“The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.” – Albert Einstein. A master of personal learning.
That quote popped into my head as I sat down to write my next article. It’s true: the more I’ve strived to grasp the next mountain of knowledge I need to overcome, the more I realize how small that mountain is compared to the vast universe of knowledge that exists. After I climb my mountain, I’m always faced with the reality that I’m a little bug, and the mountain was a small hill at best.
I try never to view this in a negative way – there’s always so much more out there for me to learn and grow from and overcome! But in a real way, I can’t help but also feel that sense of being small.
There’s good news that comes with this (I promise you I’m not just rambling on!)
There’s research that shows the importance of “climbing the hills”, and it’s actually interesting information. I have it listed down below:
What’s Sooo Important About Personal Learning?
Pew puts this really well, they say:
“To begin, let’s be clear on the meaning of personal learning: Like all learning, it leads to the acquisition of new knowledge and concrete skills. It also drives changes in attitudes and behavior as people continually grow and evolve. Both aspects are important elements in one’s career and social and civic lives. What differentiates it from more formalized education is that it is based on how we live our daily lives and the lessons we take from our experiences—from personal insights we might gain from, say, a traumatic event such as the death of a spouse, to skills we might attain as a caregiver to an aging parent, to new knowledge gleaned from workplace training sessions, and so many experiences in between.”
I think I would add to this:
Whereas more traditional definitions of personal learning would say this type of education is purely from experiences, traumas, anxieties, and workplace-like settings, there’s a very important aspect of personal learning that I don’t even fits in with their “and so many experiences in between” statement.
Just My Opinion:
Personal learning should be described as what’s listed above. And in addition, should encompass the individual’s education that they choose for themselves. Most of the time is learned on their own in their room or with headphones on in a public place.
Every book, every article, every video we watch in the honest pursuit of education is our personal education. We are by no means all studious individuals, but all of us love to learn – in one way or another. For me, I couldn’t stand math in school, but the moment I graduated and was able to pursue it on my own terms, it became a wonderful and wild set of puzzles and games that I could challenge at my leisure. The same thing happened with literature for me.
What is it for you?
Learning On Your Own Is Important
Learning is important because our minds go through trials, problems, revelations, and growth. We find that the more we learn the more we can handle. Reading in particular is a beautiful display of the transfer of information. Some learn from videos, and some learn from hands-on experience – all of which are good. But the bottom line is that if you’re taking the initiative to learn, you take hold of your future.
To a great extent, what you know and what you can do determines where your life twists and turns. If you think there’s severe limitations on that, try for a moment thinking of it this way:
Why do you get a promotion if not for knowing people skills and vocational skills?
Why do we succeed in relationships if not for our knowing how to forgive, control our emotions, and understand our own selves while simultaneously trying to understand another person?
How can we build on our understanding – of life, of truth, of everything – if not for seeking out the answers on our own?
That, my friends, is why it’s so important to learn.
How Do You Do It?
Here Are Places To Point You In The Right Direction
When it comes to personal studies, it’s hard for me to specify what they might be for you and point you in the right direction for your learning styles and your interests.
So, here is my humble attempt at a more broad path to send you down:
Personal Learning For Visual Learners
If you want to put things down that you learn visually, I would suggest getting yourself a Canva profile and putting everything into different documents on there. I’m not even so much a visual learner, but I use Canva multiple times a week.
If you want to learn things visually (and I can’t give you a specific field to look in since I’m not sure what you’re interested in) I would focus my attention on Youtube and visual podcasts.
Personal Learning For Hands-On Learners
This is the one I’m most like. When I learn something and have control over learning, I ask all others to not talk to me and let me do it and fail again and again. In martial arts, I would ask others to throw me around again and again while I tried to stop them. I wouldn’t allow them to talk to me after they gave me the initial instructions for what to do and what we were doing. I needed to learn, I’ll keep working with my hands until I can grasp it – quite literally.
There isn’t a resource I can link to in this section, but here’s my advice:
In whatever field you choose, race to put your hands on it. If it’s medicine, find those who practice medicine and get as close to the process as possible. If it’s carpentry, find a woodworker or woodworking shop and do whatever you can to start cutting, sanding, and shaping the wood. Whatever it is that you’re interested in, don’t settle for less than raw trial and error. Listen to others’ instructions, by all means, but don’t just listen, make sure you’re moving in action as well. If you’re trying to do it and keep messing it up, or you find it difficult to get hands-on experience, don’t give up.
Personal Learning For Audio Learners
Audio books, audio books, AUDIO BOOKS!
Podcasts and audio lessons, audio books and Youtube videos. Your learning style is some of the easiest to achieve in this age of technology. I cannot tell you how often I put on a podcast when I’m cleaning the house or driving. Visual learners might in fact have more available content (but even then I’m not sure about that), but audio learners have an advantage that no one else does: you can multi-task learning while doing other things. No matter the subject, there’s most likely audio content on it.
Hopefully, this article helped you!
If you have any more questions please comment below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!
Very cool, keep up the good work