The place where a 1 minute flash postings will take an idea about what learning is, what it isn't and how it works. Hopefully you will add an idea to construct a deeper understanding. Click COMMENTS link to respond.
Why do I find it harder to learn as I grow older? After all I have many more experiences than when I was young, and I believe in experiential learning, I should be getting better, right?
For one thing as I get older it is harder to remember stuff. This is a reality that complicates things because I am having to relearn what I forgot.
For another thing I tend to go down very worn trails instead of creating new ones. It is less effort. When I was young and had no trails I had no choice but to ‘plow through the bush’ . Now if I can choose easy or difficult, easy wins by default unless I can decide to take make the effort..
As I get older I don’t like to look like a learner. I want to look like I learned. It is much more fun to be the expert. Learning like humility seems to be learned by going down not up.
As I get older, success can seem more important and the risk of failure can be more devastating. I should “know this by now”, so I pretend I know so I don’t have to be weak and vulnerable.
It doesn’t have to be that way. I can have a ‘red hat society’ attitude and say “at my age if I want to wear a red hat, I can.”
At my age what have I got to lose?
If to learn is to live, then at my age, if I want to keep living, I better keep learning.
I need to stamp my foot and say, I don’t care what anyone else thinks about me, I have got to learn. No one else can learn for me. I must learn to keep living.
From John Klaas: " As I reflect on learning in the context of my work (financial planning) - here through questioning I learn about clients financial situations and preferences, and they learn more about where and how they want their financial resources to be mobilized. I think it is the second question rather than the first that I ask about anything that is pivotal - and yet our human inclination is often to settle for asking only the first question (perhaps more so as we age - more on this later).
The first (and usually obvious) question seems only to go through the motions (it does set the stage and at least get the brain engine started and warmed up) but nobody often learns anything by the answer- but the second question asked in the discovery process is what holds the potential of breaking through the crust to new understanding for both the asker and the teller.
It is that question that makes the client think ("Oh, John really is interested, he is expecting more than a pat answer - let me think...) and as they explore new areas of thought, and importantly answers aloud, they hear their voice (which incidentally, more than any other voice, they listen to most carefully) express new insight. Both speaker and listener have learned.
An example - obvious typical first question in my work is"Tell me about how much investment risk you like to take?" The answer usually is some ambiguous answer suggesting good returns without much risk. If I then ask "Tell me about your earliest memories about money" - you will reach much deeper and reflect on the way money was treated in your family as you grew up - I (and you) will likely hear lots about your values, worries, and early experiences about money that inevitably leads to a greater understanding on how you are expecting your finances to be treated today. Note - if I only ask the second question - because it may seem invasive or surprising, it may be too steep a climb to find the answer - the brain is not warmed up.
So what does this have to do with age and learning - perhaps the older we get the more convinced we are that we already know the answers without asking. The lazy part of the brain say "Yes, yes, I have seen this lot many times before and I already know the answer". What this misses of course is the opportunity to confirm one's understanding, or better still, to get both advisor and client to discover something new.
Why do I find it harder to learn as I grow older? After all I have many more experiences than when I was young, and I believe in experiential learning, I should be getting better, right?
ReplyDeleteFor one thing as I get older it is harder to remember stuff. This is a reality that complicates things because I am having to relearn what I forgot.
For another thing I tend to go down very worn trails instead of creating new ones. It is less effort. When I was young and had no trails I had no choice but to ‘plow through the bush’ . Now if I can choose easy or difficult, easy wins by default unless I can decide to take make the effort..
As I get older I don’t like to look like a learner. I want to look like I learned. It is much more fun to be the expert. Learning like humility seems to be learned by going down not up.
As I get older, success can seem more important and the risk of failure can be more devastating. I should “know this by now”, so I pretend I know so I don’t have to be weak and vulnerable.
It doesn’t have to be that way. I can have a ‘red hat society’ attitude and say “at my age if I want to wear a red hat, I can.”
At my age what have I got to lose?
If to learn is to live, then at my age, if I want to keep living, I better keep learning.
I need to stamp my foot and say, I don’t care what anyone else thinks about me, I have got to learn. No one else can learn for me. I must learn to keep living.
Jim
From John Klaas:
ReplyDelete" As I reflect on learning in the context of my work (financial planning) - here through questioning I learn about clients financial situations and preferences, and they learn more about where and how they want their financial resources to be mobilized. I think it is the second question rather than the first that I ask about anything that is pivotal - and yet our human inclination is often to settle for asking only the first question (perhaps more so as we age - more on this later).
The first (and usually obvious) question seems only to go through the motions (it does set the stage and at least get the brain engine started and warmed up) but nobody often learns anything by the answer- but the second question asked in the discovery process is what holds the potential of breaking through the crust to new understanding for both the asker and the teller.
It is that question that makes the client think ("Oh, John really is interested, he is expecting more than a pat answer - let me think...) and as they explore new areas of thought, and importantly answers aloud, they hear their voice (which incidentally, more than any other voice, they listen to most carefully) express new insight. Both speaker and listener have learned.
An example - obvious typical first question in my work is"Tell me about how much investment risk you like to take?" The answer usually is some ambiguous answer suggesting good returns without much risk. If I then ask "Tell me about your earliest memories about money" - you will reach much deeper and reflect on the way money was treated in your family as you grew up - I (and you) will likely hear lots about your values, worries, and early experiences about money that inevitably leads to a greater understanding on how you are expecting your finances to be treated today. Note - if I only ask the second question - because it may seem invasive or surprising, it may be too steep a climb to find the answer - the brain is not warmed up.
So what does this have to do with age and learning - perhaps the older we get the more convinced we are that we already know the answers without asking. The lazy part of the brain say "Yes, yes, I have seen this lot many times before and I already know the answer". What this misses of course is the opportunity to confirm one's understanding, or better still, to get both advisor and client to discover something new.
It was nice to see Bob in the video.