To tie in with this Adult Learners' Week (12 - 18 May), we're publishing an article a day from L&D practitioner and workplace wellness guru Liggy Webb. To round off the week, Liggy's advice is: keep learning.
One way to become a more effective learner is to keep learning. If you are learning a new language, it is important to keep practising the language otherwise you will lose the momentum. This 'use-it-or-lose-it' phenomenon involves a brain process known as 'pruning'. Certain pathways in the brain are maintained, while others are eliminated. If you want the new information you just learned to stay put, keep practising and rehearsing it.
It is also important that you enjoy the process and view learning as something that makes you feel good and not see it as a chore. Sadly for those who had a poor experience at school or anywhere in education system, the term 'learning' may well not inspire. However, as you get older you have the luxury of choosing more of the things you want to learn about. It opens the door to a whole host of opportunities and life benefits.
Every day we will learn something new, something that could make a profound difference to our lives, something that can make us feel really happy. We need to let any past negative experiences go be open minded and receptive and enthusiastic about learning new things every single day of our lives.
Lifelong Learning: Top tips
- Recognise the benefits of lifelong learning
- Understand your intelligences and your individual strengths
- Identify and understand your preferred learning style
- Learn in multiple ways to create variety and interest
- Work on improving your memory retention skills
- Teach someone else what you have learnt
- Put what you have learnt into practise as soon as you can
- Learn one thing at a time and remain focussed
- Help yourself to learn by accessing reliable information sources
- Keep learning new things and enjoy the process
Liggy Webb is widely respected as a leading expert in the field of modern life skills and workplace wellness. She is the founding director of The Learning Architect a consortium of niche industry experts. For more info visit www.liggywebb.com and www.thelearningarchitect.com. For access to more toolkits and information you can email Liggy here
