Today at a Glance
Ever wondered what the true secret to change is?
Today we dive into Phase 3 of “The Anatomy of Change” and explore the true secret that contributes to lasting personal growth.
In this edition, we discuss how rapid learning is related to personal change and how to learn best and faster.
Discover the four cornerstones of rapid learning and the #1 method to excel in learning at any age.
Let’s dive in…
“Change isn’t for those who need it. It’s for those who want it.
While in many ways pain makes the process of change easier, the truth is you don’t have to hit rock bottom to make a transformation. Change is always within your grasp if you can summon the willingness to ask for it—and most importantly, receive it.”
This was written today by one of my idols—Rich Roll.
Rich is a former lawyer and alcoholic who found himself at rock bottom at age 40.
He turned his life around by cleansing his body, adopting a healthy diet (plant-based in his case), and training for a triathlon. But he didn’t stop there. He went on to compete in the Iron Man Hawaii. And he didn’t stop there either.
What made him famous was “Epic5”—5 consecutive iron man races on 5 consecutive days. Insane. Today Rich is a bestselling author, ultra-athlete, public speaker & host of The Rich Roll Podcast—and entrepreneur.
He turned his life around through simple, foundational lifestyle choices.
But what Rich also did was unlearn old patterns and acquire new knowledge and skills.
And that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about today.
"Change is inevitable. Growth is optional."
The Anatomy of Change — Part 3
As mentioned in previous newsletters, personal change is a complex process that can be influenced by various mechanisms.
We call it “The Anatomy of Change”.
It’s a 9-phase process resulting in transformation:
Phase 3: Education and Learning
Let’s delve deeper into learning and skills.
Should we?
How learning is related to personal change
Personal growth, personal development, and personal evolution are only other expressions for changing oneself for the better. You focus all your energy on building the new you, instead of fighting the old self.
Learning is the core process of that. Acquiring knowledge, skills, attitudes, or behaviors through study, experience, or teaching.
Building the New You is an intentional transformation of one’s thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, or circumstances to achieve desired outcomes and personal growth. Intentional lifestyle design so to speak.
Let’s talk about the four cornerstones
Knowledge acquisition
When you seek personal change, e.g. changing your lifestyle into a fit and healthy one, you need to acquire new knowledge and information about the desired change, strategies for achieving it and managing potential obstacles.
It’s often a rocky path with a lot of ups and downs.
You need to gain an understanding of the field or topic to make informed decisions, set goals, and develop action plans.
Skill development
Intentionally developing a holistic health-based lifestyle design requires you to develop new skills or enhance existing ones.
This includes training your body for functionality, eating the right foods to enhance your brain performance, and regulating stress and emotions through mindfulness techniques.
Skill development is like acquiring the necessary tools to enact and sustain change in your life.
Changing perspectives and beliefs
Challenging and expanding your perspectives and beliefs, lead inevitably to personal growth.
That’s where coaching works exceptionally well. Especially if you don’t want to spend years poking around in the dark.
For example, while most people train their strength based on muscles, we do it based on movement. Similarly, while most people cook and eat based on recipes, we do it based on simple principles.
Plus, exposure to new information, diverse viewpoints, and different experiences repeatedly challenge existing beliefs and open up new possibilities.
We are naturally curious, love to learn, and explore alternative perspectives. This transformative process reshapes our thinking, beliefs, and attitudes.
Continuous improvement
The secret is to never stop. The only constant in life is change. We need to keep up.
It requires an ongoing commitment to growth and improvement—the personal evolution journey. At Toyota this became one of the leading principles, fostering a mindset of curiosity, exploration, and lifelong learning.
If you actively seek knowledge, seek honest feedback, and embrace a growth mindset, you’ll continue to evolve and refine yourself, sustaining personal change and fostering ongoing personal growth.
How to learn best and faster
The “Learning Pyramid”, developed by the National Training Laboratory, indicates that students retain only 10% of what they read, but recall nearly 90% when they teach others. Obviously are certain study methods more effective than others.
Diversifying techniques can lead to deeper learning and better retention over time.
The Learning Pyramid
We incorporate all the different types in our coaching program. We encourage our clients to share what they learn with their family, friends, and peers.
We focus fully on practical steps and actions.
And we advise everyone who wants to speed up learning and growing:
Practice (by) doing
Practice by doing is a form of “Discover Learning”. It is one of the most effective methods of learning and personal growth.
Take what you learn and put it immediately into practice. This promotes deeper understanding and moves information from short-term to long-term memory.
Practice by doing makes the material more personal. You adapt it to your personality and make it part of your identity by forming relevant habits. You make it meaningful to you.
That’s why we always strive for making it a unique experience which ultimately leads to a more in-depth understanding of the material, greater retention, and lasting change.
That’s it for today.
Hope you enjoyed it (and learned something new).
This is Part 3 of our big “Change Series”.
Revealing the other 6 phases over the next few weeks.
If you want to reread the previous parts… here you go:
Part 1: How to change yourself (and your life) on awareness
Part 2: How to get motivated (and never stop) on motivation
What’s going on in our world
Over the last few months, we have been working on an exciting project – writing our first book. We can’t wait to share more details about it with you soon.
Travel updates:
We are currently in our second week on the Pacific Coast of Mexico and plan to stay here for one month in this enchanting place between the jungle and the ocean.
Over the last four months, we have experimented with a variety of environments and conditions.
The learning experience on what is conducive to energy and productivity has been incredible. We will share more about this soon as well.
As always, stay fit, stay active, and enjoy your life.
Ketty & Markus
