Book Review: Learn, Improve, Master by Nick Velasquez

This was an interesting and easy book to read about how to become a better learner and achieve mastery. The book is broken up into three sections that match the title, learning, improving and mastery.

The book starts with the author talking about how when we see someone who is a master at their craft, they make what they are doing look effortless. It is often easy to forget that this person has spent countless hours practicing and perfecting their craft. No one becomes a master overnight or without a lot of work and effort. The section on learning talks about theories on how people learn, and the author also spends a lot of time talking about memory and ways to improve your memory.  He then talks about practice and performance and how to bridge between the two. In the second section of the book, he discusses how to improve your performance or skill. This involves practice, feedback and using coaches or mentors to help you improve.  He ends the book discussing mastery but also makes the point that even people who are the best at their craft are always trying to find ways improve. 

I was a little on the fence about this book when I started it.  To be honest, I didn’t really learn anything new or life changing in this book.  The author uses quotes from a lot of the books that I ready last year, “Grit”, “Atomic Habits”, “Mindset” and many other books that those authors also referenced.  I found the first part of the book a little boring and I read through it pretty quickly.  The first section is also the longest section of the book.  I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the second and third section of the book.  Again, I didn’t learn anything particularly new, but I did find these sections motivating. The book was also well written and easy to read.  It never hurts to have a reminder that the only way to get better at anything is to just do it. If you make a mistake, regroup learn from it and then do it again.  If you are looking for a book that is quick to read and incorporates a lot of good lessons from other authors in one place, you might want to check this one out.