Hey, this is Rajiv Kumar Luv Trainer, Coach, Workshop leader, Author, podcaster, Youtuber and founder of The Personality Boss which conducts the Ultimate Personality Development Program, Course, Coaching, Training and Workshops in Mumbai. I help you design the life you want. The articles that I post on my blog also have one purpose in mind “Leadership through Personality Development” Now over to the article…
Do you believe that your beliefs about learning would affect how much you absorb, and how much you apply? You better believe. Learners who believe that they can learn from anyone, anywhere, anything and anytime always takeaway valuable learning. On the other hand learners who believe that they have learned everything that they need to know will very soon become obsolete!
I have found that participants who come to a training program with beliefs that support learning, their take-away is maximum. If a person/employee wants to learn they will find a way, but if they don’t then they will find an excuse why the training/trainer is not good. No Organization can make a person hungry for learning; it has to come from within the person. If a person/employee/participant does not yearn to learn then no methodology can teach him anything, he will find something wrong with everything.” Classroom sessions-boring, Outbound Training – stupidity, absolute waste of time, Peer-to-peer learning- I may be replaced, eLearning- no time.
Here are five beliefs learners need to change. You will never be able to learn anything if you keep believing in these five beliefs. Throw them away today.
1. I know
Two words, “I know” can shut your mind to new learning. The moment you say ‘I know’ the mind says, ‘Hey, I know this, don’t tell me this. Tell me something that I don’t know. The problem is that we don’t do everything that we know. For example, don’t we know that one should be punctual, cigarette is injurious to health, to be fit we should go for a walk, not eat fast food, listen to others, respect others, exercise, read good books, update our knowledge and skills. I can really go on and on. So just because you know something doesn’t mean that you can do it. Once as I was about to demonstrate to participants how to do something, a girl said, “I know this” I immediately called her out and told her to do the demonstration in front of the class, now she was nervous, as she tried and failed, she was getting embarassed and kept saying, “I know this, but I forgot” “I don’t remember how to do it” My Guru used to say, Knowing is knowing, doing is doing, if you know and if you can’t do, it is as good as not knowing. Only when you have mastered the knowledge and skill should you say 'I know’ if not, you should have the guts to say, “I don’t know.”
2. This is not practical
Many participants reject a training experience by saying, “This is not practical” In the Mahabharata, Ekalavya who belonged to a lower caste aspired to master archery and wanted to learn the skill from Guru Dronacharya. He approached Dronacharya and requested him to teach him. Drona was a brahmin and was teaching archery to the royal kauravas and the pandavas, so drona turned him away. Deeply hurt by drona’s rejection eklavaya returned home, but being resolute and with the will to master archery, he went into the forest and made a statue of Guru drona. He began a disciplined program of self-study over many years. Eventually, ekalavya became an archer of exceptional skill, greater than drona’s best student, Arjuna. He accepted the statue as his guru and practised in front of it every single day. His belief that the statue would teach him kept him determined. The message that I want to give you is. When you learn something new, it is not practical, it is you who has to make it practical.
3. I don’t have the time
Nobody has the time. If you want to learn you will have to create time. When you say, you have no time, what you are actually saying is, “Learning is not important to me” When something is important to us we always find time for it. Believe, I have the time. I give a simple solution during my time management workshop. What you do is get up half an hour early than your normal time and go to sleep half an hour late than your normal time. Doing this you add one hour to your day. This may not seem like a big time but if you look at it over a period of one year, it adds up to 3 months of 4 hour day or 1.5 month of 8 hours day, that is good enough to read about 20 books, learn a new skill, or learn a new language. So when you believe, you will always find time.
4. I can’t change
If we don’t spend time sharpening the saw, then we will no longer be able to do our job. So the rapid changes in technology and business practices, makes it imperative that the information and skills needed to succeed in this changing environment be constantly honed. Learnability is a very important soft skill that we need to consistently work on. If you cannot change you will not survive. So adopt a new belief, I can change
5. Why should I learn nobody is paying me extra
I remember the time when computers newly arrived. I used to do training programs for a company. I learnt that this company wanted to completely computerize its systems and made it compulsory for all the employees to learn computers by staying back for the ‘computer class’ after their normal days work, the classes stretched for about 2 hours.The company was not paying the employees to learn computers. Many were excited to learn about computers, they happily stayed back to learn, but there were quite a few who would not stay back, their complaint was, ‘why should I learn nobody is paying me extra’ When the company switched over fully to computers, these people were the first to lose their jobs as they were not competent. In fact, you should be willing to pay what is required to get the learning that can make a difference to your life whether it is money or effort.
So whenever you get an opportunity to learn, whether it is a classroom, outbound, peer-to-peer, shared, just-in-time, on the job or eLearning go into it with the mind-set and attitude of learning. Always keep these two questions in mind, what can I learn from this? How can I use it in my personal and professional life? No matter how bad the training or trainer is, if your belief and attitude is right, you can still takeaway some valuable learning.
I am Rajiv Kumar Luv. My passion in life is to make a difference in the lives of people so that they achieve their personal as well as professional best. I am absolutely committed to specially helping youngsters become leaders in their chosen fields. In the past 28 years, I have trained over 100,000 people from all walks of life. Through my two-day program “Leadership Through Personality Development” I help the youth plan their career, build confidence, make better decisions, manage time and develop their employability skills to meet today’s real-life challenges. You can learn more about me and the work I do by visiting: http://www.thepersonalityboss.com