What’s there to love about learning?
You dragged yourself through school or undergrad; maybe you’re thinking about grad school, but none of this has been fun for a while, has it? Somewhere between the late nights and exhausting schedules, learning became a chore.
Many of us have experienced education systems that emphasise results over learning experiences. In school, we’re primed to think of learning as a one-dimensional process involving books, lectures, and teachers who feed us endless information. That’s why we never consider learning beyond the hours spent in a classroom.
Well, here’s something most teachers won’t tell you: your most incredible learning experiences probably won’t happen in the classroom. With the right tools, learning can be self-driven, imaginative, and exciting.
In this post, we’ll explore some methods learnt through research and trial and error that have helped me survive formal education and embrace the learning process.
So please sit back, grab a cup of tea and a notebook and let’s get into it.
No time to read the whole post? Read the summary here.
5 Steps to Fall Back in Love with Learning
Table of Contents
Step 1: Embrace Your Abilities
We all know at least one person who is always on top of things. It’s magic how they keep up with all their assignments, take the most beautiful notes and ace all their exams. You have no idea how to do what they do.
Initially, “embrace your abilities” sounds like straightforward advice. But what if you’re only good at taking short naps and making excellent scrapbooks? It may be difficult to imagine how your skillset could create more meaningful learning experiences.
Different types of abilities
Ability means the physical and mental skills you need to perform a task.
In our society, cognitive abilities like paying attention, memorising information, and recalling facts are valued because they help students do well in school.
We learn and improve our cognitive skills over time. However, not everyone has the privilege of a constructive, nurturing environment to develop them.
Society doesn’t pay as much attention to social and emotional skills like curiosity, creativity, and self-reflection. But these skills are essential. They are powerful tools that help us learn and grow throughout our lives. They are especially helpful for people who might not have strong cognitive skills.
Social and emotional skills are usually grouped into five categories:
- Task Performance: persistence, motivation and self-control
- Agreeableness: empathy, trust, collaboration, cooperation
- Emotional regulation: ability to overcome stress/resilience, self-esteem
- Open-mindedness: curiosity, tolerance of others, creativity
- Engaging with others: assertiveness, sociability
How do you use your abilities to your advantage?
1. Identify
What do you always get complimented for? When you look at the attributes listed above, which define you? Are you fantastic at getting along with people? Are you an excellent problem-solver or good at diligently completing your tasks?
Choose five skills that you excel at and write them down.
2. Define
The next step is to define how the skills you listed have helped you in the past. What big problems have you been able to solve? Did it help you get out of a tight spot? For example, has your ability to overcome stress helped you save your sister’s birthday party from disaster? Has your perseverance helped you save for a road trip with your friends?
3. Brainstorm
Next, write down a problem you are trying to solve in as much detail as possible. Use the questions who, what, when, where, and why to guide you.
Go back to your list of skills. Brainstorm how each one of them can help you solve your problem. If you run out of ideas, do a quick internet search to see how useful your skill has been to other people.
This simple, proactive approach will help you solve problems, strengthen your self-esteem, and enhance your learning experiences.
Step 2: Adopt a growth mindset
Even though we’re good at some things, we all have at least one thing that makes us doubt our abilities.
Maybe it’s because of a really tough time in school or a teacher making us feel like we’re not intelligent. The grades we get might make us think we’re a certain type of student. When we don’t do well, it can feel like a hot brand on our skin, like we’re marked as a failure. Confidence in your abilities is difficult when all the “evidence” is against you.
But here’s a secret: success depends not on your past but on your potential.
A mindset describes how we think about ourselves and our environment. Researcher Carol Dweck wrote a book called ‘Mindset’, which describes two groups of people: those with a fixed mindset and those with a growth mindset.
What is a fixed mindset?
People with a fixed mindset believe that intelligence and ability are inherent and fixed. They think you are either smart or not, talented or not, and you can do nothing to change or improve.
