Learning Learning - Part 1
Once upon a time, there was a boy that was happy with his life of playing. He swam and climbed and played all kinds of games. One day when the boy was playing a black, heavy, sticky, scary blob fell onto his back.
“My name is Learning!” said the blob. The boy was told it would be good for him and that he should be happy to have it, but the boy did not think this was true.
“Will it be there forever?!?!” cried the boy. “Just until you finish high school or college! After that you will get your freedom back.” was the answer.
The boy tried pulling it off. He tried flicking it off. He tried washing it off. He tried to run away from it. Nothing worked. He must live with it.
Year after year passed. The burden of Learning weighed on him which only made him more excited about the end of the dark years and the beginning of the easy years of freedom he would enjoy for the rest of his life!
When the end finally came the boy was so relieved! Learning would no longer be riding on his back. He could swim, and climb, and play games again! He could even do new things! Anything, as long as he met the requirement for it: Learning!
Yes, I really thought I would be done learning. It was a sad, strange story that I told myself as a late teenager. Looking back there were a lot of missing elements that contributed to my distaste for learning. So here is the first entry in a series of posts that have helped me discover learning as one of life’s greatest privileges…
Learning Learning - Part 1
Wear shin guards. In Mike Boyd’s video about learning Pedal Flips on a bike(and this lesson), he recommends wearing them as they keep you almost completely safe from the pedals ripping up your shins.
Of course I mean figurative shin guards (even though I do ACTUALLY wear them while mountain biking). There are actual dangers to learning some skills and if you can wear some safety gear to remove this fear then you are free to focus on just the skill and therefore learn much faster.
The investment in the piece of gear is almost always lower than hospital deductibles or the pain of nursing a wound or a joint injury for weeks or months.
More importantly this one thing that can make the process of learning enjoyable and empowering rather than it feeling like a black, heavy, sticky, scary blob.
"The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.” — Brian Herbert
“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
