To Live is to Learn
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” – Albert Einstein was brilliant at one-liners. If ever there was a quote to illustrate the importance of learning, this is a good one. Pedal forward, don’t stop moving, changing or growing, keep learning to get where you want to go.
Learning is a life-long component of our very existence. Whether we seek out new knowledge or not, learning happens to us and for us every day. It’s the way survive. It’s the way we attempt to avoid disaster while reaching for our dreams.
Informative vs. Transformative Learning
Unlike informative learning, transformative learning is special and rare, and I see it occur on every single one of my Venture Within programs. It’s special because you need to know what it is and be open to it before taking it on. It requires intention. It requires you to purposefully and readily place yourself within an experience that you know will change you. If you want to know how to live your best life, then you need to pedal forward with intention and the willingness to learn.
In a nutshell, transformative learning refers to learning experiences that cause a fundamental shift in an individual’s perspective. It allows you to see the world through a new lens and at the same time, it opens up new possibilities never before considered. For this shift to take place, three things must happen.
3 Steps to a New Perspective
The first step is a change in your perspective. A thought pattern in your brain changes direction, and you begin to see through your new lens. You recognize your previous way of thinking as a pattern, probably caused by some sort of bias. For the first time you see a new way through an issue or situation that you never considered before. Maybe you feel you hurry too much, and your new perspective is to rush less and take more time with things that are important to you. Whatever it may be, being ready and open to a shift in your perspective that is the first step in transformative learning.
The second step. In order for any learning experience to be one that transforms you, you need to pedal a little further and identify what your values were, versus where they are now. For example, you realize that you need to slow down a little in life. You see that you’re moving so fast that you’re only skimming the surface and you’re taking very little value from each day. Your next step is to hone in on your new values based on your new perspective. Why does moving through life at a slower pace feel better? You may find more meaning. You may take more in… noticing people around you or the places you go. Whatever your perspective change is, take the step to identify why this change is a valuable improvement for you. It’s a conviction.
Finally, transformative learning involves a behavior change. When you change your perspective and upgrade your values, you need to apply this to your behavior. Act consistent with what you believe. We can boil this down to three basic steps: “Seeing, Thinking, and then Doing”. The “doing” is the third stage in transformative learning.
A New World of Possibility
“Doing” will create a new pattern. New patterns become habits. Habits become you. This is transformative learning. It’s going through the motions. Riding your bike until a new thought you have becomes a thing you understand and want. Then, this thing you want becomes a part of you because you’ve changed your behavior in a way that transforms your life.
It is through experiences that we can embrace the three stages of truly transformative learning, but we have to seek out these experiences. We have to want them. Experiences in transformative learning are key to our own emotional, professional or personal growth. When you choose these experiences, you will give yourself the transformative learning you seek. It’s how we grow, and how we improve ourselves and become better people. It’s how we stay on the bike.