When we believe our intelligence and skills are unchangeable, our weaknesses seem fatal – every setback proves that we cannot succeed even in our limited scope. It becomes our identity. A single failure evolves from “I failed” to “I am a failure”.
A growth mindset makes learning more fun
People with a growth mindset believe they can improve their skills and intelligence through effort. It’s easier to face challenges when you think failure does not change your potential to gain knowledge and skills.
When tasks require a lot of effort, it can feel like evidence that you aren’t cut out for them. However, people with a growth mindset see the value of effort because they believe they can improve their skills through learning and perseverance. When applied correctly, a growth mindset broadens your potential. Combining effort and learning strategies that work for you can give you a formula for success.
A growth mindset is cultivated over time, and you can experience setbacks into a fixed mindset, but like with everything, practice makes perfect. Here are a few things you can try to cultivate a growth mindset:
Strategies to adopt a growth mindset
1. Process, not product
When we focus on the end product, we miss out on everything we can learn during the process. If you work hard on a project and get an average mark, you may think, ” UGH, what was the point?” but that ignores all the problems you had to solve to reach the finished product.
2. Change Something. Ask what you could do differently
Stop yourself from repeating the same mistakes. Your method to solve your problem might be holding you back. Do some research and see how other people are doing it differently. See how to use the strengths you identified in the previous section for a better outcome.
3. Ask for feedback. Understand it as a tool for growth
Everyone hates being judged. No one wants to hear criticism, especially about something you’re proud of. And, of course, mean-spirited criticism is always unhelpful. Instead, try to find a partner or mentor – someone you can trust to be honest and invested in your growth – and ask for their feedback.
4. Throw comparisons out the door
Competitive environments breed low self-esteem.
Instead of comparing yourself to others, set high standards for yourself and see how you can beat your personal best. If there is someone in your environment who sets high standards, befriend them, ask for advice and motivate each other.
Lastly, everything takes time and work; if you want to achieve something, plan for it well and use all available resources. Which brings me to my next point:
Step 3: Set goals that matter
You must be tired of hearing about setting goals, but there is a reason people insist on them. Goals help you stay focused and orient yourself toward the life you want to live. They are also a valuable way to track your progress and gauge improvement.
Setting practical goals is a skill that requires repetition to do well. The most popular goal-setting framework is SMART. The framework helps you create goals that are detailed and achievable. Below is a short guide to setting SMART goals:
SMART Goals that matter:
1. Specific
Brainstorm what you would like to change or achieve in your life. Write your goals in as much detail as possible. Use questions like who, what, when, where, and why to guide you.
For example, “I want to do better at school” is a non-specific goal. The phrase “do better” can mean many things. A specific goal would be, “I want to get 80% in all my subjects by the end of the semester because I want to get into my programme of choice.”
2. Measurable
Have a way to track your progress. Using the above example, the goal is achievable because you can measure your progress by looking at your interim results and getting feedback from educators.
Setting measurable goals allows you to create milestones and celebrate after you reach each one. Not all goals will have concrete figures to monitor. For example, goals like “Have more positive social experiences with my class” are difficult to quantify, but milestones can still measure progress. The first step could be “Start a conversation with the student next to me”, followed by “invite my project team to a movie night”. We can regard these activities as milestones leading to your larger goal.
3. Attainable
One reason we fail is that we set unrealistic goals. Your goal could be to be a professor in physics by tomorrow morning, but unless you’ve already done the years of training and applied for a position, that’s unlikely to happen.
Ask yourself what skills and resources you’ll need to reach your goal. Set reasonable time frames and choose goals that are challenging but not impossible. What steps will you take, and what obstacles might you face? All these factors can give you a better idea of what is achievable and what is not.
4. Relevant
Make sure you’re setting goals for self-improvement rather than fulfilling others’ expectations. Working towards something is difficult when your heart isn’t in it. Make sure your goal fits into the big picture of what you want your life to be. Is it the right time to do this? Will it help you move in the direction you want?
