People learn because they want to be competent, independent, discover, and challenge themselves. If something is too hard to learn, why do it?

A boulder might kill you to move, but breaking it into tiny rocks won’t. Without knowing it, what we learn starts to connect with things we know, making our life more interesting and dynamic.

Get comfortable with feeling dumb.

I initially began taking programming classes because I wanted to make my own website and I didn’t like the readymade options out there. I struggled in my first class, barely passing. The content was not only difficult, I was also feeling overwhelmed with how little I didn’t know in the field of Computer Science. That experience prepared me for the next class– I was ready to swim in my cold dumb state. Eventually the body warms up and takes you to the other side.

What does walking and learning have in common? The cross application of different continuity or endurance strategies. Then there’s running, which is just one step further than walking. When running, you create a rhythm between your breathing and body, a metronome for the experience. Thoughts have a hard time thriving. When learning gets difficult, intrusive thoughts insert themselves- observations, feelings, and inner monologue. When in deep concentration or focus, we unconsciously hold our breath. The oxygen deprived brain starts to dislike learning the new material. It hates computer science! It hates baking! When that happens I think about walking or running, just focusing on breathing and moving forward.

When I picked up guitar, my eyes would glaze over the music sheets, so I stuck to playing tab music. The extra effort in reading music was tedious. But to expand the repertoire of songs I could play, I began seriously viewing tutorials. Stripping the outcome from the experience, the tedium went away. Fingers and strings made sounds, and that’s all I needed to think about and enjoy.

Watching foreign TV shows is a great opportunity to write down vocabulary and grammar structures from subtitles. But watching the show takes twice, sometimes three times as long. I just want to find out if Suzy gets her revenge. When does learning hijack leisure? I asked myself, isn’t my recreational time sacred? But like going to a museum or touring a landmark, which I never questioned as both educational and recreational, I realized there were more opportunities to be killing two birds with one stone.

Being a novice at something is the start of growth. Not being a novice at anything is a good way to stay stagnant. People who want safety and comfort– what the learning process threatens– might pick up something and quickly lose interest when it gets difficult. So, to avoid this, enjoy feeling and being dumb.

People are smart, much more than they know.

And only a smart person would knowingly put themselves in situations where they would struggle or feel dumb. Continuously? This phase is just until you pass benchmarks of aptitude, then you get to really enjoy the subject that you’re mastering.