted. In classic 52skillz fashion, I decided to change that.
I wrote down my goal, chose an open mic date and signed up for it. This committed myself to spending that
week improving my singing ability, and in turn writing some half decent lyrics. Because I had a deadline
staring me dead in the face, with dire consequences if I didn’t put some solid effort in: I had finally followed up
on something I’d wanted to do for years. And five days of pain, growth and failure later, I was able to
absolutely kill it at the show and feel great about crossing another item off my bucket list.

Which would've never happened if I hadn't...

CALENDERED THE
CRAP OUT OF IT.
…so do that.

4
Step #3
tell your friends
We are social animals. Most of our lives are
spent trying to appear strong, presentable
and sexy in the eyes of our peers. Facebook
knows it, Twitter knows it, and that cute
person you see everyday definitely knows it.
Hell, you probably even know it you
bodacious ball of positivity and life you!

But to be totally sure, let me clarify.

The thing that social media giants, marketors,

I bet this guy just told his friends he wants to
media and most wildly successful people learn how to drift a car. And I bet they are
have all figured out: is the concept of social totally down to help.
accountability. When harnessed properly,
this can have a massively positive impact on
an individual’s life.

Let’s go back to Dr. Swimmypants (aka Michael Phelps). This is a guy who had more social accountability
holding him to his goals than you or I may ever have. By entering into the Olympics as a talented and
promising athlete, he had the expectations of not only his country, but the entire world shoveling urgency
down his throat. Even though each person was not directly watching or coaching him during his training, the
idea of not following through on the expectations of THE FREAKIN WORLD (I imagine) is pretty friggin
daunting. In turn, this kept him on track to becoming one of the most successful Olympic athletes on the
planet. Its how I consistently learned a new skill every week for a year (minus the whole world watching
thing), and its how you’re going to be held accountable to following up on the things you want to do.

Do you remember the date you picked?

Share it with as many people as possible. Seems obvious, but for one, I warned you at least two times (one
in bold lettering) that this was going to be obvious and secondly, very few people actually do it. If you are
committed to learning this skill, before turning to the next page, put down the Kindle, hide this window,
uninstall Adobe Reader, close this book, or burn the pages in a fiery display of passion − and share your
chosen date and what you want to do with your ten closest friends. Post it on Facebook, or make bet.
Whatever you think will motivate you to get this train moving forward.

The Curious Persons Guide to Learning Anything 5

Step #4
fail hard

The gap between where we are and where we want to be, can be bridged by failure. TONS AND TONS OF
FAILURE… let me explain.

Before starting 52skillz, a large portion of my resistance towards trying new things manifested in how I
framed the concept of failure. I would think about talking to said girl, playing said show or trying said new
thing. In turn, immediately fanaticizing about the various types of gruesome things that would arise given a
rejection or failure in said area. Like most individuals, I framed failure as a bad thing. That it was a waste of
time and a way to identify weakness in myself. By failing at something, I was proving to myself that I was
inherently poor at said thing and, should focus our time and attention elsewhere. So why even try?

After a year of failing fifty two times on camera, and two hundred times more off camera, I’ve come to realize
that this perception is a restrictive, and totally backwards thought process. Through constantly failing
throughout this entire year, I have learned, and experienced more than in any other year, met more incredible
people than any other year, and grown more as an individual than any other year.

Failing is the best thing that ever happened to me.

If you ask doers, learners and achievers what they think about failure, I guarantee they will tell you that:
failure is the only way to get somewhere meaningful, that it is a necessary and healthy part of doing
something incredible. Morgan Freeman had to fail for 50 years before becoming one of the most respected
stars in Hollywood. Steve Jobs had to get fired from Apple before turning it into the most profitable company
in the world. I had to fail for a week trying to build a synthesizer before creating the most annoying noise
machine known to man. And though it can hurt in all sorts of places at the time, hot damn is it satisfying when
everything comes together.

“We are all failures – at least the best of us are.”

- J.M. Barrie

The hardest part about doing what we want, manifests in our concept of failure as a bad thing. Want
to learn how to play guitar? Re-frame your concept of failure as learning, fail for four months, and
you will be better at guitar than everyone else who was too scared to try.

The Curious Persons Guide to Learning Anything 6

 Step #5
ask for help

We (assuming you’re human) have evolved in communities

as an incredibly socially active and interdependent
species, which for the majority of our existence, have
depended on collaboration to survive. Asking for help and
being part of a community is in our DNA.

But often, to me at least, that doesn’t feel like the case.

“The 52skillz in a year challenge
would have been about half as cool
if I wasn't willing to ask for help.”
-Me.
Yes I’m Quoting Myself.
Living in Westernized modern day culture, I think that
many of us have the tendency to live lives of relative
solidarity. To "figuring it out ourselves”, “living the capitalist
American dream” and becoming "a strong independent
black women". But as much as we'd like, we can't all
become a strong independent black women
Early on in the 52 week challenge, there where many times
where asking for help would’ve taken an incredible load off
my back. The synth would’ve been built much quicker,
becoming a less shitty roommate much easier, and
learning how to edit much less painful. But, for whatever
reason this simple task paralyzed me.
I had such a hard time asking for help because I believed
that X person wouldn’t truly want to help me do Y thing
because of reasons A, B or D (C doesn’t get one).

Which again, is total non-sense. I mean, its reasonable to feel guilty about asking for help if you’re asking
you’re pal to rob a bank or break up a marriage *if you’re using “The Curious Persons Guide to Learning
Anything” to do that, you may want to look up “The Not Cool Persons Guide on How to Suck” instead*. But
if its something where you feel you are providing clear value to this individual, in turn for the value they are
providing you, there is no reason for you not to ask.

Whether that value is seen as getting on a cool Youtube channel, spending more time with a good friend,
or just giving someone the opportunity to share what their good at, people will appreciate you reaching out
and asking, even if they can’t lend a hand.

The Curious Persons Guide to Learning Anything 7

Step #6
own it
So you've written it down. You set a date. You've shared the crap out of that date with all of your
friends. You’ve failed harder than you've ever failed before, and you’ve asked for help.
What the heck else could learning or doing this new thing want?

The good news is, this is the easy part.

No longer do you have to worry about laying the foundation, because you're standing on it my ever
more attractive reader (did you get a haircut recently? It looks great by the way). Now all you have to
do is focus on that date you set, and polish your skills so that when your version of the Olympics
comes rollin around, you can friggin OWN IT.

One More Example

One of the biggest challenges of my year, was building the 52nd skill. It was a chain reaction of
events involving every skill I had learned that year. The project took two months to build and from an
emotional, logistical and engineer..i...cal standpoint it was the most difficult thing I have ever done.
During the build thoughts of doing something easier for the 52nd skill, compromising on the vision or
just giving up kept floating around my head. BUT because I:

1. Wrote it Down 3. Shared it with My Friends. 5. Asked *begged* for help

2. Set a Date 4. Failed 1000 Times 6. I OWNED IT

I had the proper foundation set to support me in pulling off something amazing, without compromising
on the vision. To make something that I am, and will always be proud of.

And with complete and utter disregard for avoiding cliché, YOU CAN TOO.

The Curious Persons Guide to Learning Anything 8

A Conclusion
of sorts

Reading is easy.

Reading non-fiction or self help is an opportunity to immerse, interpret, learn, and inspire (and all sorts of other
descriptive words you would encounter at a Tony Robbins’ convention). It is something that has been, and will
always be, an integral part of my life.

That said, there is a large flaw in the process of reading− which is magnified even more when the book is well
written. Some authors do such a good job at conveying their message they can inspire feelings of productivity in
an individual, even if that individual never acts on any of the tips or strategies contained within the book. This is
speaking from personal experience.

In the case of The Curious Persons Guide to Learning Anything, reading is not enough.

The whole purpose of this guide-book is to provide you with the steps and strategies TO DO. To take action, and
finally learn and experience all of those things you’ve always wanted to …… learn and experience. So please,
when you finish this paragraph I will only ask you to do two things: take a minute, write down three things you have
always wanted to learn, put it somewhere you’ll see every day, and like us on Facebook #52skillz #learneverday
#facebookrullz.

Thanks for reading, and happy learning.

The Curious Persons Guide to Learning Anything 9