Do you know the most important skill you need to learn?

If someone has the opportunity to learn that they can learn, the rest of life is a cinch.

Dr. Henry Cloud

Dr. Henry Cloud is a psychologist who has shared a lot on issues on emotional growth. His book on my hand right now is the “Changes That Heal”, sharing great insights on understanding our past, understanding what makes us who we are today, how to heal our emotional wound and what is needed to lead us having a better and healthier future.

He was explaining the adulthood process when that quote catch my attention, he was sharing about expertise in adulthood, and learning is extremely needed for that.

Why is this skill extremely important?

To be alive means to learn, someone even told me before that the day he stop learning is the day he die. Learning is a prerequisite to your success, you need to learn to be able to handle any task on your hand, and you need to handle your task well to be successful.

Adulthood is a process of learning, we all start very much dependent with our parents, we rely on them to support whatever we need, but as we grow up, we have to look at other adults not as a person to rely on, but as a person to learn from, here is quoted from Dr. Henry Cloud on what is important about learning…

Other adults are looked to as experts to whom they can turn to get advice and input, but each person is responsible for his or her own life. This is adulthood.

Dr. Henry Cloud

With learning skill, we will not be afraid to grow, to change and to fail. Failure will be a lesson to learn from, it will be our stepping stone instead of our stumbling block.

How to learn to be a better learner?

Evan shared a great insight on learning, here is quoted from his comments on my previous insights, “The five steps to win with your limitation“…

…usually the best way to learn (expand our repertoire of behaviours) is to have the time and space to reflect, play, try things out, fail and try and play some more.

Evan @ WellBeingAndHealth.net

I was sharing a message on stretching limitation, where I emphasized on the importance of growing beyond the comfort zone, it will always involve a sense of discomfort in growing; but there is a trap of growing that we need to be careful of. That is what Evan shared below…

I find that those who advocate ‘moving beyond our comfort zone’ often mean we need to be scared. Fear, in some sense becomes a measure that we are doing something right or progressing. I think this is a misconception.

Evan @ WellBeingAndHealth.net

I like the word ‘play’ that Evan used, there is a sense of enjoyment in that word.

Similarly, enjoy the process of learning, find sometimes to relax, reflect and reward yourself, do not focus on neither your fear nor your failure; take the step you take as the step to reach your success. In short, enjoy your process of learning to become a better learner.

Do share your thoughts on learning; I’m looking forward to learn from you.

For your success,
Robert