Attitudes of Successful Learners

Attitudes of Successful Learners 1. "I can." This is the most basic of all attitudes. We simply must choose to believe that we can learn. In our house we are not allowed to say, "I can't." We can say, "I'll try," or "I tried and failed," but not "I can't." Telling yourself that you can't will in effect make it so. But telling yourself that you can, will in effect enable you to learn much more. Even if you actually only achieve 50% of what you tell yourself, you will achieve at least that much more than if you told yourself you couldn't. So many people were told at a young age that they couldn't learn. Many others were allowed to engage in that kind of negative self talk (tell themselves, "I can't learn", "I don't understand", I'll never get this", etc.) and their parents and teachers didn't intervene. This enabled them to develop the "I can't" attitudes that become self-fulfilling prophecies. I actually have a standard way of going about getting myself off of the starting block. I simply say if somebody else has achieved great learning heights, then I can too. I have to be smarter than at least one of those who has already done it. I have to be able to work harder than at least one other. There has to be at least one other person who has come from more difficult circumstances than me. And if they can do it then certainly, "I can!" 2. "This is a long-term approach." Learning isn't something that happens overnight. Yes, you can learn individual facts, but the real growth comes when you see your learning build on itself and compound for years, when your knowledge meets up with your experience. When we take the attitude that it all has to happen immediately, we hurt ourselves in the long run because the fact is that it takes time to learn (even though we can accelerate it). If we expect it to happen immediately and it doesn't, then we can get frustrated and stop learning altogether. Instead, we need to take a long-term view just as we do in financial matters, weight management, leadership, etc. Long-term thinking, including our learning is always the best way to go for success. 3. "Learning is valuable." Some people have a "learning schmearning - who needs learning" attitude. They think that learning is overrated. I hate to tell you this, but not only was that wrong 5000, 500 and 50 years ago, it is especially wrong today. We live in the information age. We must gain knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge if we are going to be successful. We must tell ourselves and cultivate the attitude that learning is valuable and that it will affect our lives. 4. "I will make a difference in the lives of those around me." People who soar are generally people who have the attitude of helping other people. Yes, they may do it for monetary gain, but they are others-focused. They want to change the way people live and experience life for the better. They are difference makers all around. This is the same in what we learn. We learn first for ourselves, but then with the goal of taking what we have learned, and what we make of ourselves, and we then help others to do the same.