“The illiterate of the
21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot
learn, unlearn, and relearn. ” …Alvin Toffler
We all knew it even as a toddler …but most of us forgot that
art as we became an adult…I am talking about the Learning skill.
Do you remember how you learned to ride the bicycle ? Mom or
Dad holding on to the seat, while running behind , with your frame being perched on
the saddle ...as stiff as steel !… the bicycle moving diagonally across the road
and you about to topple over! ….After a series of attempts over the next few days on the cycle, with
patience wearing out and skinned knees, you get enough skill and flexibility to
ride the bicycle alone with Mom or Dad anxiously watching from a distance (they
are still required to warn/shoo away other riders who might cross your path !)
. slowly, the confidence and skill
begins to develop ; soon you are riding the bicycle... with body balance coming off
naturally and slowly ,riding itself becomes a natural skill….
Alas !...as we grew up and we began to attain the “maturity” tag we
slowly lose the art of learning…due to a variety of reasons…
first and foremost
being…”I know-it-all”
As adults we gain mastery over specific area/domain in
personal or professional life…the problem though is we extrapolate our
expertise to thousand other areas, which is not true!
The second reason for losing the learning skill is the Know-Do
gap. Many adults are good enough to know their learning. But they do not have
enough willpower to Start!
The third reason for the lack of learning skill is the quest
for perfection. As toddlers and kids, if we had worried about what others think
about our skill or the lack of it, we would not have stood up or learn to ride
the bicycle. As adults, we are constantly worried about perfection so much that , we often
take a feeble attempt, get embarrassed by the first few outputs …get demotivated
..and never attempt again at all!
So you may ask…How do we deal with this? ..It is easy…just
remember how you learnt as a Child…
1) Identify a book, training course or a Tutor for
your learning
2) Start
small : Say you want to learn to draw…you cannot start on day 1 to replicate Monalisa…learn to get the strokes right…straight
lines…curves…circles…rectangle…etc…
3) Slowly
Increment : Day after day , slowly
increment the complexity of the learning activity…this may be
frustrating..remember your cycle riding experience…after repeated attempts on
the seat and your Dad huffing and puffing behind you, there was no sight of
getting the body balance…It will happen with your new skill too…the key point
is to slowly increment the complexity & to be persistent!
4) Have
daily triggers : Key to learning a new skill is to practice daily…so the best
option is to create the time and space in your schedule…I use the early morning
time to create the time for new skill right after my coffee which is my daily trigger!
5) Don’t worry about perfection: Life is imperfect ! we are imperfect ! Do not worry about being
perfect in your learning phase….remember, Practice is more important than
perfection!
If you stick to the above routine, then you
will be soon amazed at yourself…
Start
by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing
the impossible…Francis of Assisi