Some people are born with ambition built into their DNA. Unfortunately, not all of us are gifted with the right attributes necessary for success in our environment. In this case, you will be adopting lifelong learning as a newly learned skill. Learning: this is the skill of challenging yourself and attempting to start something new.
Remember when…
computers started to appear everywhere, and normal daily activities began to shift to online activities. You might not remember this rough transition because you were young and grew up in this technological environment, or you are great at adopting to change.
Unfortunately for a majority of the population, change is always difficult because of many reasons. One of these reasons, and I believe the major reason, is the lack of willingness to learn.
Psychologically, there may be hundreds of reasons for this.
Every individual is infinitely nuanced and it’s impossible to pinpoint the reason for why we think the way we do. Fortunately, with a little bit of awareness and practice, we can always aim towards a more ideal self.
In this article, I’m going to list out three major reasons people refuse to learn new things, and then how they may start to become a lifelong learner with a little bit of practice.
Insecurity
Nobody is perfect. And that means your parents, your teachers, your friends, and your colleagues all have flaws. These flaws are what cause us to be insecure. Or rather, the awareness of these flaws is what causes us to become insecure. We may do one of two things when we feel insecure:
- Project that insecurity upon others
- Use it for a directional guide towards improvement
Unfortunately, a lot of the people around us, and I’d say the average person, chooses route number one. This causes a repression in groups, as every individual is harshly judging each other. In my life, I’ve found groups like this to be very limiting to my growth, and it becomes difficult to express myself.
Even when we are alone and doing solitary activities, this repressive effect lingers.
I think this is why a lot of people don’t try to learn new things. They have a lingering judge in their subconscious that instills fear in them. Fear of failure and fear of looking bad, in reputational sense, and also to themselves.
Therefore it is important to notice if you are hanging with a negative crowd, and limit your time around them.
This is definitely a very difficult thing for anyone to do. One could say, “better the devil you know…”. But, obviously, you’re looking to be a lifelong learner because you are sick of staying stagnant. Learning new things is the only way out of a rut, and now you must weigh how important that is compared to social-approval.
Find better people to be around.
Excuses
Something psychotherapist have discovered is that they can only help someone if that person truly wants to change.
Excuses are words that are resisting, and denying what you want. Most of the time, excuses are formulated when the feeling of fear or pain associated with the new activity arise.
They are rational justifications of these feelings. If you constantly make excuses, then you do not truly want to change, and nothing and nobody can then help you.
Eliminating excuses is something that requires a lot of awareness to achieve. Chances are, if you’re here on this page you’ve noticed that you want to be a lifelong learner, and therefore practiced some form of awareness to achieve that. Now, notice the feeling that arises when you have to do something challenging, and notice how the mind will rationalize an excuse not to do that activity.
Maybe you’re just not cut out for it? Maybe you’re tired because you’ve had a long day at work? Whatever comes up, you must not repeat those words to yourself, and especially not aloud. The power of the spoken word is powerful beyond comprehension (but that’s another article).
Replace your excuses with positive affirmations.
Energy
It is obvious that any new activity will take a lot of will-power to achieve. Until those positive habits are ingrained into you, it will be pure will-power that allows us to do them. This is why, in those first three habit-forming months, you have to diligent in keeping your energy reserves high and healthy.
It is streamlined to your new lifelong learning lifestyle to also adopt a healthy diet and regular exercise. Physical energy is something in which we either use it or lose it. As cliche as that sounds.
Recent studies have even shown that doing barbell squats increase mental capacity. Not to mention the happy-chemicals (endorphins) that are released with rigorous exercise. Who needs motivation when you have happy-chemicals?
A diet full of healthy fats and protein will also nourish your energy reserves. Adopting good practices in these areas in your life will enable you to overpower any nagging excuse, and give you the will power to say “no” to a negative friend. You will simply have too much energy for your old habits to resurface.
Keep your energy high. Keep your spirits high.
Now go and learn something new…
A great place I’ve been learning at recently is here with the great folks at WA.
I’ve learned almost everything I know about online marketing, and monetizing the online landscape with the great community at WA.
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