5. Time-bound
Set a time limit and draw a timeline for the necessary steps. What will the consequences be if you miss your deadline? Is your time frame realistic? You can be ambitious but must leave room for setbacks and learning curves.
Things to keep in mind:
Humans are forgetful. Remember to write down your goals and keep them somewhere you can see them often. You can tape them to your desk or set them as your phone wallpaper. Engaging with them daily and reminding yourself why you set those goals in the first place can be a great motivator.
Try to select your learning goals based on your desires, not to compete with or please anyone else. While competing with others can feel good while you’re ahead, it shows a lack of understanding of the growth mindset.
Lastly, we mostly fail to achieve our goals because we don’t have a strategy. The next step will give you the framework for building your plan.
Step 4: Turn goals into habits
Once you’ve practised, setting goals isn’t too difficult. However, the execution is usually where progress stalls. You know what you want, but knowing how to get there isn’t always easy, even with a well-defined goal you’re motivated to achieve.
Why are habits helpful:
A habit is a task you do almost automatically. It is a routine part of your day, so ingrained that when you skip it, something feels amiss. We establish habits by repetition and having mental or physical cues that trigger that behaviour. It is something you do almost impulsively.
For example, I’ve been having a morning coffee for as long as I can remember. My new goal was to drink at least two litres of water daily, so I trained myself to drink a glass of water and fill up my bottle before drinking my morning coffee. I’ve now built a new habit by connecting a new behaviour to an old habit.
How to turn goals into habits:
The simplest way to achieve a goal is to break it into its smallest, most valuable parts. Ask yourself, “Is there something I can do daily to bring me closer to my goal?”
Since many of us set New Year’s resolutions, let’s give ourselves one year to achieve our goals. Now, let’s break the process up into distinct steps.
1. Choose three goals that mean the most to you
What are the things that would make the most significant positive impact in your life by next year? Don’t forget your SMART framework—set milestones for yourself.
For example, is your goal to write a book within the next year? How would you keep track of your progress? You could set monthly goals, such as “I want to write two chapters a month,” or timeframes, such as “I will finish my first draft in five months, and by the sixth month, I want to find a publisher,” etc.
2. Make a list of your milestones
List your milestones for each goal and order them from highest to lowest priority. You could have twelve milestones, one for each month, or maybe quarterly goals.
3. Short-term goals
Now that you’ve fleshed out the more significant details, it’s time to think more in the short term. What could you do within the next month or two to help you reach your first milestone? It’s time to brainstorm again. Make a list of things you must do to reach that first milestone. Now, place them in order of importance. If you assign a priority level to them for the next month, e.g. Red for urgent, yellow for less urgent, or a number from 1-4, you have a list of your primary tasks for the next 4 weeks.
4. Weekly planning
You now know what your priority is for each week; it’s time to create your weekly plan. Notebooks, digital planners, pinboards or whiteboards – there are many options for where and how to do this. Choose a method that makes the most sense to you, and then schedule a time every week to do your planning.
5. Daily Plan
What can you do daily to accomplish the tasks you set out for the week? You can write a daily priority list of a maximum of three manageable, realistic tasks and focus on those. Remember to link them to something you do habitually. These small daily activities will eventually accumulate into those big, life-changing goals. It takes only one step at a time.
Step 5: Diversify your learning resources
Great. You’ve set your learning goal, made your plan, and are ready to put everything in motion. You’re embracing your skills and have adopted a growth mindset. Now, you need resources.
Learning is about broadening our horizons and absorbing information in ways that stimulate and excite us. Formal teaching rarely allows for flexible learning. However, with a shift from traditional classrooms to mixed or distance learning, which integrates technology into education, there is more opportunity to design learning experiences that suit your needs.
