December 5, 2008
Last night was the premiere of Tim Ferris’s new show, Trial By Fire on the History Channel. Tim is one of my favorite authors because he’s not a normal guy. He takes what we all assume to be the best way to do something and deconstructs to its root and re-engineers it to be more effective.
The show gives you an insight into his thought process for different challenges. In his first challenge, he tackles trying to do Japanese horseback archery, or Yabusame…something only 4 foreigners have attempted to do in the last 1,000 years.
During the challenge he mentions several tips on speeding up learning including doing the repetitions of reloading his bow immediately before going to bed, then setting his alarm for 4.5 hours later at the end of his REM sleep cycle to do more repetition practice. This method is supposedly more effective in terms of getting the physical moves into your subconscious mind. Overall he does 1,200 repetitions of the same move over in just the 10 days of training that he gets before the challenge.
Here’s what I took away most from the show:
- Anyone can acquire at least some skill in any area of their life if they practice enough and have the right training. Tim had little experience in archery or horseback riding (in fact he hadn’t ridden a horse since he was a kid).
- Identity the most vital skill for success. Tim identified that reloading was the most vital skill of the challenge and set off to practice this one skill over and over. 1,200+ repetitions of the bow is what Tim needed to accomplish his goal. What’s the most important skill you need to learn to accomplish your goal? How repetitions are you doing? How frequently are you doing it?
- Train with only the best. If Tim didn’t have some of the best Yabusame teachers in Japanese, there’s little doubt in my mind he would have achieved his goal.
- Fear is someone you can learn to deal with. One of the biggest hurdles in his challenge was learning to ride the horse with no hands so he could shoot the bow. During the training, the instructors made him stand up on the saddle, then lay over the side of the saddle to desensitize his fear response to riding with no hands. Is there something you’re afraid of? Can you desensitize yourself by doing something similar to your fear?
Overall, I thought the show was very entertaining and educational
and I look forward to more episodes. Below is a trailer for the show.
Here’s a description of the show from Tim:
The concept is simple: I have one week to attempt to learn what is usually learned over 5-20 years. I either crash and burn — or survive by the skin of my teeth — in a final test (trial by fire) each time.
If it’s made into a series, which depends entirely on viewership numbers on Thursday night, I’ll deconstruct a new complex skill each week. It will show you exactly how I approach learning, and no fake TV drama will be required to make the stakes real.
This episode was shot in HD in Tokyo and the mountains of Nikko, where I rolled the dice on Japanese horseback archery, or Yabusame: full gallop, no hands, no safety gear, with wooden poles lining the track on either side of the horse. Please don’t do this at home. I had access to the best in the world, and you’ll get to see some never-before-seen footage of a rare and brutal samurai sport few non-Japanese have ever attempted
