Consistency is Not Enough

You've probably heard it a million times: consistency is the key to success. And while it's true that showing up and putting in the work consistently can make a huge difference, that’s only half the equation.

Imagine showing up every day only to realize you've been doing something that's not entirely effective. This will get you nowhere.

Or imagine showing up every day to practice the wrong way. Over time, that can set you back instead of moving you forward. This is a one-way ticket to burnout city.

It doesn’t matter how consistent you are if you don’t improve and learn from your experiences. Let’s talk about how to improve using the triple-loop learning cycle consistently:

1️⃣ Single loop learning: This is about spotting and trying to fix your errors. In medical school, I identified a really big problem: I was having difficulty remembering what I learned. This was not a good problem because every exam required us to know massive amounts of information. Once I identified this problem, my solution was to spend more time studying in hopes that I could remember more. Unfortunately, single-loop learning is not the most effective way to learn because you’re fixing mistakes without asking why they happened in the first place. Let’s dive a little deeper.

2️⃣ Double loop learning: At this stage, we will examine why the mistakes happened. I started to question the assumptions I had about how I studied. “Why is spending more time studying not improving my grades? Maybe it's time to reassess my study methods. Am I using the correct study techniques? Should I experiment with a new study environment? Should I try studying earlier in the day?

3️⃣Triple loop learning: This is where the real magic happens! Once we've pinpointed the potential reasons behind an issue, it's time to ask ourselves some important questions: Why is it crucial to address this problem? Why do we need to fix the way we study? For me, learning how to study well would change my life. I could score higher on exams while spending less time studying. This would free up time to spend on other important aspects of my life like relationships and creative pursuits. But equally important was that I would start to enjoy learning again. Being terrible at studying sucks the joy out of learning because you’re too busy worrying about grades. Improving my study system was in complete alignment with my values, and I knew that it was an important problem to transform in my life.