There are a lot of skills that you just have to learn by doing. I call them “bodybuilder skills.” You can’t get around the practice by being smart, even if they seem to be skills of mind.

Like weightlifting, everybody starts at zero and has to work to get better than that.

When people ask clever questions about weightlifting skills, the correct answer is always some variant on “do your reps”

For instance, when a good artist is asked by a novice about what kind of pen to use, the best ones answer with some variant of: “any pen. But practice, practice, practice, all the time.” Do your reps.

Weightlifting skills are everywhere, though.

Or to put it another way: “Before enlightenment, do your reps. After enlightenment, do your reps.”.