Cedric Chin - Learn How to Go from Novice to Expert in 90 Mins
Aug 17, 2024
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Cedric Chin is a business operator, programmer, and founder of Commoncog, a platform focused on business expertise. He discusses the limitations of mental models and the challenges of deliberate practice. Cedric shares insights on how to transition from novice to expert by considering practical applications of theoretical knowledge. He emphasizes the importance of reading biographies, addresses the role of luck in success, and critiques conventional decision-making approaches. He also touches on the impact of social media on focus and engagement.
Cedric Chin emphasizes a pragmatic approach to learning and writing by experimenting with ideas, documenting results, and sharing insights from personal experience.
Chin critiques traditional mental models for learning, advocating instead for an introspective analysis of foundational materials to gain a nuanced perspective on expertise.
He highlights the importance of reading biographies as a valuable resource for understanding complex narratives in business, drawing lessons from real-world successes and failures.
Deep dives
Cedric Chin's Approach to Learning and Writing
Cedric Chin emphasizes the importance of pragmatism in his approach to learning and writing. He advocates for experimenting with interesting ideas in real life, documenting the results, and sharing insights derived from personal experiences. This hands-on approach leads to a deeper understanding of concepts, especially in business contexts, and enables Chin to effectively communicate valuable information to his audience. By focusing on practical implementation, he helps others learn from his successes and failures, creating a dialogue around actionable advice.
Critique of Traditional Mental Models
Chin critiques the traditional mental models approach to learning, highlighting its limitations in addressing real-world complexities. He suggests that merely relying on established models can lead to misapplications in various scenarios. Instead, he encourages introspection and analysis of the sources of these models, particularly advocating for a return to foundational materials, like Charlie Munger's original lectures and writings. By understanding the context and evolution of concepts, learners can gain a more nuanced perspective on expertise.
The Discovery of Naturalistic Decision Making
Chin showcases naturalistic decision making (NDM) as a pivotal framework in understanding how experts operate effectively in unpredictable environments. He explains how NDM researchers focus on studying real-life decision-making processes to extract expert intuition and decision-making strategies. Unlike traditional methods which may rely heavily on practice regimens, NDM emphasizes absorbing knowledge from experienced practitioners and analyzing what distinguishes expert decisions. This approach helps illuminate pathways for learners seeking to enhance their own decision-making skills.
Believability and Its Role in Learning
The concept of believability, as presented by Chin, is essential for discerning credible insights within the business arena. He states that individuals should defer to those who have a proven track record of success in relevant areas, while remaining critical of unverified advice. This method of evaluating expertise helps learners navigate the often-chaotic landscape of online information. By prioritizing insights from credible, experienced individuals, learners can better align their educational journeys with practical realities and avoid misinformation.
The Relevance of Biographies in Learning
Chin underscores the value of biographies as a critical tool for accumulating knowledge about various fields, particularly in business. He posits that reading biographies provides access to a wealth of real-world insights while introducing complex narratives about successes and failures. This exposure allows readers to recognize patterns and nuances that might not be conveyed through theoretical texts. As such, biographies serve as foundational resources for building a comprehensive understanding of how businesses operate and evolve over time.
Outcome Orientation for Managing Information Overload
Chin advocates for an outcome-oriented approach as a practical solution to combat information overload in our digital age. By consistently evaluating the purpose and expected outcomes of each activity—whether scrolling social media, reading articles, or engaging with other content—individuals can focus on more meaningful engagement with information. This strategy helps mitigate aimless consumption by ensuring that actions align with specific goals, ultimately enhancing productivity and satisfaction with information consumption. Through this method, Chin highlights a pathway to regain control over information intake and optimize learning.
Cedric Chin is a business operator, programmer, and writer. He is also the founder of Commoncog - a publication that explores the models of business expertise and how to accelerate the acquisition of that expertise. His approach to writing and learning is finding interesting ideas, trying them out in his life, and then sharing the results. Over the years he has compiled an extensive knowledge base on how to think and learn better in business and beyond. In this episode we speak about the limits of mental models, Ray Dalio & believability, three approaches to expertise, why you should read biographies, overcoming information overload and so much more.
0:00 - Intro 2:54 - What led Cedric to study expertise (limits of mental models) 8:05 - The Problem with Deliberate Practice 10:05 - What is Commoncog? 12:48 - Ray Dalio & Believability 21:03 - Sensemaking Less Wrong (Epistemic vs Instrumental Rationality) 25:11 - How “Irrational” people can be successful 26:39 - Gary Klein VS Daniel Kahneman 29:44 - Three approaches to gaining expertise 34:20 - What is tacit Knowledge? 38:38 - The Recognition Primed Decision Making Model 47:30 - Cognitive Task Analysis 49:49 - The most important questions to ask experts 52:10 - Accelerating expertise in meditation & transmission of mind 56:48 - How to actually learn from books 1:00:50 - Cognitive Flexibility Theory & ill-structured domains 1:06:55 - Integration (noticing sameness & difference) 1:09:31 - Using case studies to become an expert in cult dynamics 1:13:21 - Why you should read biographies 1:16:52 - How to overcome Information overload 1:21:48 - Mindful social media use 1:25:22 - Luck vs skill in success 1:30:48 - Cedric’s opinion on Crypto 1:33:54 - The best and worst thing about living in Singapore 1:34:59 - Building the biggest storehouse of business expertise
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