It's a Process
Focus on the Process, not the outcome
Have you ever thought about how humans learn?
How babies learn to walk, to speak, to eat? Or how one learns to cook, to swim, to dance, to hula hoop, to play an instrument?
(Fun Fact: I am learning to hula hoop right now, and it is not as easy as it looks!)
In our culture, when one speaks of learning, we only talk about the outcomes - Grades, Report Cards, College Admissions, Salary Packages, Or how great the dish was, how amazingly one danced, or what an amazing artist one is.
We care about the end result. Not about the process.
When the real joy, the real substance, the fun bit actually lies in the process.
Image found on https://www.cartoonstock.com/
This obsession with learning as an outcome has created an environment, where we only talk about learning as an academic or career pursuit. We do not talk about learning for the sake of learning.
Learning does not end once you exit school, or get your PhD. It is lifelong.
We are constantly learning- Actions, Habits, Words, Behaviours, even biases. If you are a millennial, you know this better than anyone- we learnt how to connect to the internet with a Dial Up, how to write testimonials on Orkut and even figured out Instagram Reels.
If we are learning all the time, it would do us well to understand how we learn. There are many theories- Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model, the competence framework, constructivist theory, brain based learning, behaviourism- that try to explain how humans learn, and there is merit in exploring these.
However, I would urge you to think about your own learning process.
Some of these questions might help,
These questions can help us identify trends and patterns when it comes to our learning and in turn empower us.
I’ll share my responses to these questions in my next newsletter. For this one, let’s end with what I have been learning,
What have I been learning
I am learning how to hula hoop with a course by Hoop flo.
I am also learning how to embroider and crochet through various YouTube videos.
I am also doing an online course on Exploring Play on future learn.
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Keep learning!
Adios,
Avni