No. 1 Way to Learn

All of us would have heard this multiple times – one of the best ways to grow in life is to learn, unlearn and relearn. From personal experience, I can safely say that there is one thing which stands “Heads and Shoulders” above other things in doing that. That is – “Share & Teach”

Let me narrate an example to explain – Almost a decade and a half back during my engineering course we had a subject which was proving to be quite a challenge. While I was putting in the required effort but the confidence was just not there. Just two days before the exam one of my class-mate came over and said that he was stressed out with the same. He said that he wanted me to explain some of the concepts to him. So we went about going over the concepts with him. Now, there were a few things for which I had devised a very ingenious way to remind myself of the concept. While explaining the same to my colleague I realized that my understanding of the concept started becoming more and more clear. When asked a few clarifications I was at a loss at certain stages. So I told the friend that comes over in a few hours and that I will explain the same to him later. In the meanwhile, I went about going over the whole thing over again. By the second time, there were some things, which became further clear to me as well. Needless to say that not only did I clear the exam easily but so did my friend.

This one incident made me realize the importance of “Share & Teach”. Having said that it also brought some key points to the fore

1. When one shares one’s knowledge the person who shares gains the most like his / her knowledge also enhances
2. One does not need to unlearn to relearn at times. Sometimes just refreshing things itself with new perspective will make one learn new things
3. Teaching others does not mean that one is the master of that thing. At times the clarifications sought by others can make one relearn a thing for the better. One has to be open to new thoughts and suggestions which come our way in the process of making others understand
4. When one approaches the sharing process by being honest to oneself is when one can hope to learn the maximum out of it.
5. Sharing to prove a point also does not help

Are there any best practices, which you follow? How do you go about this process? What are the practical things one can do in our daily lives that will make us go on this path of acquiring better knowledge to move forward? Let’s share and learn !!!!!