How to learn

The hardest part of retiring from being a pro athlete was realizing how underutilized my brain had been. Besides the identity crisis, obviously. But learning became my way out. My general knowledge base was lagging due to years of hyperfocus on my niche. While this helped me make a living in sport, it also left me feeling vulnerable to challenges in the real world. I needed to catch up—fast.

Luckily, I was never the most talented athlete. Hard work was always my edge. That same grind mindset became my greatest asset when it came to learning. Here’s how I approach it:

1. Stress + Rest = Adaptation

I try to dedicate up to three hours of high-concentration work to problem-solving and learning. Anything beyond that, and the quality of my learning declines. But everyone is different. I treat these three hours almost like a race – I give it my all. Then, I rest and prepare for the next session. I’m utilizing what I learned in endurance sports. You can only adapt and get better if you set the right stressors and give yourself enough rest to adapt.

2. Find the bottleneck

Identify the one problem that, if solved, will have the biggest impact. Work on that question and feed it to your brain. Think about it before you do mundane tasks like cleaning, showering or sitting on the toilet and let your subconscious mind work on it too. Important side note: don’t distract yourself with social media or other unimportant things, so your mind can fully wander. And physical movement helps: walks, farm work, or whatever clears your head. Direction matters. Don’t get distracted by minor details, focus on what will create the biggest breakthrough.

3. Don’t fool yourself

Once we learn something that works, we tend to stick with it. Even if it stops working. I learned that one from old coaches whose methods were stuck in the past and never evolved. How do we avoid this? This is hard. Don’t be lazy and stay dynamic. Question yourself and your methods and implement honesty as your own safeguard. Be intellectually honest with yourself and avoid the smallest lie to foster this honesty mindset.

4. Learn universal principles

My stubbornness helped me to figure out this one. I could either blindly follow orders or I can learn how things work and be my own master. We as humans are wired for routine, which can make us lazy. Keeping an open mind and learning the biggest principles from other fields will help us to connect the dots and see the world in a different light. This also helps with novel problem solving. That reminds me of the famous quote: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” The goal is not just learning things but learning how to learn.

5. Pain is a great teacher – learn from others

Some of my biggest mistakes became my biggest opportunities for growth. This is classic value investor thinking—buy high-value assets when they’re undervalued and watch them grow.

The same applies to life. When something bad happens like divorce, loss or failure, double down and make yourself even more valuable. Pain is an incredible teacher. If you burn your hand on the stove, you won’t do it again. Use this pain to learn and become better. Life happens to all of us: divorce, dramatic events, death. It’s how we utilize these moments and pains that will make a difference.

Here’s the really interesting part, this is something I’m still working on too. You can learn from others with the same intensity and this is where I utilize empathy, visualization and logic. To understand how Charlie Munger developed such a prudent financial mindset I looked at his life and his pains that triggered him to learn. I then visualize myself in his shoes and connect my own painful experiences with his learning. By tapping into the painful lessons of others, you can accelerate your own learning without needing to live through every hardship yourself.

6. Do the work

Comfort is the most addictive drug. Why keep on pushing if you are number 1? Well, it’s not about the others; it’s about you. Take on hard tasks that push your limits because that’s the way you become better. Read books that are beyond your current level, try to get into things you find fascinating but that seem out of reach. Keep on pushing and growing no matter how good you think you are. Learning compounds amazingly well.

Like all things, even learning can become an obsession. But for now, it’s the best addiction I could ask for.

Flo