How to Learn New Things - The Longstead

I grew up in a homeschool family. One of the best things my parents taught me was how to learn new things. Having this knowledge has served me well over the years and I am so grateful that my parents instilled in me the knowledge of how to learn.

Once you learn how to learn, you can do anything. 😉 Cliche movie motivation totally intended.

Four tips on how to learn new things:

1) Don’t be afraid of looking like an idiot.
2) Ask someone who knows what you want to learn.
3) Practice
4) One thing at a time

Don’t be afraid of looking like an idiot while you learn new things.

This is really the biggest hurdle for most people. Everyone has a fear of failure and being laughed at. But you have to put that aside and just roll up your sleeves and get in there. No one does anything exactly right the first time. That’s why Pinterest fails is such a big thing. We all mess up when we’re trying to learn. But you’ve got to find the humor in it and laugh so you don’t get down on yourself, cry, and give up.

I once tried to learn how to drive a stick shift. I was 16 and my older brother was lovingly trying to coach me through it. We came to a stop sign and I couldn’t get going again because we were on a slight hill. After I killed it about 5 times my brother had to take over for me. I got so disappointed that I wasn’t able to even make it out of the neighborhood. I never gave it another try and I’m now in my 30’s and still can’t drive a stick.

What I should do is try again, because it is something I would like to know how to do. But I’m never going to learn if I don’t suck up my pride, risk looking like a failure and try again.

The truth of the matter is, the only one thinking you’re a stupid idiot is you! Everyone has been in the learner’s seat before, and we all know how disappointing it is to not get it right. We just need to keep trying. The only one stopping us is ourselves. Those around you are willing and happy to help.

Ask someone who knows what you want to learn.

Trying to teach ourselves is extremely hard. If you can find someone around you who is good at what you want to learn, ask them if they will teach you. Sometimes the answer will be no, but that’s probably because they don’t feel like they can teach. Usually everyone is flattered to be asked and so happy to share what they know.

You can spend hours watching YouTube, trying to teach yourself that way. But if you have someone in person who could show you what to do and help you along the way it is so much easier! We were made for this sort of community.

Sometimes I feel embarrassed that I don’t know something, and I am afraid to ask for help because I fear people will think I’m stupid for not knowing. But none of us are born knowing everything and none of us are even capable of knowing everything. The person who does know anything had to learn it at some point. So, again, the only one thinking I’m stupid for not knowing is me. I need to, again, swallow my pride and just ask!

Learning new things comes with practice.

The third tip on how to learn something new is to practice! I’m sure this is a no brainer but sometimes the obvious needs to be stated. 🙂 No one gets good at anything by sitting on the couch. Unless sitting on the couch is what you want to be good at. 😉 Some people do have natural talent and abilities, so they learn the skill faster, but they still needed to learn and practice to begin with.

There was a video I saw recently about a girl learning to jump rope. It showed how she started and how she kept messing up. But she had diligence and determination, and she kept at it. The video was short so there’s only so much she could put in. I’m sure it didn’t come anywhere close to really demonstrating the hours upon hours she had to have spent learning to do the cool tricks. In the end she was a master! This video perfectly shows what I mean, though. If there is something you want to learn you have to put in the time. This applies to a physical skill like jump rope or mental knowledge like theology.

Bibe open to an underlined passage with a note pad and tea mug

One new thing at a time.

We are only human. We have limitations to our days and hours. Sometimes our days are full of unplanned thing. We must allow ourselves some grace as we learn. It will undoubtably take longer to learn than we expect. But we must stick with it if we are going to achieve our goal.

Set realistic goals. We need to be careful to not bite off more than we can chew. Give yourself the time to really learn something and learn it well before trying to jump ahead to the next thing. If we get overwhelmed looking at the end result thinking, “How am I ever supposed to get there?” we could get discourage and give up. We can only take one step at a time.

It’s ok to have to adjust our timeline when life doesn’t go as we expect. We must remember that we are not our own but belong body and soul to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ who is the one who ordains our days.

“A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.” Prov. 16:9 There is such comfort in these verses. Our goals must be in line with our heavenly Father’s will. We don’t need to be discourage if our plans need to change, either. His ways are always perfect and best because He knows us better than we know ourselves. He always has the best plan for us.