3 Ways We Grow

All of us have a natural desire to learn, to acquire knowledge, and grow. Our process of learning and growing happens in three ways.

Our personal growth throughout our life happens in three ways.

1.Reading Books:

The Reading of all good books is like having a conversation with the finest minds of the past centuries- Rene Descartes.

Books represent the distilled knowledge and wisdom of people from different walks of life who have experienced something and put it down in a book to share with others.

When we read good books, it expands the scope of our world view. Books broaden the horizon of our knowledge and deepen our understanding of different aspects of life.

Most youngsters I come across don’t have a habit of reading books, and it is sad. They feel Reading is an academic pursuit. I am a little old fashioned on this point. Reading Books is an important habit to cultivate if one wants to grow.

2.Connecting With People Of Experience

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself- Elanor Roosevelt.

Parents, Mentors, Teachers, Coaches, Spiritual guides, thought leaders- All of us have the opportunity to engage and connect with people of experience. People who have experienced life to a greater degree than we have. People who have learned from life in terms of their successes, mistakes, and failures.

We should actively seek out such minds and have conversations with them regularly. We can learn from their experiences- what they did right and what they did wrong- and apply them to our situation.

In our busy daily schedules, our life revolves between Office/Work and Home. We don’t actively make time to connect with people to have meaningful and stimulating conversations that would help us gain a better perspective on life.

Schedule time in your busy schedules to have conversations with experienced minds.

3.Learn Through Experience

Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward- Oscar Wilde.

Reading Great books and connecting with wise people is a process of learning where we gain from others’ wisdom. It is enriching and informative. I but has no value for you if you don’t use it. 

Think of it like food on the table. Food on the table has no value unless you consume it, digest it. 

Similarly, external knowledge acquired becomes your knowledge and wisdom when you apply that knowledge to deal with your day to day situation.

When you apply your knowledge in some action, things can go well, and things can go wrong. You learn from your own experiences. You can operationalize your experiences in the form of mental models that you can then apply to your day-to-day life.

Here is a small mental test for you- In the last week, how much time did you spend in each of these activities?