Like most people, my interests are diverse. I just happen to be the type of person who cranks it up to 11 every time I focus on something specific. Even when starting something completely from scratch, I often dive right in. Sometimes I’ll commit to an activity for a year but then take up another the next. Other times I’ll spend many years training in a single discipline only to completely walk away from it once it’s reached a natural conclusion.
Believe it or not, I seldom start anything new with the goal of earning more money or advancing my career. Historically, I’ve just done things out of curiosity and for the sake of exploration, whether that be internal or external (or both!).
That said, I acknowledge that I’m now doing what I plan to do for the rest of my life. That is, the outdoor blogging, vlogging, wildlife photography, art, and so on and so forth. Therefore, everything I’m currently doing essentially falls under the umbrella of Tahoe Trail Guide. As a result, earning certifications and CEUs and accepting teaching and volunteering opportunities does often yield a bump in pay and/or advances my career.
But, before I settled into this lifestyle, I was all over the map!
The long and the short of it is that, over the years, I’ve discovered that I absolutely love to learn new things. I experience great joy in becoming a student again. And, I’ve learned to embrace the “beginner’s mind.” This hasn’t changed as I’ve gotten older, either. In fact, my desire for knowledge and skills is greater than ever. This is probably because my interests are more focused than they’ve ever been. So, nearly everything that I now learn supports everything else that I do.
And that synergy is very intoxicating.
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In the first part of this Learning to Learn mini-series, I discussed getting out of the way of ourselves in order to gain expertise at something new. What I meant by that was to harness the power of our minds. We need to let go of our fears of failure, be willing to break out of our routine(s), and be enthusiastic yet disciplined in our pursuit of a new thing.
In this second installment, I want to talk about another mental hurdle that we need to address in pursuit of excelling at a thing. And that’s our willingness to seek, accept, apply, and assimilate feedback.
Seeking Feedback
For many people, asking for help or seeking feedback can be the most challenging part of their learning experience. Just admitting that you don’t know takes a certain amount of humility and emotional intelligence that a lot of people may not want to embrace. After all, being humble isn’t usually anyone’s preferred mental state. But if you’re willing to take a chance and put yourself out there, there’s endless opportunity for growth.
Find that thing in which you want to become more knowledgeable and proficient. Then, find someone who knows more about it than you and ask for their help. You’re going to have to lose the ego, but this is okay.
This is the way forward.
Keep the following concept in mind, however, when seeking an instructor, mentor, or team.
There are many ways to reach the top of a mountain. Some routes are more direct than others, but may require more effort. Other routes might be longer but the travel is easier. Some paths may offer better views or more rewarding journeys. Ultimately, though, there’s seldom ever one way to do a thing. So just know that every instructor, mentor, or coach has their own belief system. And some of them will contradict one another. But most everyone will reach a similar end-goal so long as they keep the bigger picture in mind.
That said, we can only serve one master (at a time). So stick with one instructor or system for as long as you need rather than frequently bouncing around. And choose someone in which you share a mutual respect. This may or may not be the “best” instructor or championship winning coach. But if their approach to teaching resonates with you, you’ll probably have a more enjoyable experience while picking up the subject matter that much faster.
Accepting Feedback
Most likely your instructor will observe and assess your performance, and then provide you with a prescription for change. Their recommendations should enable you to perform better on your next attempt. They do this because it’s the entire reason you went to them in the first place. Literally, it’s their job. They’re trying to help you to become a better athlete, artist, or whatever.
So your job as a student is to accept their feedback without taking it personally! Assuming you’re in a mutually respectful relationship as I previously mentioned, they’re not picking on you or judging you as being either a good or bad person. This shouldn’t be a Whiplash type of a scenario. If it is, find a new instructor immediately!
In the end, being defensive when receiving feedback is counterproductive. Justifying your actions, explaining yourself, and making excuses is a losing proposal. Unless you’re presenting a troublesome movement pattern based on some physical limitation or injury, just let it go. It often doesn’t really matter why you do a thing the way you do. If it’s not accurate, a better use of your time is to simply make the adjustment and do the thing the way your coach is recommending.
The sooner you can adapt, the sooner you’ll become a better performer.
And the way you demonstrate that you accept the feedback is to start doing the work! Or, rather, you start to apply the feedback.
Applying Feedback
It’s not enough to simply accept the feedback. You actually need to put it into practice. You need to apply the feedback because, otherwise, it’s just theoretical.
If you’re new to the activity, you probably won’t fully understand the basis for the corrections. And that’s okay. Make the adjustments, regardless. The deeper understanding will come later.
Keep in mind, though, that applying your instructor’s feedback is essentially a short-term fix for your situation. In order to create a long-term solution, you have to put in the time and repetitions. So it’s absolutely essential to make the adjustments as quickly as possible so that you can begin this longer process as soon as possible.
It should be noted that this phase can trip people up. I see it a lot when I’m teaching cross-country skiing. A person wants to make a change, but there’s something going on upstairs where they can’t quite direct their body to do the thing that I’m demonstrating.
Chances are, you’re going to be fighting habits that you’ve had for years. And it’ll most likely feel awkward to move your body in a new direction. This is all part of that humility thing I mentioned earlier. And this is one reason why people fail to learn new stuff. They just can’t get over the perceived “embarrassment” they might experience that comes with performing new body movements, for example.
