Life is not easy, and learning is hard. It is my hope through the writings contained in this blog you can avoid some of the harder lessons. I've made learning hard my entire life and am highly qualified to write on Learning Made Hard.
Learn from my mistakes.
Learning is hard. Don't make it more difficult than it already is. Learning from others is the easy way.
Learning Made Hard is the process of trying to learn everything by yourself.
Reading books is truly the best way to learn from others' experience. Stories are about all aspects of life, and autobiographies provide insight into the life of an individual. These sources of knowledge and wisdom are invaluable in developing one's own character and philosophy of life.
"Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it." - Albert Einstein
"Learning is not attained by chance. It must be sought for with ardor and attended with diligence." - Abigail Adams
"One learns from books and example only that certain things can be done. Actual learning requires that you do those things." - Frank Herbert
"Being a student is easy. Learning requires actual work." - William Crawford
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"The more I learn, the less I know." - Alex Knaub
"You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over." - Richard Branson
As students of life and living, we make learning a lifelong pursuit. You are the ones who grow and evolve. We are impelled to take action, chart a path, and start the journey, preparing for every step of the way before we find ourselves in need. You will look around you and see others who do not share this same mindset. Don not try to change these people, do not try to inspired in them a new mentality, this is a futile endeavor that only leads to frustration and disappointment. We are not responsible for the evolution of others.
We are responsible for ourselves and our own growth.
I've visited a few other places around the world. As I've traveled, I've learned in different geographies, different cultures, and different stages of life. The universe gives us what we need, not what we want. It is our responsibility to take hold of those gifts and use them for advancement.
I'm ignorant of most things. The known unknowns are easiest to remedy; it's those unknown unknowns that are the real danger. The steps involved are easy to say but much harder to do.
Transform unknown unknowns into known unknowns.
Do the work necessary to transmogrify the known unknowns into known knowns.
Makes sense, right?
Channeling the desire to learn into an action plan for achieving the learning goals, we don the yoke of the challenge. This shit is gonna be hard. Don't be disillusioned into believing for any length of time that this will be easy. As we've heard from the learned among us, learning takes place when doing. Learning does not take place in school, it does not take place in isolation, it reveals itself through the difficult process of learning, teaching, relearning, and redoing, and finally the information becomes a part of us.
We create luck. This was no accident, this was the plan. I learned the hard way what this means. I wasted so many years being selfish and waiting. I made excuses, I slacked off, and I have times of doing nothing out of fear.
Let's learn something, the hard way.