HOW TO BECOME AN EXPERT

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HARD IS GOOD, EASY IS BAD

In my opinion, one of the most valid heuristics in life is: “hard is good, easy is bad” – great ‘entities’ are time honored; and becoming an expert is not an exception.

Benjamin Bloom, (one of the pioneers of the psychology of expert performance) carried out a retrospective study probing the childhoods of some expert performers in a wide range of field in the 80s. Surprisingly, his battery of researches indicated that there are no correlation between expert performance and IQ. What tends to correlate with expert performance is the amount of practice – not just mere practice but what is called “deliberate practice”

In the book, Moon walking with Einstein, Joshua Foer gave a great description of what it takes to be an expert (or to be great at something):

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3 stages in acquiring new skills:

Cognitive stage: Here, you are learning the techniques and “tricks”; so you will definitely make lots of mistakes.

Associative stage: Here, you kind of get a hold of the techniques; efficiency increases, with fewer mistakes.

Autonomous stage: You are in the flow. You get rid – for the most part – the conscious control associated with the prior stages. Joshua Foer called this the “OK plateau” “The point at which you decide you are OK with how good you are at something , turn on autopilot, and stop improving”

{For clarity: Think of when you started driving versus now (assuming you are good at it)}

Here is the key to becoming an expert: Stay off the autonomous stage.

How? Let's follow the prescriptions of expert performance psychologists:

 1, Take on deliberate task beyond your competence and comfort. (Focus on techniques)

2, Be goal oriented (laser focus)

3, Get a very robust feedback (which means you have to continuously monitor progress aggressively) And tweak actions based on feedbacks

Psychologists believe that 10,000 hours of this process leads to expertise.

The important point here is – when you are doing this, you get your ass stuck at the cognitive stage! (Which is literally, the art of practicing failing)

By default this is hard - it should be - but remember: Hard is good, Easy is bad.

This is almost like the "Law of gravity" for mastery, even the super-smart don't defy it.

Let me end with this apt quote from Macklemore “The greats weren't great because at birth they could paint, the greats were great because they paint a lot!"

FALLIBILITY OF YOUR RISK ASSESSMENT

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When it comes to risk assessment, it turns out that our rationality is often compromised – seriously.

This formula (attributed to Peter Sandman): Risk = Hazard + Outrage will expose most (if not all) of our risk irrationality.

Research prior the 80s (I think) found the correlation between the hazard of a risk and upsetting nature of the risk to be incredibly low, on average the correlation was about 0.2 and with a percentage of variance – 0.04 ... blah blah blah

In a more colloquial term, the conclusion was: the risk that kill people is very different from the risk that get them really perturbed.

In some other words: when outrage is high, even though hazard is low, we overestimate risk. Same way, when outrage is low, and hazard is high, we underestimate risk.

Few examples to clarify:   

If you have an option to donate to a charity that: a) Caters for cardiac patients or b) Caters for terrorism victims. I assume that there will be an overwhelming skew of funds directed to the terrorism victims. So the question is – why?

Let’s answer with a question. How will you feel when you hear the news of ‘someone’ who dies of heart disease versus a terrorist attack? Which one get you most upset? That’s the outrage factor in play.

The less the familiar, the more the outrage; likewise the more the familiar, the lower the outrage (The probability that someone dies of heart disease down your street is way too high, compare to that of terrorist attack. [With very few exceptions – the northeastern part of my home country will be a notorious exception]

It turns out cardiovascular disease is the top cause of death worldwide and the number of terrorism death victims terribly pales in comparison. (Just google)

I covered a United Nations Foundation event on clean cook stove last year summerat Washington DC as a science journalist, and I found out that “there are about 4.3 million deaths annually as a result of exposure to smoke from traditional cook stoves and open fire worldwide, which implies that a life would be claimed by cook stove smoke in 8 seconds. This mortality rate surpasses the death from malaria, HIV and tuberculosis combined” Isn’t that astounding!

