Learning Nerd’s Diary #53
Welcome back Learning Nerds!
👀 Sneak peak
Here is what I have in store for you this week -
💭 Learning About Learning: Adults don’t know how to learn!
🥜 Learning Nugget: Curiosity vs Curriculum driven learning
💥 Coolest Thing I Learnt This Week:
40 questions to ask yourself every year
Be Intentional About How You Spend Your Time Off
Different types of rest
🔦 Spotlight: Making the Most of Mentoring
Let's jump right in!
💭 Adults don’t know how to learn!
It’s true.
As kids, our lives revolve around learning. Our identity for 18 years is that of a student.
Learning as adults is hard.
For starters, learning if at all is a mere part of our lives. Moreover, we carry the baggage of how we learnt as kids - something that was not effective in the first place!
We think learning is x, but…
It’s actually y!
Here are 3 common misconceptions I have seen adults have about learning:
1/ Learning is a time in our lives
Once we start working we think we’ve left learning behind. But as living beings, we’re constantly learning - whether we recognise it or not!
So learning is not just a time in our lives but rather a mindset for life.
The more aware we are of what we’re learning and start being more conscious - the more our growth will be accelerated.
2/ Learning is a solo spot
We believe that learning is something we need to do on our own. School makes us believe that learning is something we need to do alone, often locked up in a room.
But learning is a team sport.
We learn best with people. Whether it is mentors, peers, or even people who hold us accountable - we need our crew to learn effectively.
3/ Learning is about acquiring knowledge
More often than not we measure learning by how much knowledge we’ve acquired - “I read a book a week” or “I read 10 articles everyday” becomes a flex.
But learning is more than acquiring knowledge - it’s applying that knowledge in the real world.
How many of us remember everything we learn in school? Did we acquire knowledge in school? Yes. But did we apply all of it? Hell no!
Our learning needs to focus on what we’re doing with the knowledge that we’re taking in.
In a nutshell
We think learning is a time in our lives → but it actually is a mindset for life
We think learning is a solo sport → but it actually is a team sport
We think learning is acquiring knowledge → but it actually is applying knowledge
Which of these did you resonate with the most?
🥜 Curriculum vs Curiosity Driven Learning
There are 2 kinds of learning - curiosity driven and curriculum driven.
Curriculum = structured path
Curiosity = unchartered path
You need both.
💥 Coolest Thing I Learnt this Week
40 questions to ask yourself every year
The end of the year is always a reflective time for me personally. I use the holidays to reflect on the past year and make plans for the new year. I came across this list of questions to do the same and I can’t wait to sit down and start filling these in! Check it out if you’re looking for a way to wrap-up the year :)
Be Intentional About How You Spend Your Time Off
Came across this interesting article which talks about how you should set some goals for your time off. With the holidays around the corner, planning how you’d like to spend time is a good way to spend the rest of the week. Whether it is self care, going to a museum, or going for that hike you’ve been putting off - plan your time off! It’ll help :)
Different types of rest
I know I’ve shared this article before but this is an oldie but a goodie. I realised this fairly late, but we need different types of rest - physical rest as important as that is, is only one kind of rest. Check out the other kinds of rest in this article.
Which one are you looking forward to the most in this break?
🔦 Spotlight
Last week’s article on Making the Most of Mentoring got featured in this week’s Offbeat newsletter!
Incase you missed it, you can find the article here!
Love & Learning
Until we meet next YEAR!
Yes, this will be the last Learning Nerd’s Dairy for the year, Hope this new year brings you lots of love & learning.
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