What if you could speed up your learning ability?

You could finally reach your potential. Imagine how good that would feel.

The ability to learn and make changes is one of the three most important elements of success in cricket. So how exactly to you teach yourself to learn better?

There has been plenty of research into the topic, and while the field still has not got to the bottom of what makes people exceptional, they have had some ideas of what may help.

Why not give these things a try to see how they go.

Everything is open

Research in the last few years has been looking at “natural talent”. Turns out that it's not as important as we thought.

While it's clear that not all cricketers are equal, its also clear that hard work improves you. It's possible that even the most average talent can become a master at cricketing skills. And that means that putting in your “10,000 hours” can see you acquire high skill levels.

Copy the kings

We all pretended to be our heroes as a kid. It turns out that this idea of copying is an important learning stage. Just like you would use a recipe to learn how to cook a meal, you can use the methods of top players to avoid mistakes and learn faster.

Of course, unlike a good chili, you are different from your heroes. That means that you can have fun trying to copy the stars, but you also need to keep in mind if the method works for you. We are not all Graeme Smith.

Imagine doing well

Brian research has long known that, to our minds, there is no difference between a real experience and an imagined one. Think what that means for your learning.

Just by thinking about scoring a hundred, you can develop confidence that you would have had by scoring those runs in real life.

I know. It sounds like nonsense.

But top players have known it for years and have been practicing visualisation methods to boost their average. You can easily do the same.

Use the 20 hour rule

There is some evidence that it takes about 20 hours of work to move through the early frustration stage to performing well. How can you apply this to cricket?

Lets think of it as a fast bowler.

You want to bowl faster without sacrificing accuracy. Commit to 20 hours of drills and fitness work and stick at it no matter how frustrating it seems. Even if progress is backwards, stick to the 20 hour rule. Be careful in choosing fast bowling drills and speed training that is deigned for speed.

After 20 hours, there's a good chance you will have gone from frustrated and wanting to give up, to a noticeable increase in speed.

What about you?

Of course, this is an area where we are far from the answers. So now it's over to you. What methods are you using to boost your learning and development as a player?

What has worked? What has failed? What are you trying next.

Leave a comment and let's help each other improve.