“Why learn in school when you’re going to forget everything anyway?” – my daughter asked.
It should give us pause when youngsters are routinely asking this type of question that many of us also asked when we were in school: “will I ever use calculus in real life if I want to be a doctor? Why the heck is this a prerequisite for me?”
A very valid question for which I believe there is a very valid answer.
Learning how to learn
You might have heard this one before: you learn how to learn in school.
I think there’s a better way to explain this statement above. Let me try.
Just like any other muscle, our brain is also like a muscle (technically it’s an organ and not a muscle but let’s go with it for now for this analogy…). But I’m sure you’ve heard this one already before right? Well, I think it’s a bit more than that…
Our brain is like our complete body with different muscles or areas. Just like in our body, we have leg, arm, chest, back muscles, in our brain, we have areas for different things as well – thought, memory, emotion, touch, motor skills, vision, breathing, temperature, hunger and all other processes that regulate our body.
Then there’s the left hemisphere that is thought to control language, math and logic, while the right hemisphere is responsible for spatial abilities, visual imagery, music and your ability to recognize faces.
Ok, that’s enough for the technical parts of this post. Let’s get into what that has to do with learning.
Working out your entire being
If you went to the gym and only worked out your biceps all the time, you will eventually have some pretty decent biceps but you’ll be missing out on all the other compound movements that are super important to grow and balance the other parts of your body – chest, legs, back, etc.
Have you ever seen a guy who’s buffed at the top and has very skinny legs? Believe me… It doesn’t look good. Not to mention that weak legs means weak foundation for your entire body.
Taking that same analogy, if you only studied one area like math or reading because you are focusing on studying engineering, the other parts of your brain would be deprived and would not grow. Those other areas also balance out your entire brain and serve as foundational areas you need for your main job.
Align your goals with your learning
You have to ask yourself: what are your goals in life?
Do you want to feel smart? Look smart? Make lots of money? Have a fulfilling life? Have people who love you? Be able to love many people around you and feel good about that? Make an impact on the world?
What do you really want …?
The answer to all of these things and more involve learning.
Learning is natural and automatic from the moment you are born. But you eventually get to a point where natural learning slows down.
Natural learning usually starts to slow down a few years into your job when things become repetitive. At that point, if you really want to learn and continue to grow and change things in your life, intentional learning is required. It’s not automatic anymore. It’s not easy… But it’s required if you want changes in your life.
But what if I don’t feel like reading books?
You might have noticed it I did not equate learning to reading books. I did not use the words “reading” or “books” even once above.
I personally think reading books is awesome. However, that’s not the way many people learn. They learn by practicing and doing, talking with others, watching something informational on television, traveling the world and so forth.
You do you! Learn in the way you enjoy.
No need to force learn in a manner that you do not find enjoyable. If you keep curiosity alive and continue to learn in the way that you enjoy, and make learning a way of life, I guarantee you will find that fulfillment that we all crave in life.
Stay curious. Learn. Have fun!