Abraham Lincoln
once said, “I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was
yesterday”. This opens the premise that learning is a daily adventure that one
carries and explores throughout a lifetime.
Learning
doesn’t stop just because school does. People who are truly effective generally
do not get that way by sitting still, they apply themselves to constant
learning, and competing against themselves to grow and learn day-by-day.
Make a
commitment to yourself to learn something new every day, and you will not only
enjoy what you discover, but you will be able to apply your knowledge and
become a teacher to future generations. Here’s how:
1. Learn how you learn: Determine your
own preferred learning style or styles. Note what learning techniques are most
effective for you and use them as much as is practical, such as viewing online
tutorials on websites like youtube if you are more visual learner. Most people
learn through multiple methods, but favour one or two. Use your preferences to
your advantage.
2. Learn where your talents and
interests lie: try many different things so you don’t box yourself into
believing that you are only good at few things. It is probable that you that
you are good at many things, but you won’t know until you have tried.
Be
wary of past memories that tell you to stay away from certain things.
As
you grow, you develop more experience, coordination, responsiveness, and
confidence that one experience can’t teach, but you can apply to relearn an old
experience.
3. Look at learning as an exploration
and opportunity: don’t just force yourself to learn things because they are
important or necessary. Instead, learn things that you need to learn alongside
thing you love to learn. Follow your heart, as well as your sense of duty.
4. Learn the basic: it can be a grind
at times, but you will be able to remember, connect, and figure out all kinds
of complicated thing through relatively few, simple, building blocks, if you
learn some math and natural-science concepts. You can look up precise formulas
and trivia again later, but the concepts will do the most good and save a lot
of time in repeated look-ups if mostly learned by heart.
5. Read, read, read: make friends with
your local library and new and used book sellers. Reading is portal into other
world, and into the minds of your fellow human being. Through reading, you will
never stop learning and being amazed by the incredible creativity,
intelligence, and even banality of the human species. Wise people read lots of
book, all the time; it is as simple as that. And reading will help you to learn
the discoveries and mistakes of others who have gone before you.
6. Broaden your definition of learning:
take a look at the Theory of Multiple Intelligence if you don’t know it yet.
Consider how you might fit it, and where you can improve. Refine your existing
skills. Are you already good at cooking? Computers? Teaching? Playing
saxophone? Hone these skills and take them to the next level. Try new things,
both inside and outside your preferred skills area.
7. Do things outside your vocation: as
an adult, your experience may be your best teacher. Whether you work for pay,
or volunteer your time, focus on a project or tinker with whatever grabs your
attention, try lots of things and notice the results. Apply the results to
other things in your life, to expand the value of what you have learned. You
never know when an opportune discovery may arise as a result of your
observation and innovative approaches.
8. Create: not all learning comes from
outside you. In fact, some of the most powerful learning happens when you are
creating or formulating something for yourself. Creation, like intelligence,
can be artistic or scientific; physical or intellectual; social or solitary.
Try different media and methods and refine the ones that you like the most.
Adapted
from: NST, CLASSIFIED, 27TH MARCH 2013
