How we move is how we learn
I took many forms of transit in one week. Here’s what it taught me about mastery.
Last week I went on a trip. I took a plane, train, bus, car, cable car (for the first time!), and walked, all within a few days. You’ll never catch me on a boat, so I was happy with the ground I covered, quite literally, and in terms of transit options used.
I didn’t notice it at the time, but I was constantly adjusting my transit approach based on what made the most sense for that moment. Sometimes prioritizing speed, other times cost or comfort.
The more I thought about this, the more I realized: this is exactly how learning should work too.
What is mastery?
We typically define "mastery" as deep knowledge of a skill or technique. But what if true mastery isn’t just about expertise, but knowing when to switch learning modes, just as a traveler knows when to bus versus when to fly?
Walk with me here (hehe).
A plane is like formal education, 2- or 4-year post-secondary institutions that involve upfront work, structured guidance, and standardized outcomes
A train is like semi-formal or non-traditional settings. Like a bootcamp, or an accelerator program, they offer less formality but still include requirements and accountability
A car is like structured self-guided territory like asynchronous content on Coursera, allows learners to decide their pace and level of engagement
And finally, walking is like experiment phase. Aimless, likely without intent or a destination, but this is where you find shortcuts or hidden paths
The world moves too fast to master everything in the traditional sense. So what if we redefined mastery? Instead of just technical expertise, what if it also meant mastery of self: the ability to navigate learning strategically, shifting modes as needed?
Single-mode thinking
The problem is, we typically get stuck in single-mode thinking. We assume that once school is over, learning is over, or that it always has to follow the same structured path.
In the U.S., the most traditional format of education is lecture-style learning, where a teacher delivers information and students passively listen, digest, and recall. This mode, like a plane, has its advantages: it covers vast distances (topics) in a short time and usually helps knowledge acquisition. But just as flying requires upfront effort (applications, ticket costs and navigating airports) formal education demands a major investment of time, money, and preparation.
Some of the most innovative solutions come from people who started by tinkering rather than formal study. I’m not knocking formal education, but there is something to be said about entering a space you know nothing about and stacking the different modes of learning to build a 360 understanding. Examples:
A student studying computer science might take a formal course (plane), participating in a hackathon (train) and also experimenting with building their own app (walking)
A professional might completes an online course (car) and joins a mentorship program (train) to deepen their understanding
Again, nothing new, but it’s a reframing that forces us to ask ourselves: are we actively choosing the best learning mode, or just defaulting to the one we’re most familiar with?
Be your own Education Fairy
Education is often viewed in plane mode, which sometimes perpetuates the message that learning doesn’t happen outside of a classroom. But if we truly want to reach mastery, we have to take ownership of our own learning. Mastery isn’t about having all the answers, it’s about knowing how to keep learning. It’s not just about switching between different learning formats, it’s about choosing the right one at the right time. In an ideal world we’d all have an Education Fairy who hands us a perfectly-crafted lesson plan for the curriculum of life.
But we have to be that Education Fairy for ourselves and strategically shift between formal study, real-world practice, and self-exploration to keep growing.