On Learning
I’d like to briefly describe 2 examples in my life that I distinctly remember having very contrasting experiences during the learning process. You’re likely familiar with the feelings from each, and since the ability to learn is one of the most important skills, it’s important for us to recognize what these events teach us.
Story 1: The Phone Number
As I’ve described before, I started learning Russian on my own in my early 20’s while on the journey to becoming a language professional. By the time I enrolled in my first formal Russian class, I had already been practicing, in my spare time, for a couple months with Rosetta Stone, some beginner podcasts, and Russian-speaking friends in-person.
One of the first exercises we did in the class was number dictation. I volunteered to answer our professor’s challenge of dictating her phone number on the whiteboard in front of everyone as she said it aloud in Russian. It was a perfect dictation, and everyone applauded. “Okay that was pretty good, let’s erase it now because I don’t want everyone to know my phone number,” our professor said. This didn’t feel like a major success for me because I had loosely started practicing numbers in my free time. I wasn’t perfect with them, just familiar.
Was this small, insignificant occurrence still an example of success? Absolutely. Yes, I was familiar with the numbers going into the dictation exercise, and my previous exposure gave me a leg up on everyone else who started learning them in the classroom for the first time. However, there was no reason for me to be more prepared, and it could have just as easily been my first time — I took the initiative to start independently learning something that I was passionate about. If we’re going to beat ourselves up over mistakes and defeats, it’s important to internally appreciate the small victories that allow us to advance more quickly.
Story 2: The Parachute
Since childhood, it had always been a dream of mine to go skydiving. When I was blessed with the opportunity to go through the necessary training and earn my skydiving license, I was ecstatic. For some reason, part of the training that I was less excited about, however, was learning to pack our parachutes. Don’t get me wrong, I overall enjoyed learning to pack my ‘chute, at the very least because it helped me better understand the technology that would be saving my life.
When we started packing, it took me so many attempts to learn each step, and I struggled to keep up with everyone else. It’s no surprise that even making my bed in the mornings (meaning, the complex task of pulling the comforter over the pillows) is a small victory for myself.
When I finally learned the pack, the instructor for our group went out of his way to shake my hand and nod his head in approval. He was foreign and spoke limited English outside of skydiving terminology, but I could tell that he was genuinely happy for me and maybe even a little impressed that I didn't give up at any time. I ultimately kept up with the pace that was required to move on to the next steps, and I later enjoyed the reward of naturally picking up some of the free fall skills that we had to master.
A handful of skills that I have easily developed throughout my life may seem complex to some people, but certain basic tasks, for whatever reason, have taken me much longer.
In Conclusion
Some things will come easy to us and others will not. While we can’t always control what we may or may not be good at, we should appreciate and capitalize on what is within our control: attitude (mindset) and emotional regulation, technical preparation, and daily personal development (competency in all dimensions helps make learning anything much easier).
Thanks for reading, my friends. Make a great week!