Greetings and salutations!
I deeply believe that knowing how to learn brings transformation to our lives — knowing how to learn is the foundational ability that empowers everything else we do.
As we navigate an increasingly complex world, those who master the process of learning gain a profound advantage. They adapt faster, tackle challenges with confidence, and ultimately find greater fulfillment. Whether you're an educator, professional, parent, or simply someone interested in personal growth, I believe these ideas can change your perspective on what's possible.
Onto the ideas!
Ideas
What I believe:
- Every human should know how to learn.
- Knowing how to learn is the engine that drives every other part of life.
- Knowing how to learn helps us do hard things, bringing purpose and fulfillment to our lives.
- Knowing how to learn makes us adaptable, giving us confidence that we will find opportunities in any environment.
- Knowing how to learn helps us gain wisdom, then use our wisdom to live full and free lives — flourishing in all we do.
I’ve become passionate about these beliefs; these beliefs have formed the foundation of my work. As the foundation of my work, these beliefs have set me on a mission to help people know how to learn — helping everyone who joins this journey flourish in each part of their life!
Knowing How to Learn: The Foundational Skill
In the statement “every human should know how to learn,” the word know needs more explanation.
By know, I mean that every human should deeply understanding the knowledge and skills for the process of learning.
Like every other set of knowledge and skills in a topic, the process of learning has specific knowledge and skills. By learning the knowledge and skills for the process of learning, we can apply the process of learning to every other area in our life. Want to learn carpentry? To play the violin? To cook delicious and nutritious meals? To play golf? The intricacies of contract law? Great to all of this — use the process of learning with the topic!
A deep understanding of the process of learning will help you be more efficient and effective as you go along in your topic, moving you more quickly from novice to intermediate to expert.
(For a much deeper discussion about on the knowledge and skills in the process of learning, read this essay: That’s How Learning Works?!?! A Comprehensive Model for Understanding the Learning Process. Also, check out the courses in the last section!)
Knowing How to Learn: Enabling Hard Things
Part of being a human is doing hard things.
Doing hard things is a part of our humanity that the machines cannot take, which will increase in importance as the machines get better at doing the easy things. Deeply understanding the process of learning helps us tackle meaningful challenges, giving us the tools to work through the challenges. We can break through perceived limitations and find the right approach, turning what seems impossible into another of our accomplishments.
A cushy life is a wasted life; doing hard things brings purpose and fulfillment to our lives. By using the process of learning we can make progress with our hard things, becoming more confident in our abilities and experiencing a greater fullness of life.
Knowing How to Learn: Becoming Adaptable
Even with routines in our life, uncertainty is always waiting for us around the corner.
Those who deeply understand the process of learning are equipped to take advantage of both routine times and uncertain times. We can set up our routines to create the conditions for efficient and effective learning, designing systems that help keep us on track. In uncertain times we can also thrive, using the process of learning to efficiently and effectively learn new and important knowledge and skills. Through this process we can reinvent ourselves; where others see only threats, we can use the reinvention to take opportunities.
During times of uncertainty I often think of the first two lines of the poem If— by Rudyard Kipling:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you
Part of “keeping your head” is self-confidence, which comes from a belief that you will meet the demands of the environment. Deeply understanding the process of learning provides that self-confidence, allowing you be secure and thrive in any environment.
Knowing How to Learn: The Bridge to Wisdom
Wisdom is using the right knowledge and skills in the right way at the right time.
The most embarrassing and regretful periods in my life have come from acting unwisely. The actions happened because one of the parts of wisdom was applied incorrectly, usually through the wrong way or wrong timing. I missed an opportunity to help someone or make a situation better, creating a gnawing unease about the situation — and making me have a negative experience.
Knowing how to learn — in each part of life — has given me the tools to become better at using the right knowledge and skills in the right way at the right time, leading me to act more wisely in many situations. Though I do not always act wisely, I can analyze the situation to understand what I did. By confronting my own actions through the lens of the process of learning, I can rest easy by knowing I did the best I could do — and will learn from the situation to act more wisely in the next situation.
To teach the knowledge and skills for the process of learning, I’ve created Belcher’s Model for Learning — part of which is the image below. For a much deeper explanation, check out this essay: That’s How Learning Works?!?! A Comprehensive Model for Understanding the Learning Process.
Stories
I’ve used the process of learning throughout my life; here are a couple of stories.
Story 1: One way that I’m applying the idea of wisdom is through parenting. Each day is an exploration in every area of life — physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual — for our daughters, my wife, and myself. Although I may have the right knowledge and skills for a situation, parenting has made me much more aware of the impact on the way I share and the timing of my sharing. I’m prone to oversharing information, which definitely does not work during a meltdown (haha); I’ve become better at sharing information when the girls are in a good place, which has created some interesting conversations. Parenting has also increased my desire to live more wisely, which has helped me understand the connections between learning and wisdom more deeply.
Story 2: Another way I’m using the process of learning is through the work with The Learning Engine. One of my life’s purposes is to “help others,” so I’m using this newsletter and the courses to help others with their learning. Creating this company has been challenging, with many different sets of knowledge and skills to learn. Though some of the knowledge and skills transfer from teaching and coaching, others do not — especially related to copywriting and sales. These two areas have been the most challenging for me, so I’ve had to apply my own Model for Learning to create learning projects in these areas. I’ve started to understand the baseline sets of knowledge and skills, though I have a long ways to go; however, I’m confident that using the Model for Learning will help me learn efficiently and effectively, helping me become better at every area of business.
Questions
- What do you believe about learning?
- What parts my of my beliefs do you question?
- With what parts of my beliefs do you agree?
- How do you use the process of learning in your life?
- What are the foundational beliefs in your personal and professional life?
- What is the most recent learning project you’ve created?
Learning happens when we share what we are thinking, so I would love to hear your answers! Also, you can use these questions as conversations starters with friends and family — hearing their answers and having a conversation would be great!
If this newsletter resonated with you, please share on the socials and with someone who you think would also benefit; I would greatly appreciate any help in spreading these ideas!
Thanks for reading this newsletter — and all the best!
Nathan