On pure statistics ground, your money should go to a cardiac center or a clean cookstove non-profit. However, this argument might be faulted from a moralistic point of view, but never with numbers.

You feel more in control while driving, but in flight you are scared off (after all, you don’t even have an idea what the pilot looks like) The outrage is high, consequently perceived risk shoots up. Even though the data shows that more people die of car accidents than plane crashes.

Another question: do you really bother about global warming? or does global warming bothers you? Be brutally honest. My best guess is No(for both questions); why? Because outrage goes up when you think something bad is going to happen to you (I guess we are hardwired to be selfish); and when you think is going to happen now rather than later, it’s even worse. In the case of global warming, outrage is low even though hazard is high, so to ‘most of us’ there isn’t any risk.

This is generally called the perception gap: The distance between what the facts say and how much fear you feel. The bigger the gap the messier it could get.

To wrap this up I think your money should go to terrorism victims charities just as for cardiac patients (terrorist threat should be diminished), workout to prevent heart disease (at least do you best), be careful when you drive, remember the data on your next flight (Visualize a cool handsome (or beautiful) pilot if that helps) and yes Global warming is real! 

SMART OPTIMISM

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Let’s consider this epigram “prepared for failure, ready for success”

It could sound mundane but it’s an extremely powerful philosophy which most of us jettison while we plan. I will like to shorten the epigram as ‘Smart Optimism’

Going through life I have constantly be reminded of so many rules, one of which is – anticipate failure. This is, of course, the best way to abate disappointment when it comes.

The train of thought garners perfect sense only if you try to separate life and disappointment. Try it and tell me if you see anything else than an inevitable debacle!

So why not find a common ground? – Smart Optimism

If you agree on the inseparability of the duo, let’s take a quick trip back in time to hmmm..., say around 2,000 – 3000 BC and kindly consider these 3 scenarios

One, if you are going into a Lion’s den, and you had an option to pick an orderly. Who will you pick? If I were you, I will pick Samson! (or maybe David)

Two, if you are going into the forest to hunt, who will you pick? Esau?

Three, assume that the last night before your trip to the forest, you had epiphany: a lion descended on you, and coincidentally you had the clement opportunity to pick 2 orderlies the next morning

Who will you pick?

I had bet Samson will be by the left, Esau by your right.

In the end: What you know cannot really hurt you.

ON JUDGEMENT: “IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO”

Kindly consider this: 2+2.

I can bet what comes to your mind. Four right?

Question: Did you think before the number [four] came to mind? No, I guess. Guess what?: that’s your unconscious in action and Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahnemen refer to this as the system 1 (fast thinking).

However, if I ask you to consider this: 754*53. You probably know how to handle this but you have to go through your systems 2 (slow thinking) and dish me the answer.

If there is anything I learnt from Blink by Malcom Gladwell, it’s the ability to trust my instinctive judgement better. Some people tend to trust their conscious decision and are completely uneasy with the system 1, it turns out that there are several occasions where the unconscious judgement is far superior to the rational judgement.

Have you ever spotted a lady (or a guy) and the within a split second you knew “she (he) was just right” Have you considered why? When we meet someone, we don’t run through the list of desired qualities [our conscious mind comes up with], on the other hand, the system 1 takes over. In fact, a body of research has shown that – for the most part – It turns out that: “our conscious explanations regarding our ideal romantic partner have very little connection to whom we really end up liking”.

Or the story of a firefighter who ‘felt’ something was wrong and told his co-workers to evacuate the building. The next minute the whole building collapsed. He couldn’t give any reason when he made that decision (thanks to system 1!) only to invent rational explanations for the decision later: he gave some weird description of the dynamics of the fire that wasn’t just right.

It seems the unconscious come to our aid when we don’t have luxury of time (and vice versa)

Also, our impressions are generated by our experiences and of course – social learning.

You are probably not a firefighter. If you assume the position of the firefighter above, how will you have fared? Probably, pretty bad. Why? Your unconscious wouldn’t be able to help, because your repository of experience as a firefighter is completely void.

