Learning

With all the interviews that I have done so far, three attributes stick out that have helped guests from my show develop their careers. The attributes are Being Personable, Learning, and Communication.  I will explore each one of these attributes individually and in detail in this and subsequent blogs. This blog will focus on learning.

Learning is a skill for career development and life. Too often many of us stick to something we know in our field or our lives. It could be that we are afraid to step out and try something new because we may have to learn something fresh and we are not sure if we can. To have the ability to tell ourselves that we can learn something, we can figure this out is a real asset, it is liberating and can provide freedom.

 In this blog I will provide examples from my experiences as a student, working at the University of Calgary for 31 years, and from my interviews from my podcast regarding learning, how some people approach it, and why it is so important. In this blog I will cover the following topics: what is learning; why is it important; strategy for learning; curiosity and how this helps us learn; learning to learn by dabbling, and a conclusion. 

What is Learning

First, what is learning? It is a process that we all go through in developing a knowledge of a topic or subject matter. This is accomplished through education and experience. This all leads to uncovering new material that pushes us forward and will increase our potential. This is hard as we enter new territory our brains are developing new patterns. And because of this some of us may shy away from new challenges.

Why Learning is Important

Some of us but not all of us may know what we want to do with our lives. Some of us are 100% sure until we try it out and realize that this is not for us after all. One of the first interviews I did was with Amy Stanley https://www.thecareerguy.ca/episodes/blog-post-title-two-gtmae.  Amy grew up loving and caring for animals in doing so everybody including her thought she was going to be a veterinarian. It wasn't until she started to work in a clinic that she realized it was not for her. So, she moved on to teaching animal sciences at a college. Most of us do not know for sure what we may want to do with our lives and some of us make discoveries later in life. That is why developing the skill of learning is so vital it provides us with the flexibility to move and try new things.

Strategy for Learning

My interview with Chandler Cook https://www.thecareerguy.ca/episodes/working-and-living-in-silicon-valley-part-1 explains some strategies he used for learning when doing his undergrad and master's degree in engineering, which was challenging. The one approach he used was to walk away from problems and do something else. It is when our brains are relaxed when we have those “aha” moments. This hypothesis is supported by a book called “Mind for Numbers” written By Barbra Oakley  https://www.thecareerguy.ca/blog/a-book-review-of-a-mind-for-numbers-written-by-barbara-oakley where one of the ideas is to work for a short durations 30-40 minutes intensely and come back to the material later. This enables us to look at the material with a new and fresh perspective. This theory and many more are supported in another book called “Make it Stick The Science of Successful Learning” https://www.thecareerguy.ca/blog/a-book-review-called-make-it-stick-the-science-of-successful-learning-by-peter-c-brown-henry-l-roediger-and-mark-a-mcdaniel

Curiosity

A key ingredient to learning is to approach topics with a sense of curiosity as Shanil Ebrahim explains https://www.thecareerguy.ca/episodes/v6696m2ofuhum21eg8z85gzolftnlk. Being interested in something and approaching topics with this intent can alleviate frustrations and help us overcome those blocks when we face them. More importantly, this can be the catalyst in developing our passion. Also, keeping this in mind learning is growing. Every day we all have an opportunity to be a better version of ourselves, to discover something new, and the ability to learn is a tool that can provide us with this as Shanil suggests. In essence, it is the ability to discover something about ourselves that learning can provide.

 Learning to Learn by Dabbling

In contrast, if we are learning something for a result, it may lead to frustration. However, in our technologically advanced world that is ever-changing, we may encounter learning something that we have to or need for our jobs or in life.  In this situation, the key is to view it as an opportunity as Sean Tyler Foley emphasizes in his interview https://www.thecareerguy.ca/episodes/being-on-stage.

Working as an actor as Sean explains, is an unstable career that leads a person like him to take on other roles to fill gaps.  In doing so he points out you never know what you may or may not like and what these situations may lead to in the future. One of his recommendations in the interview is not to be afraid to try new things, dabble is his suggestion. It is true the more we try something new the better we get at doing things, diversity is the key. Everything has patterns so the more things we try the more we are capable of discovering those patterns which can help us be better learners.  By doing this we are learning to learn.

Conclusion

Working with as many students as I have in a university setting, the one thing that stands out is that 3rd and particularly 4th-year students say they can learn that now. This means that they have developed the skill and are proficient learners. Additionally, this has given them the confidence to learn something new.  They have grown and learning is growing. But in doing so we have to want to grow and more importantly, we have to be interested in what we are about to undertake. In my years of employment at the University of Calgary, I have witnessed young people grow.  Some have accomplished some remarkable things. They did this because they wanted to, and I do believe that this is the key ingredient which is the desire to learn.

Learning something new can be scary for some or just daunting. The key that may help anyone is to ask ourselves why we are learning what we are. Why are we putting ourselves on this journey to develop an understanding of something new? Knowing why we are doing something can help us overcome some obstacles we may face. The idea is to be clear and once we are we will be more committed and with that possibilities can be endless. I hope this blog helps and thanks for reading.