The Most Powerful Skill No One Taught You
You need to learn it ASAP
We love having skills, don’t we? We love learning new and exciting things that make us look cool or are useful for functioning fluently in daily life.
But the skill that’s mostly overlooked and neglected is the single most important skill essential for learning anything in the first place.
It’s the art of learning itself.
People still don’t realize this but the most powerful skill that they can learn is learning how to learn.
Yes. Learning is a skill. It’s an art that can be learned and taught.
We are not born natural learners or fast learners, just like we’re not born as singers or painters. Learning, just like any other skill, is a skill that people practice and learn overtime.
The people who are good at learning or are fast learners have tried a lot of things in their lives and taught themselves many different skills. That’s why they tend to learn certain things better and faster than others because they have been practicing their ability to learn for quite a while.
At first it might seem stupid to think about it. “Why learn something that we already know how to do?”
You might be right. We don’t necessarily have to learn something that we’re already doing. But the goal here is to get better at it by actually learning it.
The Importance of Our Learning Ability
Learning is a lifelong journey. It starts from the moment we are born and goes on until the moment we die. In fact, research shows that our learning begins way before our birth, when we are in the womb and have no idea that we’re even alive. (Read an amazing article on the topic)
The world keeps evolving and as a result everything we know now will become less and less important until it reaches the state of uselessness.
We keep finding new and never heard before things that demand to be learned. New methods for mathematical equations, new industrial machines, software and technologies are being developed every year in a massive amount.
This ever-changing and rapidly developing nature of our world is what makes our ability to learn of extreme importance. It’s the very key to thrive in this always evolving world. It is a vital part of human progression and without this ability, human survival is almost impossible.
Think about it for a second. What will happen if you lose your ability to learn? What will you do? Will you be able to survive?
These were the questions that stung in the back of my head as I realized the real importance of our learning ability.
“A plant needs roots in order to grow. With man it is the other way around: only when he grows does he have roots and feels at home in the world.”
— Eric Hoffer
The Problem
Learning how to learn is not given enough attention. In fact it’s not even recognized as a skill.
We know how to tie a knot and write a fantastic essay, how to bench press and make caramel doughnuts. We know string theory and a plethora of traffic laws. But we don’t know how to learn. We don’t even know how WE learn or what type of learners we are.
Truth be told, no one taught us. We just kind of did it and went along with it.
But in this age and time where adaptability and how fast one can learn is valued more than any other skill, our ability to learn becomes the most important skill that we possess. And to preserve and improve this skill by actually learning it becomes even more important.
“The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.”
— Carl Rogers
The Skill That’s Needed
While learning anything we often don’t know what’s happening in our heads and we run into a lot of problems and feel stuck without any clue about what to do next.
We jump back and forth between the process, get agitated when we struggle to see any results and then we quit or force our way through it, making it a useless experience.
But this can be avoided by learning how to learn. Because once we acquire the knowledge about how we learn or how we learn best, we can use that knowledge to integrate healthy and productive practices in our learning process.
To learn how to learn we can start by observing ourselves to know what type of learners we are and then noticing all the practices that we use like taking notes or recording lectures.
After this observation we can use different learning techniques and tips such as spaced repetition and mind maps to modify and strengthen our learning process. (I’ll talk more about these tips in my next article)
Now that it’s clear that our ability to learn is the most powerful skill there is and it’s only better to learn this skill to use it to its full potential. Why not invest some time in learning this skill and spread the word about it so that it gets the attention it deserves and becomes a part of our lives.
Thank you for reading! I hope my words gave you something to think about.
Until next time. Remember to Learn and Live.
And be patient because it’s only a journey and journeys take time.
