Ah, the weekend is here. Time to kick-back, relax, and not think about anything…oh, wait, our world is losing its mind? Well dang, I guess we have to step up and contribute to society. No excuses to sit on your laurels and not make moves to learn right now.
In the spirit of all that is happening around us, I think it’s important to speak on a topic that I’ve always been passionate about. The topic of learning.
My work with the LIFE Council was born from my passion for learning. Before this work was ever a reality, I took my place amongst the amazing people who call themselves teachers. I taught eighth grade and high school seniors before moving to the university to prepare future teachers. I have a PhD in Education and keep my eye on the education system. I love learning, I believe in the power of learning, and the LIFE Council is built on an assumed foundation of learning.
I love learning, I believe in the power of learning, and the LIFE Council is built on an assumed foundation of learning.
For me, it’s simple – learning is growth. If you aren’t actively seeking to learn then you aren’t growing. If you aren’t growing, the LIFE Council probably isn’t for you.
So this weekend, I want to give you even the slightest glimpse into the world of learning with three things you need, to be a LIFE-long learner (see what I did there?).
1. A Growth Mindset
If you aren’t aware of “growth mindset”, you may have lived under a rock for the last 5 or 10 years but I’ll give you a snapshot. A growth mindset means simply, that you believe you can grow. Sounds easy but you’d be surprised how much you act as if you can’t.
One thing to cultivate a growth mindset is to watch your language. Carol Dweck, the Stanford psychologist who created the growth mindset idea, is famous for her promotion of the word “yet” (she even did a whole TedTalk on it for you). I’ll guess that just today you said something to the tune of, “I don’t know how to do x,y, or z” or maybe it was “I can’t do that”. The power of “yet” arrives when you add it to the end of those statements – “I don’t know how to do x,y,z YET.” The “yet” means you know you can grow and learn.
Let’s be honest, the growth mindset is probably too simplistic and I’m perhaps the ten millionth blogger to talk about it. But I’ve seen kids go from believing they were below average to knowing they can be top of the class with enough work. I’ve watched personal training clients break massive barriers in fitness just by being more intentional with the word, “yet”. To live the LIFE principles and support others to do the same but not fundamentally believe people can grow (yourself included), is sophomoric.
Try it. If you think you’re above it, you aren’t. Which brings me to the second thing you must have…
2. Serious Levels of Humility
Ah say it with me, “I am not the best person ever and the world doesn’t revolve around my house.” Doesn’t it feel good? As a new Christian, I struggled with this big time! My favorite coping mechanism for anything to that point in my life was to use arrogance so no one would see the true anxiety building within me. Then I met a God who told me, “you aren’t good enough, and I love you fully anyway”.
To be a LIFE-long learner, you must be humble. You need the willingness to ask questions and have your beliefs challenged. When you really lean into learning, you’ll even have your mind changed now and then.
With COVID, protests for racial justice, and more seeming to rock our world on a daily basis, humility is a superpower. The humble person listens and responds instead of shouting in anger. Humility gives you pause on your own thinking and keeps you open to seeing other perspectives. The humble learn, the arrogant destroy.
The humble learn, the arrogant destroy.
3. True Curiosity
What unites Oprah, Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Michael Lewis, and so many other greats? Curiosity. It’s so meaningful to us that many popular influencers have made their entire name off curiosity – any Tim Ferris or Lewis Howes fans in the house?
Being genuinely curious and asking good questions (that you actually want to hear the answer to) separates successful and unsuccessful people almost directly. If you want to live fully, you have to be curious. Curious about yourself as a person and the habits you keep, curious about your schedule and why you designed it that way, curious about your beliefs and where they came from, and curious about the world and people around you.
Here’s a wild idea, next time you’re about to blast your unresearched opinion on social media, post a thoughtful question instead and actually try to learn from the responses. I’m a radical, I know…
Bottom Line
If you stopped believing that learning was important when you donned that beautiful cap and gown in your high school auditorium (or even your PhD hooding ceremony) you are falling behind the best version of yourself. Change your language and your heart toward growth, be humble in everything, and start asking more questions than you give answers.
Here’s to the weekend. Not just a chance to sit back and relax but also prime time to learn something new.
Weekend Challenge
Am I getting too obvious with these? This weekend, I challenge you to learn something. That’s vague so here are some specific ideas:
- Purposefully read an article written by someone with an opinion different than your own regarding COVID shutdowns and/or the George Floyd protests for justice. Don’t read to get angry, read to find the truth in what they say – there’s always truth hidden in any logical piece
- Read a book about something that you are interested in. But before you read it, in the front cover, write three questions you have about the topic and then seek those insights.
- Call a friend who works in a different field than you and ask them about what they do every day. Most of us know our friend’s jobs, but what they do hour-to-hour can help us learn so much about them and their field
- Engage in a Masterclass about anything you want to (I took Malcolm Gladwell’s for writing about a year ago and loved it)
- Go back and read my other blogs for some serious knowledge bomb (ok, maybe that’s a plug but could still be helpful, right?)
This was supposed to be a shorter blog after a long week, and it didn’t happen. All well, if you’re still reading, have a great weekend. If you aren’t…you have a good weekend too.