Learning Mindset
When I was a kid, learning was actually a chore for me. I was forced into studying and I didnt take interest in it. I guess many of the people here have been made to study in some way or another by their family members or friends.
Sometimes we lack motivation and ask the people around us to help us but sometimes sadly children are abused into learning. I was forced into it and supervised while studying and I maintained a shortcut method of studying. I just did what was absolutely necessary to pass the exam. I just rote memorized whatever was put in the textbook without understanding it.
It's only of late that I have changed my attitude to UNDERSTAND what I am studying, rather than just blankly reading it. It's only recently that I started to go beyond the textbook for my own curiosity. While I love learning more purely to quench my curiosity, I have seen the positive results first hand. When I understand the concept in deep detail, recollecting it is not a pain at all. I had to develop open mindedness to studying or learning this way even if it took more time. Even now, there are times I feel like taking the easy way out by just studying whats in the textbook and memorizing it. However, I always hold myself accountable and circle back to the topic later to understand it properly
Even in life, we are surrounded by people who look at life as "goods and bads" or "ups and downs". When they face a tough time, they consider it their bad luck and struggle though it. Learning from problems is a very uncommon mindset. Its in the past one year that I have opened my mind to seeing life as "problems and solutions".
I was someone who used to say "Why am I facing a situation like this ?", now I say "What can I learn from a situation like this ? What flaw or improvement point is this situation revealing to me?".
I'm really curious how many other people have this kind of mindset.
1) How did you start to learn differently in a way that works for you rather than a societally accpeted method or a short cut method ?
2) How did you inculcate the mindset of looking at tough situations as tests to help you become stronger than just a miserable time ?
@gentlemelon85
What a very interesting and important topic!
Thank you for bringing it to light!
I see with my nephew, he learns by doing.
Otherwise it doesn't make sense.
I help him with homework by coming up with more creative ways to allow him, without pressure, to take things in 🥰
@gentlemelon85
Thank you for sharing this important and insightful topic
@gentlemelon85
I really appreciate how honestly you described your shift from memorizing to actually understanding.
A lot of us grew up with that same pressure , studying wasn’t about curiosity, it was about avoiding trouble or meeting someone else’s expectations. It’s no surprise that many people end up resenting learning instead of enjoying it.
For me, the change happened when I realized that the “accepted” way of studying just didn’t work for my brain. I used to force myself to read and reread chapters, but nothing stuck. the turning point was realizing that I needed to study in a way that actually made sense to me. When I started breaking things down into my own words, drawing little diagrams, and connecting ideas to real‑life examples, everything became more meaningful.
As for tough situations, I used to take them very personally. If something went wrong, I’d immediately think it meant I wasn’t good enough. Over time, I started noticing that every difficult moment pointed to a skill I hadn’t developed yet patience, communication, planning, whatever it was. Once I started looking at challenges as feedback instead of punishment, they became a lot less overwhelming.
Your mindset shift from “Why is this happening to me?” to “What can I learn from this?” It’s not easy to adopt, but it really does change how you move through life
I think it just takes time to find what suits you best in terms of learning methods. You just have to try different methods until you find a best one.
@gentlemelon85
1) How did you start to learn differently in a way that works for you rather than a societally accepted method or a short cut method?
Personally, I think it changed for me in the last years of high school when we were allowed to take notes as we saw fit, and assignments became both longer and freer as to format, presentation etc, if that makes sense. But I have seen that this varies considerably, as actually 'learning how to learn' is not a subject on the curriculum.
2) How did you inculcate the mindset of looking at tough situations as tests to help you become stronger than just a miserable time?
This is a never-ending challenge, isn't it? To reframe the thoughts to 'What is this trying to teach me?' Do you think there is a general way to go about this, or do we all have to forge our own path?
