The Learning Cycle
Whenever we set out to learn something new, there is a learning cycle underneath that process.
And unless we can see this learning curve before we begin -- or at least, soon after beginning the process, it can prevent us from continuing when the frustrations hit...
... for there are generally inevitable periods of frustration in the learning curve.
But by becoming aware of the learning cycle and its phases, you can let motivation and learning work together -- the sole ingredient for succeeding at whatever you've chosen to learn. And by learning here, I mean practical skills or abilities -- not memorizing facts or equations.
So, because knowing each phase allows you to see the 'big picture', which gives you the persistence to keep going when nothing seems to be happening, what are the phases of the learning curve?
Phase 1: Ignorance
When we don't know how to get or do what we want -- whether that be riding a bike or meeting women -- we have no idea what's REALLY involved.
Sure, we may think we have some idea. And oftentimes, we may even think we know all the reasons why we can't or why we'd fail -- but that's just because the way we think things work ISN'T the way things ACTUALLY work in Nature or reality.
Then we tend to make excuses or give ourselves reasons to back it up.
So it's really about pride and ignorance.
That's why the first phase of the learning cycle is quite simply, being ignorant. Being clueless, yet proud. For we all (or most) want to believe we're right, just as FM Alexander put it...
“Everyone wants to be right, but no one stops to consider if their idea of right is right.”
Or as I translate it here: if we're not getting the results we want, we're not right -- or more accurately, we're not aligned with natural laws.
And it is this fact that prevents us from achieving what we want.
But when we truly begin desiring a thing, we force ourselves to throw off pride and humble ourselves. For that's what brings us to...
Phase 2: Awareness
The only way to change ourselves and thus, change the results we get in life, is to expand our awareness. Whether it's social learning or self development, the key is to see things from another perspective different from the current one we hold.
In that sense, it's visual learning.
Sometimes, this can come in the form of ideas or knowledge. Other times, it may come from direct experience.
Though most times, it starts with specialized knowledge. Then, that knowledge, once accepted, shifts your whole view of the world, which brings about and allows for new experiences.
Like Copernicus, who made the bold statement, "The world is round!" Though first opposed, once accepted, a person's entire view on the world changed forever, literally.
This created new possibilities: satellites, etc.
And so it is with the learning cycle. Having a new sense of awareness is the gateway. But it is ONLY the gateway, if it is not USED to bring about what you want to learn.
For sometimes, being aware or educated may actually prevent people from actually walking through that gateway. I've certainly fallen for this trap before. It's as if we think that just because we know HOW to do a thing, that there's no need for practice -- that we should no longer make mistakes or fail.
That just because we know the 'steps', we should naturally be able to do it. No! There must be the major phase, where true learning actually happens...
Phase 3: Practice
With awareness comes a kind of rush or excitement from the realization of a possible new world. And it tends to become a sort of novelty -- when it's still fresh, with previously unknown possibilities still lingering.
But that isn't the phase of the learning cycle that brings true learning, or even results. That is only the starting point, the beginning of change.
The real progress comes with continuous application, experimentation, and practice.
This is the phase of the learning cycle where motivation and learning really need to come together. For if we don't, most of us will end up not learning how to apply what we've become aware of.
Instead, we'll either do nothing and procrastinate -- for fear of failing.
But failing or making mistakes is where the real learning happens -- social learning included. Making mistakes is the ingredient with which we assimilate new ideas and transform them into productive habits and skills.
If you want to learn, mistakes are inevitable!
Or if we do take action, we may try too hard -- which obviously has more initiative than doing nothing, but failure generally becomes a default with trying too hard.
To use another FM Alexander quote:
“Trying is only emphasizing the thing we know already.”
So when we try too hard, all we do is exaggerate what we've been doing all along. Nothing changes. But it does allow us to see much more clearly what we need to stop doing -- if we're open to seeing it.
If you want to know how or why women define losers, all you need so is look at these two cases...
In the first case, you have the 'Passive Loser'. Women don't like guys who have no ambition or direction in life. And in the second case, you have the 'Active Loser'. Women despise guys who try too hard or over-compensate.
It doesn't really matter what women think of you. For most of us have been in both situations at one time or another, and had those experience teach us important lessons. The real important fact here is realizing this is just a phase in the learning cycle...
... and remember to pass through them.
For until you can find balance, sometimes doing nothing is better than trying. And other times, trying is better than doing nothing.
Phase 4: Mastery
Finally, with enough experimentation and practice and along with the failure and feedback they bring, all the small lessons start adding up to the grant total, called adaptability.
The final phase of the learning cycle is mastery.
For here, rarely do you find yourself caught up in thinking or over-analyzing your situations -- quickly, if you do.
Rarely do you procrastinate and rarely do you try.
Instead, you find yourself instantly acting and responding in ways that bring you the desired result, with the least amount of effort and time required.
You can see 'obstacles' coming long before they arrive, so you can change course early, which prevents you from having to deal with them anxiously after they've drawn too near.
Essentially, you make quick, yet smart decisions.
Mastery, the final phase of the learning cycle. And in whatever skill you've taken on, this level is earned. It's impossible to cheat your way into this level.
It has a price, in no particular order: effort, failure, frustration, time, humility, confusion, risk, and the willingness to change.
Or, in other words, DISCIPINE.
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