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One fine day I asked a friend of mine an extremely simple question, u201cWhich part of your life was the learning phase?u201d I was not surprised by the answer. u201cIn school, of courseu201d, he replied, with nonchalance. My friend was like many others who experienced considerable growth during their days at school. However, once their formal education came to an end, so did their curiosity to learn, ability of questioning, the intrigue that often leads to growth and development.
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SAGAR INSTITUTE OF RESEARCH & TECHNOLOGY Learning - A way of life
Learning - A way of life One fine day I asked a friend of mine an extremely simple question, “Which part of your life was the learning phase?” I was not surprised by the answer. “In school, of course”, he replied, with nonchalance. My friend was like many others who experienced considerable growth during their days at school. However, once their formal education came to an end, so did their curiosity to learn, ability of questioning, the intrigue that often leads to growth and development.
Many of us see learning as a phase, rather than a way of life. It is almost impossible to get people to spend time on formal training sessions by choice. People get forcibly nominated for training programmes by their bosses. There is a world of difference between growing with age and simply growing. Wisdom can come with age, but often, age comes alone leaving wisdom behind. Age to the stagnant is an icy winter, but to a leader, it is harvest time, indicating that the leader spends time and effort in gaining knowledge while others just let time fly.
Have you ever passed through the same route over and over again, either on your way to work, or on your evening walks? Don’t we become immune to the landscape around us, failing to notice small changes around us, despite us treading the same path every day? This happens to us at work too. When we show up for work day in and day out, and put in the time, without learning from the experiences, we are just going through the motions.
People assume that experience is what they gather as they go through the years. What they don’t realize is that experience isn’t what happens to us, but the learning from what happens to us constitutes experience. But how do we identify if we have fallen into the rut of overconfidence, routine, and dismissive arrogance, and ended up becoming a “know-it-all” boor who loses his edge with time?
Do we often fall back on “I always do this work in that way”? • We don’t challenge assumptions. • Are we losing our curiosity like a child? • Does change irritate us? • Is our sense of wonder and discovery replaced with cynicism and apathy? • Do we rely on our own experience rather than borrow or learn from other people’s experience? • Do we avoid doing things that we haven’t done before?
To a leader, getting comfortable with what one is doing is an indication of learning having leveled out. Stability and certainty often numb learning skills. While personal growth, continuous improvement, experiential learning and skill development are mantras for today, many a time, intentions don’t translate into action. It is important for us to make note of the above points and recognize when we have slipped into waters of stagnation.
Pablo Picasso, one of the most prolific painters in history had once observed, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up”. We must realize that learning is not a phase but a way of life which has to be maintained throughout.
