Meta-Learning for Real Estate Investors

My friend recently let me borrow a book called "The 4-Hour Chef", written by none other than the famed Tim Ferriss. We were discussing how to learn things efficiently, as the quarter-life crisis had started to sink in, and we realized we wanted ALL that life has to offer. This book just so happens to have a couple chapters (which you can find here) about meta-learning, which is basically knowing yourself and figuring out how you learn best. Ferris has developed the following mnemonic device to help us remember how to learn things quickly with the best results: DiSS-CaFE.

DiSS-CaFE
Deconstruction - Small, Manageable Units Needed to Learn "Fill in the Blank"
Break down what you're trying to learn into units that are manageable. Think conceptually. What steps does the skill consist of? Do you see patterns, anomalies, a difference in subconscious decision-making? Is something new revealed by approaching something in reverse, inside-out, in a new setting? What comparisons can you make between this skill and something else in the world?
Learn from experts by talking to them and asking about their experiences. Make sure to be respectful of their time (and yours) by researching their work and reflecting on the takeaways you're targeting before the meeting/call. Ask them: What resources do you recommend? When/why did you plateau and how did you overcome it? Where do most people start and why would you support/oppose that? What are the 5 key reasons the top performers see the success that they do? What actions do people still take when they're trying to master this skill, even though those actions have little/no impact? Why do people give up? What are some safe, easy wins that someone can aim for in the beginning?

Selection - 20% for 80% of the Value
Figure out what the Minimum Effective Dose (MED) is. MED is defined by Ferriss as "the lowest volume, the lowest frequency, the fewest changes that get us to our desired result". Look for actions that provide high impact, give immediate returns, and are used most often/widely.  
Be relentless and merciless in cutting out the noise. My focusing on the building blocks that give you a large overview of the basics, you'll have a stronger foundation, and building confidence, awareness, and intuition more quickly.

Sequencing - The Order in Which to Learn
This is crucial. The order of operations in which you perceive, digest, and expand on something you learn must make logical sense. Don't just take someone's word for it though, really dig in and see if you can learn something better by tweaking their lesson plan. Something that makes sense to someone else may be the complete opposite for you. You'll want to feel some momentum here, or else you might not be motivated enough to continue.

Stakes - Create Real Consequences for Missing Your Goals
Accountabilibuddies, friends who regularly check in on your progress, are used by many top performers. You want people invested in your journey so you can give it your best shot. You could give them the power to call you out in public (depending on your relationship), but you should always focus on a positive solution. 
Another technique that has become very popular is setting up a "1% of your annual income" donation to a charity whose views you 100% disagree with. 
Try a combination of different things to see what works for you, because a plan that has sticks and carrots curated to your fears and drives will work more effectively.

Compression - The Big Picture
Just like taking final exams in college, put the most important stuff on 1 page. There's the principles (think laws, theories, concepts, etc.) and the examples (exercises that portray the principles under various conditions). If you're visual, try googling infographics that someone has already created. If you're a numbers person, check out some data-driven models that others have shared. Start creating your own theories and test them as you go along. You don't have to wait until you master a skill to start understanding them as if you were looking in the rearview mirror. 

Frequency - When to Learn, How Often to Learn
Habits are hard to change. But you gotta know when your poor habits may be holding you back from your true potential. Experiment with different ways to learn: try pausing a video multiple times to summarize, change up your note-taking to include references to other things you find interesting, teach someone else every time you learn something to cement it in your memory. Experiment with different times of day and settings.
You want to move as many obstacles out of the way of completing an action as possible, to give yourself the highest probability that the action will be completed. If you know you're not going to learn on an empty stomach, meal prep on the weekend so you can eat right and get down to business faster. If you know you can't skip workouts without lashing out, break your workout into sets that you can do during breaks. 
Give yourself a deadline. Humans are notorious for letting things sliiiide until they're due (see Parkinson's Law). See if timeboxing works. Prioritize urgent and important tasks. Challenge yourself, but make sure the curriculum is sustainable for your lifestyle and learning style. 

Encoding - Making It Easy to Remember
Use memory tricks to make what you learned easy to remember. Anchor new things to what you've learned in the past. Remember material as a story, rather than blindly memorizing. 

So how might this apply to real estate investing?

Deconstruction
What are the most common wholesaling approaches, and what would the reverse of those approaches look like? Who is really good at flipping houses, even though the odds were stacked against them? Is real estate sales and marketing similar to that of toys, tax audit services, or comedy shows? How can you get a warm introduction to someone killin' it in the real estate niche you're interested in, and what can you do to stand out and provide value even before asking questions in return?

Selection
Is memorizing the price range of contracted services in your area a 20% building block? What kinds of easy wins can you get when you're investing in notes? What's one action you can take today to provide the highest impact if you're an absentee landlord?

Sequencing
Is the currently taught process for learning how to acquire apartments logical to you? Would you gain a new and valuable perspective if you learned how to build a team and then how to fundraise, or vice versa? 

Stakes
Why are you investing in real estate? Do you have a framework in place that can help keep you accountable towards your goal, even if you don't feel like doing something in the moment? Do your stakes appropriately match the real estate goal and deadline you've given yourself?

Compression
Have a white board or Google document where you jot down important concepts & examples as you're learning. Continuously edit as you start to internalize certain things that you don't need written down anymore. Perhaps you couldn't remember all the steps involved in a double close or kept forgetting tried-and-true interior decorating rules in the beginning, so you write them down. But as you do more and more deals, you start to get a hang for the timing of when to pitch an investor and when to call your title company, and you can swap out the double close process for an example ROI calculation on a commercial syndication you've just invested in.

Frequency
Have a strategy meeting at the beginning of every week where you can reflect on the status of your specific weekly, monthly, and annual goals to prepare mentally and emotionally for when *poop emoji* hits the fan. Be hyper aware of when your flow, creativity, and enthusiasm increase or decrease. Then plan to focus on the current investment challenges you're facing during the time periods in which your creativity is high, so you can view your problem from a new and interesting angle. 

Encoding
Create a catchy song (like the one for the quadratic equation) if you keep forgetting how to calculate cash-on-cash return. Use data to generate insights that can be easily remembered as pictures and stories so you can make solid investment decisions moving forward. 

Got any more ideas on learning how to learn real estate investing? I'd love to hear them in your comments below! Thanks for reading, have fun, & get some deals done!

#fromperfectiontoprogress