Curious about Learn and Learning: How Much Are You Learning? And How Are You Doing It?

Definition of Learning: of Learn; The acquisition of knowledge or skill; as, the learning of languages; the learning of telegraphy. The knowledge or skill received by instruction or study; acquired knowledge or ideas in any branch of science or literature; erudition; literature; science; as, he is a man of great learning.

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.” – Henry Ford, American businessman

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” – Confucius, Chinese philosopher

WOW! I chose “Learn and Learning” for this week’s theme, because this past week has been overloaded with learning – “especially by experience which is the bitterest.” If you had asked me three weeks ago for one of the best learning quotations, I would have definitely chosen the above Henry Ford quotation. I have always been a lifetime learner who works constantly at keeping my “mind young.”

However, the past two weeks – and especially this past week – I have been painfully learning and learning and learning some more. You may be now asking, “Why, what happened.”

Two weeks ago to the day, I inadvertently deleted some important files from my computer. When I tried to run the restore feature, it wouldn’t complete it and, even though I tried everything I could think of, it still wouldn’t boot up. For the whole following week, my computer was in the computer hospital being worked upon by a knowledgeable technician.

What did I learn? First of all, that even though I have been backing up files and the whole computer regularly, it doesn’t guarantee freedom from worry. Secondly, even though I feel rather savvy when it comes to computers, I still have a huge amount to learn. And, thirdly, don’t try something too quickly without reading the manual.

I brought my computer home the beginning of this week, and started setting it up on Tuesday. Fortunately, I only lost a few files. But, as the computer doctor told me, I would have to reinstall my programs. This is where the learning really started. I have one more important file to go – phew. I have faced activation challenges because of updates and “error” messages galore. Don’t worry, I am not going to bore you with the gory details.

But, there is always a silver lining! My computer is now working more efficiently and a good deal faster than before. I only am using those programs that are truly important for what I do. So, as I have always believed, everything happens on purpose. Between the learning, the purging and the reinstalling, I feel like I have a brand new computer. Hooray!

Of course, you know that I found some great quotations:

• “The purpose of learning is growth, and our minds, unlike our bodies, can continue growing as we continue to live.” - Mortimer Adler, American philosopher
• “I'm a great believer that any tool that enhances communication has profound effects in terms of how people can learn from each other, and how they can achieve the kind of freedoms that they're interested in.” - Bill Gates, American businessman
• “He who has imagination without learning has wings but no feet.” - Joseph Joubert, French writer
• “An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.” Jack Welch, American businessman
• “A little learning, indeed, may be a dangerous thing, but the want of learning is a calamity to any people.” - Frederick Douglass, American author
• “I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.” - Lou Holtz, American coach
• “Learning too soon our limitations, we never learn our powers.” - Mignon McLaughlin, American journalist

And, three more to learn from:

• “It has taken me years of struggle, hard work and research to learn to make one simple gesture, and I know enough about the art of writing to realize that it would take as many years of concentrated effort to write one simple, beautiful sentence.” - Isadora Duncan, American damcer
• “The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you're in control of your life. If you don't, life controls you.” - Tony Robbins, American author and motivator
• “You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.” - Franklin P. Jones, American businessman

What have you learned lately? I hope it hasn’t been painful while being a mind enhancer!