Did you like your 4th grade teacher?  I know that I didn’t.  I had a teacher named Mrs. Conway.  She was a kind old woman, who was always helpful. however, she was very distracting.  I found a lot of difficulties with her teaching style. I’m sure that many of us have had harmful experiences that tainted the reasons we learn.

For many of us, we found no real reason.  What we learned felt impractical, as though we were being taught this so that our teachers could watch us squirm.

While our teaching experiences may be inaccurate, that doesn’t mean they’re always wrong.  Most people just allow old history to get in the way of new experiences. This kind of training is not helpful for human development, and stops us from ever comeing to know how to grow or expand our repertoire.

Can learning be fun?  Can we find joy and fulfillment in education in spite of these blocks and barriers? I propose that we can:  Why? Because education and curiosity are natural bringers of joy.  Philosopher Aristotle called education a “happiness of the mind”.  They create a sense of peace that cannot exist anywhere else.

Think about a younger child who’s learning to master riding a bike.  They struggle so much with this whole bike-riding thing, that when they succeed, they think they’ve conquered the world.  And suddenly, they get to the next job.  They want  more.  They want to be challenged. What makes this idea, this simple man-driven concept so powerful?

This is a universal principle. How can you tap into this universal principle?  The biggest tool one can use is to work with your goal in mind.  When one learns to ride a bike, they don’t focus on the current struggle; they should be focusing on future goals and successes.  The minor struggles are only now.

Tge future benefits will extend well beyond the struggles of this day. What is one thing you’re learning now that you want to focus on more?