A friend of mine has started a course in physics and I offered to help in case she
wanted to discuss anything. Almost at once, I got asked about angular acceleration,
torque and moment of inertia.
I opened my old physics book from my time at university, expecting it would all
come back to me after refreshing my mind with some examples and equations.
Well… something came back… but definitely not in the way I was expecting.
And yes it made me sad to see how much I had forgotten… but
it also made me humble and hopeful.
Progress is often invisible, but not here.
If you have ever looked back on some of your previous work, you might have
experienced a sensation of… embarrassment (for lack of better word).
It doesn’t matter if it is seeing some of your old sketches, a recording of you speaking on
stage, some old code you created for a client or one of your first knitted sweaters.
You see the mistakes, the crudeness, the shortcuts and most importantly how
you would have done things differently today.
And that is the key!
That is the evidence of change, of development and proof of a deeper understanding.
And it is important to stress that you are not embarrassed by the result.
You know that you did your best with the tools you had available at the time.
You feel embarrassed because you suddenly see everything you didn’t know back then.
And if you were to do it today, you would have done it very differently, because
you now have a deeper understanding of it.
This is harder to see when dealing with theoretical topics but
it is still there in a slightly different form.
One that should fill you up with hope.
You constantly learn… how to learn
When you see things you previously didn’t. When you have gained that
deeper understanding, you notice two things.
The first is all the techniques and knowledge that you have acquired over the years.
That is the obvious thing and what we often associate with expertise and
improvement of your craft.
Alongside that, comes the development of organizing new information.
You learn how your mind works, how it changes and what pieces you need to build and
expand your understanding. How to keep going.
You constantly learn how to learn. Through feedback, through observations and
just living on this planet. You adapt, grow and refine.
This is what hit me when I revisited the physics formulas in my mind. How differently I
acquire knowledge and how much I have learned about how my mind works and
how I now sort information.
You do this too. You are always reshaping your world with new information.
You add new ideas, forget old concepts and make new connections.
You adapt, grow and refine. And you will continue to do this going forward.
This is not something you have to learn. You already know it.
You have been doing it all your life.
So next time you find some old exams or essays while cleaning your
storage, don’t be put off by how much you have forgotten.
Try instead to see how far and deep, your understanding has expanded over the years.
That progress is often invisible because it happens constantly in the background.
You constantly learn… how to learn.
As always, if you want to continue the conversation
send me a DM on LinkedIn
Until next time!
Daniel - The Talking Bridge
Ps. Music Motivation:
