Oct 16, 2019
The Joy Of Learning
Over the past few days, I’d catch myself being excited over finding a new article about things I’m interested in or finding like-minded people who share their thoughts through sites like this or even Twitter. It made me wonder, when did I enjoy learning so much? I wasn’t exactly like this in college. Call me a nerd (which I’ll wear with pride!), but it’s only now that I’ve felt this much joy when learning! It’s gotten to the point that I enjoy going through various literature for the topics I’m interested in, ranging from books, articles, podcasts, videos, and even online courses. It made me think, what happened all of a sudden? And moreover, why only now!?
Back in school, my focus was less on learning, and more on passing the class in order to ultimately graduate with a degree. With that pressure of making sure I graduate looming on my head, my goal was more of “How can I absorb all of this content and regurgitate it back when it’s exam time?”. You can liken it to what people say about being a sponge. The only problem with that is you’re not supposed to simply absorb it, but also digest and synthesise it. You don’t just throw back whatever you learned with no thoughts about it.
Although it may not be applicable to everyone, I don’t think this is something unusual or rare amongst people. When reminiscing with friends and colleagues about what we learned in college and what we applied, there just seems to be a big gap with us having to figure out how to do things in the “real world”.
Don’t get me wrong though, there were bits and pieces there that made me enjoy learning. I remember the moment it all fell into place, something like an A- HA! moment. It was during senior year, nearing the end of the semester. Back then, I was taking up subjects on Philosophy, History, Development, and Theology. When I was reviewing the lessons from each class, my brain somehow made the connection across all of them.
In Theology, we learned about Liberation Theology and the role we must play in contributing to bringing good to people in this world, combatting the unjust structures that contribute to the oppression of people, rather than being good to simply enter heaven. Which then made me think about how in Philosophy and History that these structures are a reflection of one’s morals, the values one lives through, and that these structures are actually manmade. How these structures didn’t simply happen overnight but were an accumulation of the decisions of those in power, and how history seems doomed to repeat itself again and again in a cycle of corruption if we don’t act upon it, which I’ve learned thanks to the lens of Development.
Well…
At least when I thought about it then, it made sense to me 😅
I’ve always wanted to repeat that A-HA! moment, and from what I’ve been experiencing now, I’ve had ideas on how to replicate that feeling. Hopefully it helps you as well.
- Jump into the rabbit hole
Do you ever catch yourself going through a rabbit hole going through YouTube videos from watching a TED talk to seeing the latest WorthIt episode? Yeah, that happens… Similar to that, you can jump into your subject of interest by jumping into the rabbit hole! With the internet, there are so many ways to do this. You can go read through different articles such as here on Medium or LinkedIn. You can search for prominent figures for your subject of interest through the books or articles they’ve written, and see what they’ve said in other channels (Twitter is a gold mine). Really, you just have to keep searching, scouring the internet seeing what’s the latest news or developments about whatever it is you’re reading.
If you’re still in school, there’s a more structured way to go about this as you can go through the required readings + recommended readings to give you a better grasp of the topic. Think of your teacher’s syllabus as a reflection of their mental model regarding the topic, a way for you to engage with the content from someone who’s already gone through that path. You can even set some time with your teacher and engage with the subject better. I’m sure they’d be more than happy to share in more detail what they teach. Imagine someone reaching out to you for something you geek over, wouldn’t it be natural for you to want to share more about it?
2. Actively engage with what you’re consuming
Shift the mindset of “How can I memorise this content” into “What does this all mean?”. The challenge with formal education is that it’s designed to be standardised, in order to have a standard way of grading and an efficient manner to teach what is needed to have a general grasp of the subject (or at least I assume). Far from standardised, we need to have a more active role when we engage with the content we consume. What helps me is to imagine as though I’m in dialogue with the author or content provider, asking questions throughout what I’m consuming, and seeing how the dots all connect. Doing this gives me more fulfilment in what I learn as I’m capturing the essence of the subject, not merely the technical jargon.
3. Take a step back and look at the bigger picture
Being so absorbed in something risks you to keeping things in silos. It’s how we were taught. Subjects were treated separately with no relation to each other. Different lessons, different professors, different ways of grading. But learning, is best once connected. From time to time, take a step back from what you’ve just learned and ask, “What does this all mean? How does this relate to xyz?”. You’d be surprised at how seemingly unrelated things can be connected. Your mental model expands and you’re able to see things holistically. That’s natural. It’s how innovation happens after all.
Ultimately, I believe that to learn better and have more of those A-HA! moments is to treat it beyond requirements or a test. There’s always a way to draw insight out of what it is you’re consuming. Whether you agree or disagree with the content, you further your mental model on how things work.
In writing this, I hope to continue these types of posts where I get to learn things out loud, and felt that what better way to begin learning something out loud than by talking about the idea of learning itself! If you have any recommendations or suggestions for topics, books, articles, podcasts and the like that you’d want me to learn more about, feel free to comment below or email me at espeleta.gm@gmail.com
Cheers!
If you’d like to read or watch more about learning and what inspired me to write this post, feel free to check these two out:
- Make It Stick by Peter Brown: A lovely book that gives a more concrete process on how to learn better backed by Science
- How I learn and Study — My Process with the iPad by Samuel Suresh: Great video in my opinion that shows the joy of learning. Plus points for me as I’m figuring out ways to further my learning on the iPad!
