Now that I am getting towards the "mature" end of the human lifecycle, I can look back and see how much I have valued the learning that I have had in my life. No, I'm not getting nostalgic here. Instead, I want to share reflections where learning "worked", and other times when it "didn't work" but where it still turned out to be valuable.
Learning is a weird thing. If we have a goal of efficiency--and many forces in our current world teach us that hardly anything is more important than being efficient--then it is really hard to decide what should we be learning right now.
"Teacher, is this going to help me?"
"When am I going to use this?"
"Is this going to help me get a better job?"
"Is this going to help me get married?"
"Is this going to help me make more money?"
"Is it going to make my mom, grandmother...somebody...proud of me?"
These are not just questions that I get from current students in Bangkok partway through the 21st Century. When I was studying mechanical engineering at MIT in the 1980s, one of the major issues that had everyone in an uproar was the success Japanese manufacturers were having in global business and how US manufacturers had lost their edge. In my classes, a common question at the time, when we were being taught manufacturing processes and project management was, "Is this how the Japanese do it?" Today, an upgraded version might be, "Is this how Silicon Valley does it?" Or, something like that. Somehow, some way, we want to be sure we are learning the right stuff. We want to be able to translate our lessons directly into tangible results.
At the time, I found this kind of thinking silly. Some thirty-plus years later, I still find it silly. Over those thirty years I have debated with myself whether I am silly, for thinking that it is silly.
Surely making sure our learning yields direct benefits is doing things the right way.
I, on the other hand, have {wasted, ignored, forgotten} much of what I have been taught.
I have started and stopped learning countless things. Here is a short list:
Chinese,
Taekwondo,
Cooking,
6502 assembly language,
Knife sharpening,
Building wood frame houses,
Scuba diving,
Playing the piano....
This is just a small number of examples from a very long list. Each of those things started with great excitement and promise. For each one, I (being the way I am) looked out into the distant future and visualized great success coming from learning each of those topics or skills. I often went out and bought several books, and in some cases expensive tools, to get started. I studied for months and even years on some of the subjects before petering out. Others lasted only as long as the introductory course that I had signed up for. I have kept some of the books...as a reminder?, as a memorial?...to those hopes and dreams. (Neither the book to learn how to be a pilot, or the one teaching pilates, were ever opened.)
If you are seeking efficiency, my pathway was ludicrous, a waste of much time and often much money. My learning pathway didn't make sense. It still doesn't, by the way.
So, you want to take an efficient approach to your learning? Pick up any one thing from your learning closet:
Knowing how to apply F = ma,
Knowing the difference between a brown roux or white,
Understanding what entropy is,
Having the skill to use a mallet and chisel to make a wood joint...
...and ask yourself, "how much joy is learning this this thing going to bring me?"
The answer is going to be, "None", almost all of the time.
You can never guarantee that any one thing that you learn will be useful. In a one-week workshop on building wood-frame houses, we spent four days learning how to make joints with the aforementioned mallet and chisel, on giant wooden beams. On the evening of the fourth day, the staff came in with power tools and re-cut the joints so they would fit properly when we assembled the frame the next day. Did they teach us the wrong skills?
What is the next best alternative for an efficient learner? You can enroll in a training program that results in a certificate--especially, a certificate for "jobs in high demand." If you have access to the Internet, you probably already know those "in-demand jobs": data scientists, pilots, coders, and some sort of unspecified job that "earns you $1,000 per week working from home." The training program tells you exactly what you should learn--no guesswork--and the certificate guarantees your learning investment.
Does that sound too good to be true? If you are seeing it on the Internet so is everyone else. You are in with the pack, with lots of others trying to get the same thing.
This can be a great way to get started. You have been launched on a path determined by someone else who has expertise or experience in your newly chosen field. They will tell you the steps along the way and what you should learn. Just remember you are on the same path as lots of other people, and the goal of the person who got you on the path, is to also get even more people.
Learning does not follow a pre-defined path. Studying might follow a straight path. Teaching, with a necessary emphasis on delivery, certainly does. An actual path of learning is meandering, unclear, and hard to follow. It is often overgrown with bushes and brambles, with missing signposts along the way. It is full of uncertainty. Our goal is to recognize that this way of learning is a superpower. The learning path is not well-marked. We often have to blaze some of it on our own or seek out other Explorers who are doing the same. However, as we progress on this journey we see that learning can magnify our existing capabilities, change the way we approach problems, and change our fear of the unknown. We are more willing to try something new, which leads to new opportunities. We desire to create or build rather than to only consume what someone else has made.
Learning becomes a superpower.
When we know how to learn we don't worry whether we are learning the "right" thing. We manage our learning journey. We can change and our learning pathway as our needs and interests change.
When we know how to learn, we can take on complex challenges. Many human and social problems are complex problems, as is the challenge of designing and launching breakthrough products. Complex problems are solved by suspending our current expertise (at least temporarily) and all of the stuff we have already learned. Instead, we probe an unknown, messy situation until we figure out what is going on.
Learning, driven by curiosity, happens continuously. It doesn't consume time. Instead, it is part of our daily activities. This vastly improves our "learning return on investment" because learning in this way doesn't "waste time." I like to call this, "Explore Forever."
Learning about a diverse range of topics, following interests (even interests that are changing) allows us to see our current situation in new ways. We build on patterns that we learned somewhere else and wonder, "Can that be applied here?" We expand "the Art of the Possible."
Continuous learning makes life fun, which, in turn, makes it easier to want to seek out new things to learn.
The above, by the way, is not only true for individuals. This particular lesson emerges repeatedly in innovation within groups of people, too. I work with big companies to help them develop their innovative capabilities, and I find organizations that manage for efficiency have difficulties understanding their customers, coming up with new ideas, and launching truly new products that "wow" their customers. They do everything "right" and yet still slip competitively. Other organizations which allow "less efficiency" are able to come up with better ideas and react to customers better.
So, whether you are an individual, a team, or an organization, it pays to realize that learning is a superpower.
Let your journey begin--it is never too late to start right now.