John ED Patton

Learning is “the process of acquiring knowledge through experience which leads to a change in behavior.”  ~Andrrzej Huczynski and David Buchanan

The temptation is to believe that “learning” is nothing more than the acquiring of knowledge–like storing data on a flash drive. Under this paradigm, teaching is nothing more than the transfer of 1′s and 0′s from one head to another.

The student sits in class, the teacher does everything they can to try to get the 1′s and 0′s from their head to the student’s head. Exams prove the teacher’s success or the students failure through regurgitation. Yes, we all know that’s not “learning” that’s memorization.

True learning begs us to change. The (k)new knowledge declares we are different and demands we act different, we see different that everything is different. True learning changes behavior. That is why when we think of our favorite teachers, they were not the ones that shoved the most into our 1GB brains, but those that changed us.

So what can you do to keep “Learning”?

1. Read books – but apply the lessons immediately
2. Have friends – but be sure you create, maintain and build friends with other learners
3. Unlearn assumptions – be sure to actively seek information that contradicts your views (this is the difference between learning and confirming)
4. Teach others – nothing in the world makes you learn than preparing yourself to teach

Practice these four and you’ll find that you cannot help but be changed!

Quotes to keep you “learning”

• “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” ~ Mark Twain
• “I don’t think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.” ~ President Abraham Lincoln
• “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.” ~ Marcel Proust

Life Lessons from Gordon Dean (Click Here for Full Article):

• Never lose your capacity for enthusiasm.
• Never lose your capacity for indignation.
• Never judge people. Don’t type them too quickly. But in a pinch, never first assume that a man is bad; first assume that he is good and that, at worst, he is in the gray area between bad and good.
• Never be impressed by wealth alone or thrown by poverty.
• If you can’t be generous when it’s hard to be, you won’t be when it’s easy.
• The greatest builder of confidence is the ability to do something–almost anything–well.
• When confidence comes, then strive for humility; you aren’t as good as all that.
• The way to become truly useful is to seek the best that other brains have to offer. Use them to supplement your own, and be prepared to give credit to them when they have helped.
• The greatest tragedies in the world and personal events stem from misunderstandings. So communicate!

What would you add?