Before I graduated high school, a friend of mine taught me four guitar chords. The chords to an old 1950’s song “Oh Donna.” Each chord is strummed twice before moving to the next. A simple way for a beginner to get introduced to playing the guitar. I drove my college roommate crazy with this song because it’s all I knew how to play. And I played it over and over and over…
I eventually learned new chords and new songs…but truthfully? I’m an average player at best. But here’s the thing, becoming an “expert” was never the goal. In fact, I never had a goal (*gasp* No goal?!? No KPI?!? No trophy to obtain?!?). I just wanted to go on the journey. I wanted to see if I could teach myself something new and enjoy the process.
I’m a self-taught bowler, volleyball player, photographer and writer. Yet, with each these activities, there’s never been a set, measurable goal I wanted to accomplish. The only thing I really set out to do was to “see if I could learn something new.” And to answer the cosmic-shaking question of: “can I do this?”
That was it.
I study French and Italian almost every day…both languages are super essential here in the Midwest (that was written in my sarcasm font). Again, no goal other than “learning something new.”
Yet, I look at how most other people approach learning today, and it’s almost always tied to some end goal. Whether it’s a trophy or a belt or some title…there’s so much energy consumed by trying to obtain the end goal that we completely lose sight of the journey. The destination becomes far more important.
We’ve become so checkbox-oriented that we’ve lost sight of how to surf the highs and lows of learning something new. We want to skip over the middle…all we want is the end goal. The “destination” is all that matters. It reminds me of the scene in The Matrix where Neo "learns Kung Fu" by some code being implanted into his brain. That's how most of us wish learning happened.
Speaking of Kung Fu, I took martial arts as a kid and not once did the instructor tell my parents “we’re going to get him his black belt in 24 months…” yet, that’s how most martial art is packaged and sold today. Because that’s what parents expect. Some finality to show “hey, we made it.”
Life-long learning is rarely talked about anymore, we kick around the phrase “SME” (subject-matter-expert) more times than I can count in a given day. And this mentality has turned us into people who are afraid to be students!
Yes, there’s the obvious fear of failure; trying something new is scary because we might fail.
But I think what drives a massive amount of resistance to learning is an undercurrent of “if there’s no end destination, what’s the point?” If I don’t become a “SME” why bother? If I don’t get my black-belt or put out a CD, why go through the pain of learning?
Learning for the sake of learning is the point. Call it a goal if it helps you sleep. But knowing how to start at a beginning point and work your way through the learning process is a skill that’s more necessary today than ever. If you only focus on the outcome…if you only start to learn a new skill to become a SME or obtain some certification, you’re going to make learning so much harder.
Embrace the process and enjoy the journey. Don’t worry about the destination. But learn something new just for the sake of learning something new!
Study after study shows that learning something new slows mental decline as we age.
Continuous learning keeps our brain elastic and helps us maintain the ability to absorb and process new information.
Who cares if you never become fluent in that language? Who cares if you never become proficient on the guitar or go pro in that sport…dive in! Go learn the thing you’ve been wanting to try!
I can’t remember who penned it, but one of my favorite quotes of all time is this:
Life isn’t about the destination, but rather, the journey.
Sub “learning” for life and the quote is just as meaningful.
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