If you need to know something, a quick search online or flip through a textbook will usually do the trick, but there are so many ways of knowing and so many people and places you can turn to for knowledge. If you’re at a loss for where to start, here are a few ideas:
Read more broadly
No one likes the idea of extra reading, but the prescribed resources can be wordy, outdated or difficult to grasp. Don’t be afraid to go searching for a source that connects more. You might find what you need in an old novel, magazine, or Twitter thread.
Diversify your media resources
Look up interviews with experts on your topic of interest. Ask a tutor which websites helped them most. Find summaries/flashcards/videos, etc. Video and audio are helpful ways to digest information if your notes are overwhelming. A quick search on YouTube will bring up thousands of results on just about any topic.
There’s an app for just about everything these days. If you have a question or need help, don’t skip the possibility that someone has had the same need before and done something about it. Social media apps like Pinterest and Instagram probably have what you want. It only takes a bit of digging.
Experiments and Simulations
Watch and do the experiments and exercises described in your books – even if the tasks aren’t required, you enrich your experience by practising. For example, learning the theory isn’t enough if you’re doing a counselling course. Be able to implement what you learnt. While finding a client and the correct supervision isn’t always possible, you can simulate the scenario with your peers and give each other feedback. This also counts for experiments if we conduct them in a safe and controlled environment.
Learn from other people
Of course, we know we can rely on our tutors and professors, but what about people in your community? If you’re doing a history project about your hometown, the internet can tell you a few things, but what about your neighbour who’s been living there for 80 years and seen the town develop with their own eyes?
This is only one example of how the people around you can be great resources. Maybe your classmate understands the material faster than you and will help you. And what about the friends who live inside your phone? Social media connects us to a network of people with many backgrounds and expertise.
Of course, accessing knowledge isn’t just about school. Diversifying your learning resources also means tapping into knowledge and skills you won’t learn in the classroom. Reflection, self-awareness, endurance, and resilience are other vital skills we can learn best from others.
We should consider diverse learning resources at every stage of embracing the joy of learning again. Reconnecting with that joy comes from embracing your skills and a growth mindset and having the support and encouragement to do so. The most incredible learning resource you can have is self-confidence, which the people in your life reinforce. They may be the most crucial resource of all.
Summary
Traditional learning experiences can become quite boring. Without enough stimulation, it can seem like an endless chore. But here are five simple steps to reignite excitement for learning:
Step 1: Embrace your abilities
Ability is diverse, and we each have a unique set of skills, even if some of them are easily overlooked. No matter your forte – whether party planning or taking a good nap – you can use your abilities to enhance your learning process.
Step 2: Adopt a growth mindset
A growth mindset is about believing you can learn and become good at anything you want to work hard on. This is as opposed to a fixed mindset that believes everyone is bored, either smart or not, talented or not. Isn’t it much more exciting to think you can do anything if you practice?
Step 3: Set Goals that matter
Remember the SMART framework for goal-setting? Use it to write down detailed goals that are meaningful to you.
Step 4: Turn goals into habits
If you break down your big goals into smaller, more manageable steps and integrate those steps into your daily routine, you’ll have a foolproof strategy.
Step 5: Diversify your resources
You don’t have to rely on textbooks and journal articles for all your information. Find a mentor, listen to an expert in your field or take a trip to a historical building. There are resources everywhere if you have the will to look.
Conclusion
If you made it this far, well done! You should be a step closer to creating learning experiences you love. I hope you found something in this article that resonates with you. Reconnecting with a love for learning is never straightforward. Each step has its challenges, but as we’ve learnt, challenges are simply an opportunity to grow.
We learnt that we can creatively use different abilities. We also discussed the growth mindset and why it is essential to learning. I hope you’ve written down your goals and have a solid plan for achieving them. If you haven’t yet, that’s okay. You can always come back here and use this post as a reference—everything at a pace that is right for you.
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Resources
Dweck, Carol S. Mindset. Ballantine Books, 2008.
Schleicher, A. Social and Emotional Skills: Well-being, connectedness and success. OECD.
Rivera, J., & Rivera, N. (2022). Setting Goals and Action Plans. Presentation.