Skip to main content

Is Learning All About Skilling Up?

The recent Reskill and Transcend theme of Samanvay 2017 made me a little nervous. There were these bunch of young professionals, most of whom have never set foot inside an organization yet, talking about reskilling. And here I was, almost 30, in an existential crisis of almost losing relevance. The major reason behind it is the changing perception of technology taking over every ounce of human need in accomplishing a task. The brain says its not true, the heart agrees but where then is this fear originating?

I do not think technology is for all to fear. Learning technology is like learning how to use fire or the wheel. Just so fire was created did not mean who did it prior went out of style, it was the how that changed. The how is what is skill, the why, on the other hand, is much more fun to know, appreciate and enhance.  This, however, does not mean the role of skills is discounted, it only puts it in its place. A persons skills, or the lack of, account of the maximum volume of thoughts in the mind. I took up a Yoga Teachers Training course recently and in the beginning of it I felt very weird being in that group of people who could fly like a butterfly and sit like a rock, and here I was someone who could not bend front or back with finesse. The reason I was there was to finally start using Yoga as a tool to communicate with the world around me, to relive pain and introduce peace and happiness to the people I share this little world with. I thought learning the asanas would be the skill I needed, but what I ended up learning there was much more than what I could even imagine.

When I felt it out-of-place-ness of, my presence there, I had a flight intention. I thought I’ll go back and return next year, I even thought of the right excuses. The gurudev there, a tranquil man, spoke me out of it by convincing me to try to continue, at my own will. How, I am still yet to figure out. That motivation in me to experiment staying longer helped me with two things, which I later realized. One, it removed the fear of failure and created a sense of addiction to the accomplishment of trying something against my peripheral instincts. Two, it showed me how I can let go of the thought that everyone around me exist to evaluate, judge and reward me and my actions. I ended up completing the course and, more importantly, making friends in this world who spoke my language, which I now realize how rare a phenomenon it is.


Learning is not about acquiring the skill, it is about identifying a new skill, like finding a playground and its reading its rules. It is about letting go of thoughts like “am I good enough for this playground and game?” and “is the playground good enough for me?”. My journey to IIT began like that. There were questions on if I am right for the place and there were even questions on if the people took the decision to let me in were right. However, I know now, the courage and humility the journey has so far given me may not have been the same if I had stuck my status-quo. The signs of learning are simple, it humbles, it elates and it resonates. These signs show me that I am learning, and when I realize I am learning, it feeds the curiosity to learn more and kills the fear and doubt of whether I can. Learning, so, is about learning to realize our place on the learning curve, and then give it the right gear to move up.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Adaptively Authentic or Imposter?

In a recent class on authenticity, many participants preferred being able to project an acceptable image of themselves rather than being authentic. Though immediate reactions to this sentiment echoed concern, it later seemed rational. Tech today is great in its ability to quantify scientific achievements. Tech also has given birth to the phenomenon of immediate quantification. Numbers are all around and describe everything, immediately. Popularity and traction today is quantifiable and even friendship is measured using numbers. Numbers, but, describe only situational constructs. So, if numbers are the end, authentic means are no longer necessary to create those situations as authenticity is needed for time-tested creations. I took a train from Chennai to Delhi late December last year. This was the first leg of a long vacation in the Himalayas and I was excited returning to the places I had once walked on as a child. My fellow passengers were a variety of people and the group would...

A Thanksgiving to the Reflective Best Self Portrait Exercise

The exercise  was about gathering points to draw insights about one's self. It could not have come at a better time.  I am 29 years and 6 months, and a few days old, as I write this. There have been instances through my life where I have expressed my gratitude and then there are others where I haven’t. However, there are but only a few instances where I have begun a task by expressing my gratitude to just have had an opportunity to do it. This is one such a task. And for this I express my gratitude to Professor Dr Vijayalakshmi V, Department of Management Studies; IIT Madras. The task, Reflective Best Self Portrait, has come at a time in my journey where I seem to have finally realized that I am on a journey, the destination unknown though. The traits of such a realization I associate to being relatively more aware of the time and space I exist in. This makes me understand the value of such an exercise, for, I believe, this exercise has created a way for me to interact wit...

I Want To Be Happy When I Grow Up

“I cannot teach anyone anything, I can only make them think.”  - Socrates Motivation comes from within. Be it money or satisfaction or self- realization . There is no extrinsic motivation. Tall claims that, but I stand by it because I know not otherwise. My motivation comes from the ever present something that makes or breaks me do something, anything. Motivation is a result of need, and need is the relative difference between the desired state and the current state. Those are but just words. What do they mean? What does motivation even mean. The leaves move because there is wind, and because there is wind we can define air. Such is the case with motivation. A being exhibiting a goal oriented behaviour of often classified as someone who has motivation. There was a chuck in my life where I did not know why I did what I did neither did I know what was it that would make it know it, nor did I know what I really wanted to do. General judgement was lack of a purpose that re...