Developing a Learning Habit!!

In one of my previous posts on Modern Living. I highlighted that learning was one of the major components to living a successful 21st century modern life.

Today, I will like to take a deeper dive into the habit of learning as I share some of my thoughts on the subject matter.

Learning according to Oxford Dictionary is “the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught”. 

I particularly love this definition as it highlights 3 ways of learning:

• Through experience: This can be personal experience or through experience of other.
• Study: This implies dedicated time to in-depth reading, research & analysis.

• Being Taught: Sitting under the tutelage of someone with more knowledge & skills

Things to note:

• Be Open minded: To learn you must be open minded. This means all of the old mindsets, axioms & paradigms you previously held must be put aside, you must be willing to unlearn somethings & also learn new things. There are new ways of doing things, that provides better results. We must be willing to change, out with the old & in with the new.

• Listen & Observe more ( God gave us 2 ears & eyes, but 1 mouth for a reason): I have tried to develop this more & more everyday. I train myself to be observant of my environment. We need to do this more as individuals, there is so much to learn from nature, from other people’s behavior, etc. I have shared in one of my post, things I learnt by just observing my colleagues when we gather in a meeting room for a weekly meeting.

• Ask Questions: For this one, I give it to my kids. They can ask questions till you turn green!!! Initially, I would get annoyed when they begin asking questions, after question, after questions, but now I’ve learnt to say “Can we find out together? Daddy doesn’t know everything”. And then I make sure we find out & learn something new. We must ask questions to learn, Dr. Mike Murdock usually says “questions can schedule your season“. David asked a question “What will be done to the man that kills this Giant? Jesus usually asks those that came around him, he will say “What can I do for you?” God asked Ezekiel ” Can these bones live?” Miracles happens after questions are asked, things move forward exponentially.

One of my mentors usually breaks questions into the following areas:

• WHAT? : Asking this question usually brings knowledge.

• WHY? : This question brings understanding as it shows you the reason behind things.

• HOW? : This brings wisdom, it highlights strategy, process & procedure. I spend time going through this website (http://www.howstuffworks.com/) on a regular basis  & I learn a lot.

• How of the How?: This is a deeper level of wisdom, it’s refined wisdom.

Prov24:3-5 (NKJV) summarizes this perfectly ” Through Wisdom a house is built, And by understanding it is established ( or secured); By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious  & pleasant riches”

There is a need to deeply study Prov 8 & 9, it’s rich with the description of WISDOM & what it brings.

Are you learning daily?

Never stop learning!!!!

This is my snippet, I AM SHALOMESQ!!!