I notice that we too often equate learning with schooling or good teaching.  This is unfortunate, because it limits us to thinking about learning during the few years that we spend in school when we’re mostly young.  In the business world, we sometimes think of training and development as what happens in the training classroom, and we miss all the opportunities for development that happen other places and in fact is going on all the time around us.

I’ve noticed that we often learn the most by doing, not be being taught or instructed.  I see it in the aikido dojo where I practice and in the classes for kids that I help instruct.  When I’m telling kids how to practice a technique, the results aren’t usually great, but it’s a necessary start.  Real learning happens by doing, and it’s exciting to watch those aha moments when someone sees for themself what the lesson is. 

Here’s the takeaway:  if you want to learn something, plunge in and learn by doing.  It will get you going, it will make the learning real, and it will usually feed your motivation.  I have found that learning and development arise out of practice, discipline and consistency over time.