Adrienne CampbellOne of the most important things in life is not just what you learn, but how you learn.
Books are by nature sequential. Most education, because of this, is in a sequential format: step 1, step 2, step 3, etc. However, this is not always the best way for each person to learn.
During my undergraduate studies in an architecture program, I was taking the subject of structures over several years, and I remember distinctly not doing well. I had failed two class units of structure in a row, thereby forcing me to the daunting task of taking three structures classes at the same time. I took the classes, fearing the worst—migraines, nightmares of failing school, etc.
But to my surprise, by taking all three classes at the same time, I understood the connections between the concepts in all three classes–wood, concrete, reinforced concrete—and used the areas of repetition and overlap between the three classes to leverage my learning and understanding of the subject. It was then that I came to two astonishing revelations for me:
- I learn best when I learn subjects simultaneously, and not sequentially.
- One of the most important things in life is not just what you learn, but how you learn.
This was ground-breaking for me personally. I had to learn the entire series of the subject at the same time, so that I could see the moving parts within a subject and get a panoramic understanding of it. My suspicions were confirmed later when I suddenly did well in all the structures classes. I did not have a learning disability—I just saw and understood the world differently. My perception of my environment was different, so I learned in a different way.
Wow.
The power to see differently to me is the power to map out and communicate one’s perspective, your perception, of the world around you, and to leverage that power to become a problem-solver.
Question everything. By questioning everything, I do not mean questioning authority just for the sake of it. I mean the questioning of the very foundations of systems we commonly take for granted—educational, societal, spatial, land laws, etc. Look at them differently, in a new way.
The solution to many of life’s greatest quandaries may simply lie in the rearrangement of the puzzle pieces.
