Learning and hard times...

When was the last time you consciously took an effort to change the way your life is going? Changing jobs , getting married or divorced, having babies are too big changes and lets keep them out of the spectrum I am talking about.

One of the changes I am talking about is learning new things or new ways of doing things you have been doing so far. Lets say learning to drive a car, to play a guitar, to work out to get a 6 pack etc etc. I realised that when you pick up these things, there are several roadblocks which you have to hit.

Age-factor?? Nah..
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When people say they are too old to learn certain things, they are not exactly talking about their diminishing learning power with age. I think in any age, a man will be man and he will be better than a monkey. If monkey can learn things, then a man too can. So what is that hold people back and give such excuses when it comes to learning new stuff. I think the first and foremost thing is ego. It really needs attitude to sit with 8 year olds and learn guitar when may be the 8 year old is playing better than you. Another reason could be sheer lack of motivation. I think you shouldnt do things unless you are passionate about them. Since passion is the next stage of motivation, you'll never hit this roadblock.

Not-getting-right Phase
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Then there is a phase when people try hard and get frustated when things dont go in the right direction as they had planned. For instance, you might have done all 150 kms of driving classes but when it comes to taking the driving test, you fail.
I believe there is a "Not-getting-right" phase in every learning process which is actually testing you back. It tests your patience, your character and your attitude.
Remember, last time you gave up something like playing guitar when you couldnt play a bar chord. I think thats the most crucial part of learning anything. This is the phase which really needs focus and dedication. If you drop out of this point, then you probably learnt few skills but you actually failed in what you wanted to achieve.

So, try to mark this phase clearly in the mind when you go through a learning process next time and remember to stay focussed at least during this phase. You'll definitely achieve what you started off for.