Why Active Learning and Iteration Is the Path to Lasting Success

Turning repetition into growth

Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash

You’ve been meaning to better yourself for the longest time. Honing your skills in that sport, playing that musical instrument, practicing those dance moves, learning those musical notes, mastering those theories.

But have you made any headway?

Not much.

Putting in the work and not seeing the results you want can be frustrating. It’s a perfect recipe to give up.

But wait. What if I told you you could fix it and get a better outcome of your efforts?

Let’s get to the basics and figure out where the problem is.

You’ve been mechanically practicing things.

And that’s the culprit.

Mere repetition doesn’t cut it

Many people repeat the same actions without much thought or understanding, only to later complain that they're not getting anywhere.

When you persist mechanically—putting in hard work, studying for long hours, or rehearsing performances without trying to comprehend the reasons behind your actions or the concepts you’re dealing with—you can't achieve meaningful progress.

This is because your learning or skill development process lacks depth.

Without actively engaging with the material or skill, understanding the intricacies and nuances becomes difficult.

Don’t just mechanically learn things

Passive learning, simply memorizing information without understanding—aka the rote method—will only take you so far.

Intensive efforts might bring moderate success, but that's that.

If you want to excel in your field or area of expertise, you must go full-on.

Embrace iteration.

Make learning an active process.

Immerse yourself in what you’re doing, understand why you’re doing it, and how you’re doing it. Mindfully engaging with your work and making learning a thoughtful process will ensure continuous improvement and take you far in life.

Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash

How iteration works

Let's say you want to take up the habit of journaling, but you feel hesitant to begin because expressing your thoughts may feel forced.

To make yourself more comfortable and learn effectively, you can use iteration and follow these steps:

1. Start regular journaling

Make it a daily routine to pour down your thoughts. Initially, expressing your thoughts openly might feel challenging, but convince yourself to embrace this initial discomfort as a part of the learning process.

2. Reflect on your experience

After a week of journaling, take a moment to go through your entries and reflect on the themes that emerge, the insights you've gained, and how the process felt.

3. Make adjustments

Based on your experience, refine your approach by considering the topics that resonate more with you, the writing process—whether you prefer digital or paper, and your preferred time of day for journaling. This will help you make changes and align the process with what works best for you.

4. Continue Journaling

As you continue the regular practice of journaling and build on what you've learned, you’ll find your writing becoming more insightful, organized, and reflective.

You can allow yourself to experiment with different prompts and styles to know what makes you comfortable and helps you express your thoughts more meaningfully and effectively.

So iteration helps you learn and grow by turning every experience into a chance to improve.

True learning is a journey of ongoing improvement

When you’re delving into something new, there’s excitement to grasp it quickly. This impatience can sabotage your learning process as you aim to fast-track your journey from amateur to pro as soon as possible.

However, becoming an expert at something requires shifting your focus from memorizing facts to understanding the root of things and grasping concepts.

The learning process involves making mistakes, gaining insights from them, making amends, and refining your approach in later attempts.

In Conclusion

Success is not about just focusing on the finish line. It’s also about getting better. So, don't just move forward—immerse yourself in learning actively and each step will then take you closer to where you aspire to be.

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I value your support and look forward to your feedback and suggestions. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions or topic requests for future newsletters.

Wishing you a week filled with self-awareness, personal growth, and unwavering confidence!

Best regards,

Dr. Roopleen

If you like my work, do read my other articles on Medium.com