"I love learning something new!" is a trend in modern society. With information becoming so accessible and the flow of it being unstoppable, people try to be effective and adopt the growth mindset. While I enjoy learning new things myself, I would like to talk about learning processes in general and discuss when (and why) learning can become a problem.
I'll be referring to some (overused) quotes that I really love, so bear with me. The first one is from Socrates: "I know that I know nothing". There are many versions of it, but they all get down to the point of a learning curve where you pass the initial arrogance and realize how much you still have to learn. You definitely know this feeling, and you might also know the fancy name for it: The Dunning–Kruger effect. It's a state of cognitive bias when you have only some competence but feel like you know everything better than others. The learning process, like any other process, has its stages. Usually, they are described as these four:
- You don't know how much of the subject remains undiscovered
- You know but didn't attempt to start mastering the unknown parts
- You are investing time and effort into learning the subject
- You have mastered a subject so extensively that you may forget or take for granted how much you truly know
The Socrates' thing comes to action when you are in later stages, but keep reminding yourself consciously that there is more to this than the eye meets. For me personally, keeping the mind open for new perspectives on the known subjects has always been a positive thing. I've been in situations where I thought I knew it all - up to the extent that made me blind to a better solution. That sucks!
I'm writing this to illustrate my idea of the "righteous" learning path, which basically does not have a final state. Whatever you allegedly mastered, you should be mastering for the rest of your life/career/relationship/whatever is applicable.
But what is the reason for learning in the first place? There are many, one of them is "BeCaUsE it IS CoOl!" but let's not take that into account for now, ok? When learning something, some people want to deepen their expertise in a particular subject, some seek new hobbies and interests, some want to improve their professional or interpersonal skills, and some try to express themselves better. For others, the process itself is just something that keeps the neurons moving. In different parts of life, I've been through most of the listed reasons, with the dominance of professional growth and "I want to push myself outside of the comfort zone". For me, all of the above is legit as long as you don't push yourself to ridiculous limits.
You might think: "Everything sounds cool and reliable so far, what's the problem then?!" This is where the article becomes interesting (and more controversial!) I believe that lately, learning has become more of a pop-culture thing; people try to use their time effectively, so every spare minute is learning: reading articles, listening to podcasts, using learning apps... Our brain gets a lot of information fast, but it gets out as easily as it gets in. It's like if your brain is a porcelain cup and a piece of new info is a drink: you pour it in, enjoy it a bit, and then the cup is empty again with only a few drops left at the bottom.
The problems I identified for myself are:
1. The knowledge is not applied.
2. The knowledge is not shared.
Leonardo da Vinci said: "Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do". Let's take a look at my loyal assistant Luther here:
Luther is a simple guy, he does not even learn things that he is not actively applying. When he became a part of my family, we were living in an apartment with a bathtub. After each walk, he got in a bathtub so I could wash his paws. While in the beginning this was irritating for him, later, he already knew the expected behavior: enter the bathroom -> put paws on the side of the bathtub -> jump in, -> wait for the magic to happen. But for the past 4 years (half of his life!), we have been living in apartments with shower cabins. When we were visiting friends recently and needed to wash paws in a bathtub, it was something entirely new for him.
You can say: "But I haven't been riding a bicycle/swimming/playing guitar/talking German for years but can recall how to do it", and will be absolutely right with one exception: at some point in your life, you invested time and effort into it, which now helps you to recover the knowledge faster. If Luther had to get used to the bathtub again, it would go at least without that irritation we had in the beginning (probably). Anyway, if the knowledge is chewed like a pack of gum and then abandoned, I doubt you will remember a lot after a year or two.
Takeaway #1: Apply the knowledge you acquire. Don't just sit on it—applying makes the commitment real.
Now, to the second problem, which can be solved by sharing the knowledge. I kind of cheated here as sharing is almost the same as applying, with one exception: “When one teaches, two learn", as Robert Heinlein said. So sharing is two for the price of one, applying and learning more about the subject. It essentially brings us to the last stage of the learning process that I highlighted above (mastering a subject to a level where you take for granted how much you truly know). Sometimes, we expect that others know something we mastered, forgetting what it took us to learn that. In addition, some things that come naturally to one person will require another some effort to learn. That's one of the reasons I host knowledge-sharing sessions, try to make my talks at the conferences insightful instead of promotional, and write articles instead of "lifestyle" posts: it is, first of all, to retrieve and process thoughts for myself, and if someone finds it useful, I'm even happier. Hopefully, this one will also be useful for someone out there!
Takeaway #2: try sharing the experience you've built in any suitable format; it will be beneficial not only for readers/viewers/listeners but, first of all, for you.
P.S. As always, there are exceptions. Learning just for the sake of the learning process can also bring value, even without applying or sharing it. I personally dislike podcasts as a format, I even participated in some but every time it's just discussions with no conclusions. There is only one that I can listen to and find useful, which is Huberman Lab. Recently, Dr. Andrew Huberman had an episode on Tenacity and Willpower where he also mentioned how putting effort into learning can help build tenacity. Check it out but don't forget to apply the knowledge ;)