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So which is the best? I do think, for the most part, the ideal best-decison-maker-in-the-world will not exclude the intuitive judgement nor its rational counterpart. Afterall “It takes two to tango”

CHARLES DARWIN’S CAREER CHOICE, AND HOW TO BUILD A THRIVING STATE

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The development of a state is contingent on the success and failure of the comprising individuals; and the most positive impact of such individual to the state is one that apparently delivers the best. So, what defines the best?...

Born in 1809, Charles Darwin – dubbed ‘father of evolutionary biology’ – is one of the most hallowed scientists in the history of man. Still, his choice of a career is all but riveting. His father who wanted him to toll the family lane by becoming a medical doctor was irked by Charles’s interest in becoming a naturalist. Young Charles was touted for his teeming interest in natural history, nature and collecting. In his Autobiography he wrote ‘the passion for collecting, which leads a man to be a systematic naturalist, a virtuoso or a miser, was very strong in me, and was clearly innate’. This statement opines a man who knows his strength, and equally brave enough to follow his passion. In stark contrast – when he was in medical school, he found the lectures boring and surgeries upsetting. Later in life he was ‘destined’ to discover the theory of evolution and natural selection.

In addition to Charles Darwin’s seminal discoveries that revolutionized science, in my opinion – his life has divulged the key to build a thriving environment: the best we can do for our society is to engage in activities – passable on the path of the law – that brings out our very best.

What are my strengths? Where lies my passion? What are weaknesses? How do I perform? These are questions that should reverb in our minds, and ‘roll in our brain’ before we make decisions on what to do in life. Logic then opine that we should build on strengths – not weaknesses – and follow our passion. However, extant environmental conditions might be unsteady, the economic clime – deserting. More often than not, this usually lead people to make decisions that drives a mediocre career, and on the extreme side – lead to an umbrageous debacle.

Peter Drucker stated in his classic book – Managing oneself:  ‘Knowing where one belongs can transform an ordinary person – hardworking and competent but otherwise mediocre – into an outstanding performer.

MY MIT PhD APPLICATION, AND THE 3 IRREFUTABLE BIOLOGICAL LESSONS OF HISTORY.

First, life is competition. Here is Will and Ariel Durant in their 1968 book: Lessons of History

“Competition is not only the life of trade, it is the trade of life – peaceful when food abounds, violent when the mouths outrun the food”

I have met folks who have repudiated competition, at almost every level. “I dislike competition” so they will say. Even more ridiculous, “I don’t compete”. As if nature request an opinion to make her decisions. The pith is, whether you like it or otherwise, you are in for a great deal of competition, long before you are conceived: remember, the races of the spermatozoa is an upstream one. I applied to a PhD program at the MIT last fall, I thought I had a chance, and maybe I was right. But here is the reply I got:

“You a very fine candidate but due to copious amount of applications, we could not grant you an admission”

Well, that’s probably how an African young man ‘competes’ with a “Lui Chi Tang” in faraway Asia or a nerd from an ivy league. Don’t be fooled life is replete with competition.

Second, life is a selection:

“We are all born unfree and unequal: subject to our physical and psychological heredity, and to the customs and traditions of our group; diversely endowed in health and strength, in mental capacity and qualities of character”

Well, what’s is the odd of you being “successful” if you are born in the US versus a sub-Sahara African country. Or what is the odd of you becoming rich if you are born into a family of billionaires? High right? However, this is not to imply that once you are born poor you remain so. On the contrary, life is also replete of improbable success stories, albeit a deviation from the norm.

Third, life must breed: Durants wrote:

“Nature has no use for organisms, variations, or groups that cannot reproduce abundantly. She has a passion for quantity as a prerequisite to the selection of quality”

I remembered my social studies tutor in high school made us memorize functions of humans, and guess what number 1 on the list was: PROCREATION!

         

SOCIAL PHYSICS

In traditional physics, the flow of energy is followed my motion, in the same vein in social physics, the flow of ideas precedes behavioral changes.

