LOU HOLTZ ON LEARNING

A day without learning is a day without living. Learning is an incremental process. No matter what the subject, you must first learn the fundamentals, putting in long hours to master the basics. You have to be able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide before you can move on to quantum physics. An art student doesn’t sit down behind the canvas on the first day of class and say, “Show me how Rembrandt did it,” and a first-year writing student can’t expect to pen a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel in one sitting. Only after you’ve mastered the fundamentals can you take the next step, and the next, and the next, progressing until you have reached your goal. All talented individuals develop their talents over long periods of time, and I was no different.

From "Wins, Losses, and Lessons" by Lou Holtz