Learning New Things

Emma Clarke
Jun 9, 2016
2 min read

Last week I learnt how to score a game of basketball...and I think I did woefully.

Lucky for me it was only a social team and the ref was being overly generous in his handed assistance.

The computer crashed on us twice, I know right! What more could go wrong?

It was when this happened that I thought to myself, "why can't we just score on paper with a pen?".

OH MY GOSH!

*Insert revelation moment* I had become one of those people...

You know the kind...

Someone that wants to go back to the dark ages because they had a little disagreement with technology, or their patience quickly waned and it all became too hard.

I was horrified, shocked, and disappointed in myself. How can a person that works in communications have a moment like this?!

Easy.

We all have them in one way or another.

You see, when you learn something new and it doesn't work for the first time because it is foreign territory, it is only natural to want to revert to something you are comfortable with.

Whether it is technology, new processes, or a new tool, chances are something uncomfortable will happen and you will have this twinge that occurs inside your brain telling you it would never have happened the old way.

Let's face it though, how do we not know whether a mistake or a problem would not have occurred the old way?

If you don't take chances and learn new things, you won't experience new things. No one is a perfectionist, if perfection was easy, we would all be perfect.

This doesn't just apply to technology, it is applicable in almost everything new that crosses our paths. Embracing change allows us to move through the problem at hand.

From this little lesson though, I have personally challenged myself to try new things and explore new possibilities more than ever, and to have patience in taking it all in.

Taking it all in, and learning makes us stronger and wiser. And the added bonus is, the more you make a conscious effort to do this, the more you are aware of learning something new when it is happening.

So whether it is something you are learning in the workplace or in your own time, embrace it and take the time to take it in.

It could be a new process or procedure, or a new style of writing or a request that is completely out of the ordinary and in foreign territory, give it a go, experience it and learn.

What other way to further feel like you are living?

I know for one, I will score another game of basketball again.