LAS is an award-winning provider of elearning consultancy, design, development and training services in the UK and internationally.
Established in 2005 as LearningAge Solutions, we work with some of the best known organisations in the world to boost their performance through the innovative use of learning technologies. Working in partnership with our customers, we draw on proven principles from human behaviour, how people learn and how the brain works to create impactful digital learning solutions with real return on investment.
Martyn is one of our Project Managers who also supports within our learning designs.
Martyn’s Learning and Development career spans over twenty years.
He has had a range of L&D roles from eLearning Developer to Learning Design Team Manager as well as roles within Learning Innovation and Change Management.
By Martyn Stevenson-Read
Posted 12 February 2021
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, it seems only appropriate that we take a moment to talk about love. And in particular - Our love of learning.
French philosopher Emilie du Chatelet put it nicely when she said that a ‘love of learning is the most necessary passion - in it lies our happiness. It's a sure remedy for what ails us, an unending source of pleasure’. What makes you passionate about Learning? What drives YOU to Love learning something new?
Developing a love of learning isn’t just about feeling good once you’ve managed to learn new things. It’s about enjoying the process of learning in itself and the experience of adopting a ‘curiosity mind-set’ - where you naturally feel satisfaction from a desire to constantly explore new and different things. ‘Curious people have an ongoing, intrinsic interest in both their inner experience and the world around them. Curiosity is also the engine of intellectual achievement and those who are more interested in a topic will learn faster and prime the brain better for learning’ says Liggy Webb, Director at The Learning Architect, in her Training Zone article.
Over the years I’ve made a habit out of building learning not just into my professional life but also into my home life too, because it enriches my life and make my life more of an adventure. For instance, over the last month I’ve started to learn Greek (Yassou!) and as a complete non-musician, I’ve also started learning how to create electronic music on my Mac (Yes, think Ross from Friends!). I’m learning these things purely for the love of learning, there are no ‘need-to know’ moments to nudge me along (I’ve no Greek speaking people to talk to and I definitely don’t have a recording contract). This means that it’s down to me to find the time to make these learning experiences happen across the week. But I do, because I’m motivated to and because I love learning. Each and every one of us will have our own motivations to learn but the common thing I share with anyone who has a love of learning is that itch to find out more, to understand and grow.
Are you experiencing a love of learning? Or has it hit a lull or become a ritual of ‘need-to-know’? Has the fire gone out of your desire to learn? Take a moment to think about why you learn, is it a desire to do so, or because you need to?
My top tips for sparking your desire to learn again are. ·
1. Start a new hobby – one of the best ways to learn, whether it be learning a new language, or gardening. It will give you the opportunity to learn through failure and reap the reward of tackling a challenge head on.
2. Read more – Reading is such a powerful tool, we can escape into a book, let our mind take us anywhere, imagine ourselves as a person who can conquer anything. They offer peace, enrichment and inspiration.
3. Make learning FUN – How do children learn? Through play, as adults, we need to do this so much more. Its proven that those who learn through play will be more creative, productive and happy. We need to change our mindset that ‘Play’ is just for the kids.
4. Become aware of your strengths– and use them to your advantage. Do what you’re good at, build on it, dig deeper, go further, reach for that peak.
I hope this blog helps you to find your Love of Learning. Discover your passion and desire to learn for yourself. When you do, hold onto it and continue to deepen the information, be the curious person that is motivated by the pursuit of knowledge.
I’d love to hear about your love of learning and what it’s given you. And if you don’t currently have that curious mind-set, what things would you like to try to develop your love of learning?
