You are at risk if you are bored, unhappy, doing the same thing every day without joy, overweight, regularly low on energy, lonely, depressed or anxious. It’s easy to get lulled into complacency, which is way more comfortable than volatility. Our parents raise us to go to school so that we can get jobs and hopefully have nice comfortable lives.
Let’s say we follow all the rules and get just that. It isn’t a bad thing. The only thing you lose is your edge. When you stop learning, your brain shrinks, your network shrinks, your satisfaction decreases and your waistline expands. Learning is more than going to school or reading books or taking courses on Cousera.org. What I am talking about is deeper than that.
So that we are on the same page, here is my definition of learning.
Curiosity + Engagement + Information + Execution = Learning
Children’s brains grow quickly because they want to know why. Have you ever spent more than 30 minutes with a three year old? They want to know why about everything. They wear you down with the question, “Why?”
Many say the first thing to go is the memory. I disagree. Curiosity is the first thing to go. Once you have what you think you want and everything is going along smoothly, curiosity just up and walks off. We go to the movies because we are curious about what is going to happen next. What is the point of watching if you know what is going to happen? If we can figure out the plot 20 minutes in or worse yet, during the trailers, well, hey it is going to be a short run for that movie… We need a little volatility.
Volatility or change is what keeps you in the game. If you think you know everything, have everything, what is there to be curious about… That leads to boredom and all other things I mentioned. So the question is how do you maintain or renew your curiosity?
Simple, think like a three year old and ask why about everything.
No comments
Post a Comment