Would you consider yourself to be pretty independent? You probably make your own decisions based on your own personal, rational thoughts, right?

Well, social physics has divulged that this is quite complicated – that we are not as independent as we thought.

We are quite influenced by the behavior of our peer group – which is not restricted to only friends, it also include mere passing acquaintances.

We often belong to many peer groups at once. For example, you could be a soccer-loving (one peer group) in a book club (another) a research lab (yet another).

I found Automatic social learning (ASL) to be quite fascinating: just as direct contact is imperative for idea flow, indirect contact (what we observe people doing, and overheard conversations) is also as important. Remember that particular verbiage you keep using, only to find out it's was because some friends were using it? That's ASL: you picked them up unconsciously/subconsciously. Afterall, there are social disincentives for being starkly different from others in the environment -- even if you are doing the right thing in some cases.

 Bottom line:

Vet your milieu; watch out for absurd behavioral changes; and explore for diverse and "healthy ideas" to drive good behavioral changes.

 In fact the latter is why am so BIG on books.

ROAD TO GRADUATE SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: PART 2

This post is a continuation of the post:  Road to graduate school in US, part1 

FINANCIAL AID AND SCHOLARSHIP

One of the disparities between the US graduate school application and for countries like the UK stems from their financial aid methodology. The financial aid and scholarships in the United States are usually on a rolling basis and you can apply at any time during the application for admission. However, some graduate schools only accept applications at certain time of the year usually fall (August).

Majorly, US graduate school scholarship subsume the following:

1.      A partial tuition fee waiver: The graduate school waive a certain percentage of the school tuition.
2.      Full Tuition scholarship: All tuition are waived
3.      Full Tuition scholarship and Assistantship: This is the acme of most US graduate school scholarships where all tuition are waived. In addition, there will be an employment with the university in the form of a Teaching assistantship or Research assistantship or Graduate assistantship with a certain amount to be paid  that will help cover the cost of living in the United States.

SCHOOLS

Searching for schools is one of the most inundating stage during the US graduate school application. Some people pay some institutions/agencies for this service, however, I would stoutly advise to do it personally. First, you delve for schools that offers your proposed course of study. Make good use of google and other search engines to search for schools.

There are plethora of websites for searching US graduate school on the internet.  Second, make sure you contact each and every one of them primarily through email (Emails are always conspicuous on the school / program website and phone calls could also be made) Enquire about the graduate program, financial aid, exam requirements, academic profiles and a host of others. Below is a template of an enquiry e-mail. 

Subject: Prospective Student

Hello, I am xxxxx from Nigeria I had my Bachelor’s degree in xxxxxx from xxxxxx university. My final C.G.P.A is xx/4.0 or xx/5.0. Am keenly interested in the graduate(M.S/ PhD)  program in xxxxxxx in your university. I will love to enquire the following about the program/graduate school: (i)Can I apply to this program with my Bachelor’s degree? (ii)How can I be eligible for the program's financial aid? ……….

 xxxxx

THANK YOU.

The paramount decision you will make is your choice of graduate school. If, for example, you are applying to 4 schools, I would apply to a top ranked school, 2 middle ranked school, and one lower ranked school in order to maximize opportunities. Let me reiterate the importance of contacting graduate schools before application, this will prevent wasting application fees and most importantly time on schools that would not grant admissions.

In conclusion, from my stated opinions and experiences there is quite a great deal of disparities in the requirements for graduate schools, therefore the examinations you take and the application procedure will be dictated by your choice of school.

INCENTIVES AND DISINCENTIVES

Incentives and disincentives literally drives the world. Knowing how to manage the duo determines the success and the failure of any state or an individual. I will argue that this will be the only solitary reason that will most justify the ostensible backwardness in the African continent versus other progressing continents. Impunity metastases when you fail to reward hard work; and, accordingly if you fail to penalize slut and/or misconduct.

Imagine for a second, if there are no yellow or red card rules in soccer? Brutality becomes the name of the game.

