Tim Ferriss (author of the 4-Hour Work Week, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, and Tools of Titans) is a serial entrepreneur who has what seems to have an amazing ability to learn new things. He talks constantly about learning and teaching and improving. He is the king of learning new skills and learning them fast.
Unlike what some would like you to believe, learning isn’t an innate talent. You have to practice and learn to learn. You need to study how to learn.
Ferriss has developed a system of learning for himself. He calls it the DSSS system.
The D is for deconstruction. That’s breaking down anything you want to learn into its primary building blocks. Breaking it down into the smallest (relevant) components, and learning those.
“What are the minimal learnable units, the LEGO blocks I should start with?” Tim Ferriss
The second part he calls, “Selection” – deciding which of those building blocks to spend time with.
“Which 20% of the blocks should I focus on for 80% or more of the outcome I want?” Tim Ferriss.
This fits in exactly with the way I like to do things. I can’t study everything. There isn’t time. Vaccination schedules will take me hours to learn and might be one question on my PANCE. Why bother? That’s like scouring the language dictionary on a trip to Paris to learn to say, “The sausage is too spicy.” Is it possible you need that phrase? Is it possible that the natural habitat of unicorns is on Neptune and that’s why we haven’t seen any yet? Umm… yes… I guess it’s possible.
Stop with the fringe stuff. Focus on the things that will most likely come up on exams. Let’s make sure we get those right. All right, let’s focus on the big stuff.
Thankfully, I’ve pulled a lot of that stuff out for you. I’ve done the focusing. It’s called The Final Step. I picked out the building blocks. I choose the most important 20% of information as it applies directly to your exam, and thousands of PA students have told me directly that it works.
Get your copy here:
Brian Wallace
