Lessons I Learned While Acquiring New Skills – Lesson 1

When was the last time you learned something from your day to day activity? Don’t you remember? That’s okay, but if you remember, whatever your experiences were, good or bad, you learned something.

There’s always a lesson that can be drawn from your experiences and applied in many ways as you continue to live. Ralph Waldo Emerson who said;

Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our experiences are an embodiment of many of life’s great lessons. And Ralph said they must be lived to be understood. Truly not a day passes by without something to learn though so many ignore these lessons.

I have acquired a wide range of skills in the last 4 years than I have ever done in my life. The result of accumulating these skill-sets lead to my growth in ways I could have never imagined. I believe learning various skills and seeking creative ways to apply them sets one apart.

The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.

Robert Greene, International Best Selling Author of the book Mastery

Learning is crucial as in life, it is, in fact, a lifestyle many young people and old today should adopt.

Did you know that there are so many lessons to learn while in the process of skill acquisition? Looking back, I have gained valuable insights and lessons that contributed to my growth while in the process of learning a skill. Surprisingly, not so many recognize the many lessons packed in the process of acquiring a skill.

Here some lessons I Learned While Acquiring New Skills.

Lesson #1 – Make It Meaningful

The first and most important question to begin with for every skill you want to learn in life should start with WHY? Always begin with this basic question. Why? Why is it important? Why do I want to learn this particular skill?

When you determine the reason you want to invest your time, energy and resource in learning a particular skill, it ultimately determines how meaningful it is you. Answering the “why” question creates a deeper connection with your desire to acquire that skill. The energy, drive, and passion to stick through the thick and thin in acquiring that skill will emerge.

Whatever that becomes meaningful to you has a deep emotional connection to it. Skills you have no real connection or meaning to you will most likely end up forgotten or abandoned. There were skills I choose to learn without a clearly defined purpose of why I wanted to learn them. My reason was that it sounded cool and I had some friends who were learning the same. When it got harder, I gave up because I had no zeal to keep going to the point of mastery. I noticed I forgot about them because I hadn’t determined the real reason why I wanted to learn them other than being cool.

When was the last time you wanted to practice anything that you didn’t feel was relevant for you? Did you feel reluctant to learn them?

Answering the why question, helps you identify if your reason is enough to devote to learning that skill. If it is meaningful to you, you will find the needed drive, patience, endurance, and persistence to practice again and again until you have mastered it.

If your reason is genuine, out of passion, you will find that a day learning or practicing seems like an hour. You find yourself immersed in it that you forget how long you spend doing it. Always start with why and work your way down to how meaningful it is to you.

Final Thoughts

Keep in mind that whatever you make important or meaningful to you, there will your energy, drive, and passion be. Subscribe for more in this series of Lessons Learned in Life.