Looking at the current technological trends, it is clear that changes happen fast. Technology evolves rapidly. Certain technologies or skills may be obsolete in the future and even knowledge has an expiration date. There’s research that explains about half-life knowledge meaning that knowledge actually decays overtime. It’s said that every two years, you lose 50% of your knowledge. Beside, technology disruption happens quickly. As a result, the old technology is quickly competed with or even overtaken by the newer one. By knowing this, I am aware that continual learning is essential to staying relevant.

Learning for me is a valuable skill. I really invest in it. Unfortunately, this skill wasn’t taught formally at my school as part of the curriculum. I believe learning should be personalized because every individual has their own preferred learning method. I understand some people prefer to learn through visual means, seeing many pictures will help them imagine the concept in their mind. Others prefer auditory-visual learning, which requires listening to someone. For me, I like learning things by knowing what the big picture first. I need to know what is the end goal of learning before I learn the details. After that, i will try to develop a concept tree in my mind. For example when reading a paper, I read the abstract first to understand the big picture. Then i will scan the whole paper, examine the title and try to understand the structure first. As if I am creating the root and stem of my concept tree. Then I will return to the first section. I use active reading as my method of reading. It’s like actively analyzing the reading material while getting through with it. I think of this process as developing branches and leaves from stems I’ve already created. Usually I don’t read all information on one paper. I will analyze key information first to gain understanding only on that part as it will save time. I believe building a concept tree whenever I learn will give me a stronger foundation.

Let’s get back to the point of personalizing the learning process. I realize that in order to maximize learning process we need to overcome mental blocks associated with it. I noticed differences in the learning when I was in kid, when i was a teenager and when I’m an adult. Back in elementary school, I found the ability to comprehend math and other subjects to be very natural. I didn’t feel any mental blocks resisting me to understand certain subject. When I was a kid, I lived in Bandung Barat Village, and I was pretty happy. Life was simple, fun and playful. Such conditions provide me with a very favorable learning environment. When I grew up, I slowly felt the mental block as I transitioned from child to teenager and adult. I believe these mental blocks can be many things and are unique to each individual. Mine mostly because of anxiety and stress. This situation came to me especially in my 20s when I was exploring many things, identifying self-identity, experiencing a quarter life crisis, and questioning many things in life. However, I realize that when I was there, I was in the process of gaining a better self-awareness. I find that self-awareness is a very important tool. By having self-awareness, we can control our thoughts better. At least we can control negative thoughts that lead to anxiety. Another mindset that i really like to use is “fake it until you make it”. It’s like affirming ourselves that we are capable of certain things. For example, I used to fear public speaking. At first attempt I would be so nervous and believe that I was going to fail but if I always hold that thought in my mind, I will not be able to be good at public speaking. I also really like the mindset that it’s okay if we fail because failure is not the end of the world. Failure is part of the learning process.

My inner self condition plays a significant role in my ability to learn new things. I’m sure I won’t be able to learn things as efficiently if I’m stressed. Whenever I feel stressed, I will try to vent. My favourite way is going for a walk, swimming. running, or tennis. Thankfully, the endorphine hormone can be released from our body through exercise to beat the stress. In addition to tackling stress, getting to know what kind of environment suits you to learn is equally important. For me, it is easier to concentrate when the surrounding environment is quiet or has less distraction. If I feel my body literally comfortable with the setting, i can reach my state of flow much easier. A state of flow is when I am able to enjoy the present without worrying about the future or dwelling on the past. Honestly, it is one of my favourite time when i can reach my state of flow. Reading a book is one of the activities that I enjoy doing when I am in my flow state.

I like reading books since I was in high school, Harry Potter book was the opening moment. I remember in the month of Ramadhan, I was waiting for breakfast or Indo people said “Ngabuburit” in the afternoon and my favorite activity was reading Harry Potter Books. As a kid, I always thought people who read were cool. Thus, I tried manifesting it in myself. I hope I can become a cool person too hahaha. I found it it was difficult to reading a book at the first time. I felt under pressure to finish such a thick book. Nevertheless, I tried to fake it until I made it. Thanks to J.K Rowling for making my reading challenge was fun. Since then, I have continued to enjoy fiction, such as Dan Brown, Sherlock Holmes, Dewi Lestari, etc. Nowadays, My reading habits have changed recently, since I thirst for wisdom and knowledge from non-fiction. Anyway, that’s how I love reading books. Getting older is making it harder to read a book regularly, especially when i was working. However, I try to maintain it as a habit because i do feel significant benefit for me especially for my career and study. I consider reading books a valuable investment.

Back to how I learn things, reading books regularly enables me to better comprehend and digest certain subjects or knowledge. I feel it’s easier to connect the dots between concepts and reading books helps me stay focused on the task at hand. By reading every page of a book and paraghraph by paraghraph, my mind is trained to think in a more structured way. When the fast internet is at the tip of our hand, our focus prone to be disrupted quickly. Having a short attention span is easier nowadays. Reading books is always becoming a way to preventing myself not to excessively consume media content online. Beside, reading books can increase our vocabulary and expand our knowledge.

Anyway, other than staying relevant, why do I like to learn new things? . It is because when I reach certain milestones, I feel satisfied and fulfilled. There is no need for it to be a big milestone. Even a small achievement brings me joy. Having outgrown my previous self makes me feel happy in a way. I view that as a reward for myself. My satisfaction from such self-rewards reduces the need to compare my life to others, and it gives me a greater sense of contentment. This contentment fuels my desire for more knowledge and growth. It also helps me focus on the present moment, appreciate life and feel happy. I conclude, learning is a supposed to be a never-ending process, therefore I will keep learning even when I am old.