But just like about anything else, a disincentive/incentive can go completely wrong. A pair of economists conducted a study of ten day-care centers in Haifa, Israel. Parents often come late to pick up their kids, so they decided to introduce a fine of $3 (disincentive) for coming late. Before the study, there are about 8 late pick-ups per week per daycare centers. Surprisingly – or rather not – after the introduction of the disincentives, the number of late pick-ups surged up to about 20.

Stephen Levitt and Stephen Dubner in one of their Freakonomics edition gave a replete explanation:

“You have probably already guessed that the $3 fine was simply too small. For that price, a parent with one child could afford to be late every day and only pay an extra $60 each month... What if the fine had been set at $100 instead of $3? That would have likely put an end to the late pickups... But there was another problem with the day-care center fine. It substituted an economic incentive ($3 penalty) for a moral incentive (the guilt that parents were supposed to feel when they came late) for just few dollars each day, parents could buy off their guilt”   

More interesting and expectedly, after the $3 fine was removed, the frequency of late pickups failed to drop.

While incentives (disincentives) drives a state, the ‘freaks’ stated “Any incentive is inherently a trade-off; the trick is to balance the two extremes”

ROAD TO GRADUATE SCHOOL IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: PART 1

Below I highlight the basic information needed for admissions into graduate school in the United States: This first part covers planning, preparation of transcripts, and examinations, while the second part will cover scholarship and application information.

PLANNING

Application to graduate schools in the United States is relatively lengthy compared to equivalents in countries like the United Kingdom. Therefore, I would advise to start preparation around 12 months before your proposed start date for optima results. For example, if you are planning to start your program by Fall 2016 (August)  it’s very imperative you start taking examinations around August 2015 and delving for schools much earlier before that date: this is very essential for doctorate programs.

Planning essentially involves taking the required examinations, preparation of academic transcripts, searching for schools and, of course, applications.

PREPARATION OF ACADEMIC TRANSCRIPTS

The United States uses the 4.0 scale grade point average system while we use 5.0 scale in Nigeria. Therefore it may be important to convert your C.G.P.A to the American format i.e 4.0 scale. To know your American G.P.A you have to evaluate your transcript through World educational services (WES). The synopsis of this process include: send the transcript for your bachelor’s degree to WES, at a specified fee, they will convert your G.P.A on a course by course basis to generate the 4.0 scale American G.P.A. Afterwards, WES would be the institution to forward transcripts to the recipient schools for application. Visit www.wes.org for more details. Note that evaluation methods depends on the school you are applying to; while some schools will require you to do it, through WES, some universities do it themselves by charging a fee during the application process.

EXAMINATIONS

The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is one of the most imperative examinations required by graduate schools in the United States. They are of two types: (i) the revised general GRE test, this examination basically test your quantitative, verbal and writing skills. This is required by all graduate schools (Some graduate school do not require the GRE especially if the applicant is not applying for financial aids) (ii) The GRE subject test: it’s an examination on a specific subject relating to the proposed graduate studies; for example, a person who is applying for a graduate program in molecular biology might be asked to provide a GRE Biochemistry subject test score, however, this is rarely required. www.ets.org/gre is the Uniform Resource Locator for the GRE test. You can get all information needed about these examinations on the website. Based on personal experience, the revised general GRE test is an exam that should not be rushed. If you are ill-prepared you will do a bad job really good. Most people advice to prepare for 6 months.  

Another examination that could be required is Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), it is a test for English proficiency. A very good alternative to this exam is International English Language Test System (IELTS). From my point of view the best accepted English proficiency test for US graduate school is TOEFL. (Some schools accept IELTS as an alternative, however, I think IELTS is more accepted in the UK and other European countries.)

This will most likely be beneficial if you are applying or some sort of scholarship for example most prospective international students that seek teaching assistantships will have to submit an English proficiency score.    

TOEFL is quite an easy exam that essentially test your speaking, reading, listening and writing in the English Language. Again, www.ets.org/toefl is the Uniform Resource Locator for TOEFL. You can get all information needed about these examination on the website.