Inspiration and Learning New Things

12 years ago, when my grandmother turned 80 she got a computer and asked if I would teach her how to use it. She didn’t need to learn it. She had gotten along well in life without it. She bravely opened herself to learn from me (a child of her child) and we both gained.

We started at the beginning. At the “What do you mean you don’t know that?!” stage.
How to use the mouse. Click verses right click. She learned how to open, read and send email. How to surf the internet and research things she was interested in.

I hesitate to learn a new thing because I don’t want to look dumb. I don’t want to admit that I don’t know how to do a thing. In the beginning, the learning is hard and clumsy. I am going to assume that in this, you are just like me, and I want to offer you some encouragement as you learn the intricacies of the technology you deal with every day.

My grandma died recently at 92, she has been and always will be my muse and inspiration. She was always learning, and doing, and truly living.

Learning new things is hard. Let’s just sit with that a moment.

It is hard, but to stay engaged with life we must learn new things.

How to learn a new thing, in 3 simple steps

Step 1 – Know that you can
Step 2 – Start with what you do know
Step 3 – Spiral Upward

Know that you can.

This is the most important part. When I know that I can learn something, or do something, then it really doesn’t matter how long it takes.

And yes we really can learn to deal with technology better.  We can learn anything better if we choose to.

Learn to take care of ourselves
Learn a foreign language
Learn math or navigation

We can IF we choose to. It is all in our choice and determination.

Start with what you do know

With a jigsaw puzzle, we start with the edges. We start with what we know.

We do not live in a vacuum. I know you have heard that phrase. There are very few things we truly have NO exposure to. I often tease about my lack of sports and music knowledge, but if I do know they exist and I can educate myself further. So start with what you know.

Re-familiarize yourself with simple math before you get to algebra. You may even realize that you know more than you thought you did.

Turn on your computer and remember that you know how to turn it on, open your email. Check Facebook, research new topics on Google. Now try Something new.

Spiral Upward

You WILL fail, you WILL feel clumsy and stupid. This is OK, in fact it is required!

Every failure is a lesson learned and every success is a list of failures.

As we learn each step takes us higher toward our goal and even if it always feels like we are starting over we must remember where we have actually come from. We used to crawl, now we walk, now we run. We may get hit and have to learn to crawl, walk and run again and again and again, but each time, if we are willing, we can learn beautiful and magical things.

What do you want to learn today?
Let’s set a time to chat about your technology and what can be done to improve.