Jack Murray - BlogThere's a minimum effective dosage for skill development437 words (approx 3 min)

I’ve been finding there’s a minimum effective dosage for improvement on any skill. It sounds kind of obvious, but as someone who loves learning loads of things, it's been a bit of a forcing factor to prioritise.

It’s a simple analogy, but imagine your current skill level in some area as a circle. In order to grow your skills, you want to grow that circle.

The inevitable problem, however, is that there is a kind of subtle gravity that is pulling the circle to be smaller at all times. Every single day. That’s forgetting things, mainly. How to do things, how concepts link together, etc.

In order to get better at something, you need to be pushing that circle outwards enough that over time you will grow the circle despite the forever gravity pulling the skill circle inwards. This is why consistency is so key, because every day this gravity adds up.

But it’s also why there’s a minimum effective dosage needed to improve. Think of it as a minimum stimulus needed in order to force you to adapt. In order to push the circle larger, after the gravity has taken its cut for the day.

For example, doing 5 min of language practice every day might be better than nothing of course, but it’s probably not enough to make the circle grow. It’s also like lifting the same amount of weight in the gym and never increasing it or the amount of volume or reps you do, and/or being inconsistent on frequency.

This analogy seems to hold up across loads of different skill domains from language learning to academics like mathematics, as well as fitness domains like cycling and lifting. I'm sure it also applies to other areas too like art, public speaking, dancing, and so on.

If you’re not monitoring and hitting the minimum effective dosage to stimulate growth in yourself over time (which on average should feel uncomfortable at all times by definition), then you will not improve.

You are constantly fighting against biology. Your body and mind will regress down to exactly what they are taught to need (or love), nothing more and nothing less.

So make sure you hit your minimum effective dosage for the things you want to actually make progress and get better at. Don’t spread yourself too thin, and instead focus on where you really want to progress and pile in on what might be the an optimised dosage to maximise progress.

Meanwhile, be okay with putting some other areas into maintenance (equal effort to the gravity pushing inwards) on the remaining things, or being comfortable with regression.