To drive a vehicle, you need a license. It begins with a learner’s license, one that gives you the green signal to begin.
In the real world, learning doesn’t require permission. Here are a few ways to learn, unlearn, and not learn:
Speed-reading
There is a thing called speed reading.
I’ve never tried it and have no intention to.
I wish I could devote years or even a decade to reading but even that pipe dream hasn’t made me turn to something as stupid as speed reading.
The whole idea, I think, is to say you’ve completed something but if someone questions you about it, you will balk.
Speed-reading shouldn’t be confused with learning.
It just means you raced through something without absorbing it, much like studying a night before the exams.
There is a form of speed reading all of us indulge in — scrolling. Words are being written to satisfy shorter attention spans. None of this qualifies as reading.
Scrolling has rendered most of us idiots. It has given rise to ineffective leaders and managers and made robots out of people who spend most of their time curating instead of creating.
Do something else for a change.
Read a book. A blog. Read more than 300 words of something. Understand it beyond the rudimentary, the basic.
If you think you’re up to date by scrolling all day, you really haven’t learned much.
Learning from a teacher
If there is a ranking for thankless jobs, teaching will surely be in the reckoning for the top spot.
A lousy teacher rates you on the basis of a report card.
‘By-heart this and you will succeed.’
‘Meet these criteria and you will be the apple of my eye.’
‘Treat me as a know-it-all and I will take you under my wing.’
You will invariably cross paths with teachers who wield their authority, rank you on a pre-decided scorecard, write you off when you don’t pay obeisance to them, and send you down a rabbit hole. In these cases, it’s essential to discard those lessons and begin on a clean slate.
What you do remember are the ones who created a space for you to explore, understood what you bought to the table and treated you with dignity and empathy.
A good teacher, a really good one, measures themselves by what those who learned at their feet, teach others.
But there is a catch — you don’t always get to choose your teacher. Sometimes, you come across great teachers. Don’t just learn from them. Teach others that cross your path what you learned from them.
A side-effect of teaching is going around trying to teach people a lesson for a slight you might have faced. The moment you realize that there is someone somewhere who can benefit from something you know, you’ll stop keeping score, stop wanting to teach everyone a lesson and begin the job of actually elevating someone by teaching them.
Learning by looking up
To learn, you don’t need to be taught. That is you don’t need to a teacher, or a lesson, or an exam that tests your knowledge to be a learner. If that’s the case, you’re setting yourself up for a life of disappointment.
Learning is observing, debating, being open to an alternative point of view. Learning is reading, writing, listening.
Today, learning has no boundaries.
But the desire to learn can’t be force-fed.
Here are some excellent learning resources. Many of them are free.
Happy Learning.
- Reboot — Jerry Colona, a business coach, has some great resources to improve your leadership abilities. If you’re someone who is seeking a higher level of leadership or have been disappointed by what the leadership you have come across, this might help you address the issues that are holding you back.
- Khan Academy Pixar storytelling course— I can’t get enough of this course. It’s brilliant and absolutely free. Pixar creatives lay threadbare their approach to storytelling at Pixar. It will help you formulate your stories and presentations better.
- Hubspot — I fell in love with Hubspot the moment I checked it out. The courses are well-crafted and they also give you certifications. If you’re looking to learn more about digital marketing in general, they have some great courses.
- Moment — I just discovered the Moment app that tells you how much time you’re spending on your device. You will be shocked by what it reveals. Here’s to less scrolling!
