Second Order Immersion, 03/15/08
Immersion is a necessary path to expertise that can be augmented and accelerated by creating a 'Second Order Immersion' as a feedback loop to enhance, expand and deepen a primary immersion.
The Second Order Immersion adds dimensionality and nuance to the primary expertise.
For example:
A trader immerses himself purposely in gaining trading expertise.My Second Order Immersion is chess and the feedback loop into trading is quite powerful. The feedback loop is consciously created, exercised and strengthened. The hobby can be anything that lends itself to study and immersion.
At the same time the trader immerses himself in a hobby - his Second Order Immersion. As he mindfully immerses himself in his hobby, he consciously relates its lessons back to trading in such a way that a multidimensional and additive feedback loop is created: Insights and perspectives from the hobby are routinely used to provide fresh insights and perspectives into trading.
The word flow fits here: another way to think of Second Order Immersion is as a flow state that feeds back into a different but related flow state compounding the whole into more than the sum of the parts.