I’m guessing that if you’re reading this book, you’re one of those people who enjoys learning new skills. That’s good news – you’ll get far more out of life with that attitude. Mind you, I enjoy learning some things more than others. I learnt a new language a few years ago and I really enjoyed that. I’m far from fluent but I can communicate, which is what I wanted. The lessons were fun and, even though I-was-rubbish-and-I-knew-it to begin with, I could tell I was steadily improving.
I hated learning the violin as a child though. It’s a shame, but not only did I not see myself improving (because back in those days I wasn’t watching), I also hated how my arm ached for 30 minutes holding the thing in position, and I just longed for every lesson to finish so I could finally drop my arm down to my side and rest it.
The thing about learning is the ‘-ing’ at the end of it. It’s an ongoing process, not a magic wand. And your enthusiasm won’t last unless you enjoy doing it. It’s almost impossible to be sustained solely by the beacon of what you’ll finally be able to do at the end of it. Months of miserable, gruelling, time-consuming, horrible training you hate, just so you can run a marathon at the end of it? I don’t think so. You have to enjoy going for a run, enjoy the challenge, enjoy setting a new personal best, enjoy feeling fitter, enjoy your training partner’s company.
If you enjoy learning for its own sake, it stands to reason that you won’t be nearly so bothered about how long it takes to reach you’re-good-and-you-know-it, because you’re having fun in the meantime. And that positive frame of mind will help you to be realistic about setbacks or sticking points or timeframes and not to feel inadequate when you don’t master everything instantly. Forget ‘practice makes perfect’. Progress is all you need.
If you choose to learn a thing and then you don’t enjoy the process, see if you can find a more fun approach to learning it. Maybe in a class with other people, or at a different time of day, or with an app, or a change of teacher, or alongside a friend, or on a crash course.
The other thing that makes learning more fun is to think about how you’re progressing. However aware you might be that you’re-rubbish-and-you-know-it is normal, you still want a sense that you’re on your way to the next stage. So monitor your progress within that stage, check back to see how much ground you’ve already covered, and focus on what you’ve achieved so far. Some people like to keep a progress diary of some kind, so try that if you think it might work for you. The important thing is to think about your learning and to recognise and correct any tendency to focus on mistakes. They’re briefly useful to highlight learning points, and that’s it. You gain nothing by dwelling on them. Much better to count your successes, however small.
IT’S AN ONGOING PROCESS, NOT A MAGIC WAND