“I don’t use apps much…” is how the conversation started.
“But you have an iPhone?”
“My company gave us all one, and they let me keep it when I retired.”
I pressed on in disbelief. I don’t even remember which app it was, but I remember saying something like, “This app makes it so easy, you’ve got to get it!”
I was the one who got it… after his defenses went up, “Listen, I make calls and I send texts. That’s all I need to do.”
Okaaaaay then…
How is that even possible?
It’s possible because the average person reaches a certain level of comfort in life and chooses to stop learning.
Yet learning, or its byproduct, knowledge is the great differentiator.
I’m sure it’s not even a conscious decision. Who would say or even think, “I’m smart enough now? I don’t need to learn anything new. I’ve got this.”
That’s our good friend and headspace roommate speaking, also known as our lizard brain. The one who has kept us alive for all these years doing exactly they same old thing using the same old methods. It’s always worked for him so why wouldn’t it work for us?
Maybe that thinking has worked to keep sabre toothed tigers at bay. But that’s about all.
What makes us believe that we can hit some imaginary pause button and maintain our state of contentment without the rest of the planet zooming on by?
Stopping is not an option. Or is it?
The reality is that in life, you are either pushing forward or falling behind. The minute you stop learning you start falling behind, there is no status quo.”
– Brian P. Moran, author of The 12-Week Year
“But Brian, I’ve done enough. I’m cool with my lot in life. Why do I need to keep up with all this new stuff?”
Well let’s see, according to Brian…
- As you learn, you gain confidence and competence.
- Research has shown that as we age, the practice of learning makes us more than two times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s and dementia!
- Other research has shown that ongoing education leads to better overall mental health.
- Learning new things can even change your brain structure for the better!
Seth’s Godin’s post, “I didn’t do the reading…” prompted my post today.
“I didn’t do the reading…” Hmmm, funny he picked this week, I wonder what it was that inspired him?
What he’s talking about is actually coming out and saying it. “I didn’t read the [whatever, fill in the blank].”
Just for clarity, I’m equating reading to learning. There are a thousand ways to learn. If not big readers, many of us do just fine gaining knowledge by listening, by observing, by experimenting. But learning is active. It involves intention and awareness.
Seth points out…
We’re winging it. All of us. The world goes faster and faster, and so people are finding themselves unable to read the bill before they vote on it, listen to the entire album before they review it or keep up with the best in the field before they do their work.”
— Seth Godin
Isn’t that exactly how everyone is pretending to get by these days?
Let’s take a closer look at that winging-it proposition…
Many of us can get by riding the waves of a unique talent or capability.
It works for a while. Then it doesn’t.
Doctors often wing-it. “Hmmm, I’m not sure what it is. I’ll try this and see how it works. Is that where the “first, do no harm” thing comes from?
But Sully didn’t wing-it. Thankfully, he did the work. He evidently paid enough attention along the way to learn from every flight, from every simulator session, from who knows what else.
We don’t like pilots winging-it, do we?
It reminds me of the success junkies who love to give advice like, “Jump first, then build the plane on the way down.”
Right. How do you think that would have worked out that day over the Hudson?
We can also expand the idea of reading and learning to just plain, old-fashioned “doing the work.” I remember in grade school trying every which way under the sun to avoid doing the work (read homework). I managed until I landed in Mr. Wagner’s high school algebra class.
“Why do we have to do all of these extra problems? WAAAAAAH?”
Because someday, you won’t be able to get by on your IQ alone… In my class, you get to solve enough problems, so you actually learn how.”
– Mr.Wagner
In Mr. Wagner’s class you did the work.
And no, I didn’t thank him then… but I am today, as I have many times since.
But I’ll admit, I’ve stopped doing the work when there was no Mr. Wagner around. Usually a bad decision.
Winging-it is not without redemptive qualities. For example, is a great way to get started when you don’t know where or how to start. More often than not, just starting anywhere works as well as starting anywhere else.
Did you realize you don’t actually have to start at the beginning?
Really, just because we usually do, starting at the beginning isn’t always a requirement. It’s often not even the best place. (That could become another post).
But who said anything about starting? Weren’t we talking about reading and learning and maybe trying to keep up?
But there’s more to it…
In a recent post on @gapingvoid, Hugh MacLeod shared a little reality as to why this is all so important…
“I notice a lot of people my age (middle age) having to start again, and often it isn’t because they wanted to.”
There are all kinds of reasons. Reasons that happen every day. Jobs lost. Life Changes. All the “what have yous?”
Even if the choice is yours…
The kind of work that was fun and interesting when you were 35 might not be quite so much fun when you are 50, and so your M.O. needs to change, as well.”
– Hugh MacLeod
It once worked fine… now it’s different.
And that’s where we get stuck. We get attached to the way things used to be, even if that world no longer exists.”
– Hugh MacLeod
That’s why we keep learning, why winging-it isn’t going to guarantee a safe landing.
“I don’t use apps much” just isn’t going to work in a world that keeps on moving whether or not we move along with it. Here’s where I come clean. It wasn’t more than six or seven years ago that I woke up one day and had this absolutely gut wrenching, panicked feeling that I had fallen behind, way too far behind. I had this sinking feeling there was no catching-up.
Had I missed the last bus?
Fortunately, for me it wasn’t too late. Even when you think it is, you’ve got to treat it like it’s not.
When is enough, well… enough?
When is it time to step off the ride?
See you at the next stop. Or not. You tell me…
Be Untucked
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See you next Wednesday…
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