The False Summits of Learning
Learning is full of false summits.
This does not have to be seen as bad news.
A false summit is (what appears to be) the peak of a mountain.
But, as you trek towards the top, almost reaching the peak, you make a sobering realization:
This is not the summit.
Behind this false summit is another (potentially false) summit.
False summits can be devastating, defeating, and deflating.
Your desire goal, which once seemed only moments away, may truly be miles away.
They show us that we were wrong, lessening our trust in our own perception.
The work you have put in, at this point, seems for nothing.
To think you’ve arrived only to see another summit towering over and taunting you can be psychologically and physically crushing.
This does not have to be seen as bad news.
To know your best days are behind you.
This this is the best view you will ever have.
That it is truthfully only downhill from here.
In what world is this good news?
Truthfully, you do not desire to reach the summit
False summits can be seen as good news.
You have yet to reach your peak; things can improve.
More positive change is possible; things do not need to remain stuck as they are.
There is more you can learn; You do not need to remain stuck where you are.
Two humbling realizations can help us to expect, accept, and possibly even enjoy the false summits we encounter:
- We do not have all the answers.
- The answers we do have are, at best, incomplete.
False summits are inviting us to expand our understanding of what it means to learn and grow.
We are being invited to marvel at our hard-earned view and to continue trekking ahead, regardless of when or if we ever reach the true summit.
Do you want to learn, but now know how to?
Regardless of your educational experience or accolades, many of us have never truly learned how to learn
Without the expertise of a professor or teacher, it is hard to know
what to learn,
when to learn,
and how to learn.
You do not need to go back to school, pay thousands of dollars, or rely on a teacher to learn.
Let me give you a framework so you can do this on your own for a fraction of the price.
The Lifelong Learning Project will help you learn on your own so you achieve your goals without going back to school.