Occasionally, students will subconsciously deny the feedback. In essence, they don’t believe it’ll work so they resist making the correct adjustments. And then it doesn’t work because they’re not actually doing the thing as instructed. So the whole thing just becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Again, learn to embrace humility, admit that you don’t know, and accept the feedback.
Then apply it!
How Coachable are You?
My friend, Dave, has been a trail running mentor to me for the past two years. This summer, while running together, we had a brief discussion about the “coachability” of people. He was describing a situation in which one of his running clients kept reporting the same problem. So, Dave kept offering recommendations and prescriptions for change. However, the person just couldn’t or wouldn’t make the necessary adjustments to their process. So they kept experiencing the same issues!
This is a typical situation regardless of teaching environment. Whether you’re giving science instruction in a classroom or coaching a team on the field, it’s all the same. The instructor’s task is to find a way in which to get their point across in an effective manner.
At the same time, as a student, it’s our job to receive, accept, and apply that knowledge to the best of our abilities. Nobody can do the thing for us. No one can make the adjustment to our technique except for ourselves.
I realize that we all learn slightly different. However, unless you’re completely neurodivergent with an absolutely unique mind, most people learn, to one degree or another, through a combination of all preferences (visual, verbal, physical, auditory, etc…).
So, determine your learning preference and then communicate that to your instructor. Perhaps, then, they’ll be able to provide a more effective lesson. If training your instructor (!) isn’t an option, then you need to continue to develop your ability to learn through the other styles. That, or find yourself a new instructor who’s teaching style resonates more closely with your learning preferences.
Dave then turned to me and said, “You’re easy to coach. I tell you what to do, and you do it.”
That’s really what it comes down to, trusting your instructor and making the necessary adjustments without giving them grief.
As Shia LeBeouf said, “Just do it!”
Assimilating Feedback
Assimilating feedback is a deep understanding of the reasons for the feedback. You’re no longer performing an action a certain way just because your coach told you to do it that way. You operate in a freeform manner because you both understand the underlying concepts at play and possess the necessary resources to implement immediate change (based on current conditions).
The difference between applying and assimilating feedback boils down to time and repetition. Basically, performing the new pattern or body movement consistently, without having to consciously think about it (i.e. it’s a part of you now), demonstrates that you’ve assimilated the feedback.
In essence, this is the big picture. This is the long-term goal for which you should always be striving.
Age as a Factor in Learning
Because I’m 52 years old, nowadays I do address age in some of my work. However, I don’t believe that age is nearly as big of a factor as many people make it out to be when it comes to learning.
Of course the cliché is that, as people grow older, they become more “set in their ways.” But I would argue that this phenomena isn’t restricted to any particular age. Rather, I believe it has more to do with an individual’s personality. For example, I’ve seen plenty of children and teenagers refuse to try new things for all of the exact same reasons that older folks don’t want to experience something new.
People lose interest or simply stop being curious. They stop asking questions. Or, they stop taking the time to answer those questions. Some folks believe that there’s nothing more to learn. Or, they believe that there’s nothing worth spending the time to learn. It’s either going to take too long or they can’t physically or mentally do the thing.
In other situations, people don’t want to be vulnerable and risk embarrassment in order to become better at a thing. This is especially evident when someone is already an “expert” in a field. To switch lanes and become a beginner again? Not an easy thing to do depending on your personality.
Now, realistically, we do all have a finite amount of time on this earth. So, it stands to reason that we should be picky about how we invest it. Also, I agree that certain activities just don’t appeal to certain people. I have no interest in going skydiving, after all! So we don’t all have to try every possible thing in the world.
However, it seems all too common for people to just tune out and seek the comfort of routine and familiarity. This, rather than pursuing something of interest and/or introducing new stimulus and information into their lives.
Parting Thoughts
I recall a conversation that I had with a co-worker about ten years ago regarding our “past lives.” She was a college student at the time while I was much older. Therefore, I had a longer list of previous jobs and adventures to share. So what I remember most about that conversation was her progressive look of confusion and disbelief as I described some of the random things that I’ve done.
Eventually, she just said, “I don’t really understand you, Jared. You’re an enigma.”
We both chuckled. But I had to agree with her!
In fact, this is something that I’ve struggled with for years. That is, having difficulty clearly expressing “what I do” or my life purpose, or even just describing my long-term plans and goals. Or, when people do get to know one aspect of my persona they find it challenging to reconcile other versions of myself.
But I believe that this “misunderstanding” is simply a result of me pursuing interests and passions with gusto. In other words, I give the impression that whatever I’m currently doing is what I’ve been doing my entire life. In many respects, I’ve always felt like a chameleon because I can adapt and excel in nearly any environment. And this is all thanks to developing my ability to learn things quickly and efficiently. Or, perhaps, I’ve become a better learner by thrusting myself in the middle of so many different environments.
Chicken or the egg? Who knows.
All of that said, because I’ve focused on outdoor pursuits since launching Tahoe Trail Guide a decade ago, my enigmatic personality seems to be fading. Now, most people just know me as the guy who hikes and cross-country skis and looks for birds.
To be honest, that’s totally fine with me because it’s so much easier to explain and understand!
