Remain Open...
Adapted from Habits of Mind mini-course
Remaining Open to Continuous Learning is the opposite of arrogance. Successful people tend never to be complacent. They are always looking for new things to learn, new ways of doing things, never happy to be where they are, always wanting to grow. This is what this Habit is about.
Even when at the top of their field very few successful people will sit back, content to be the best. They seek new challenges, new ways forward, new ways to grow. Always seeking to improve.
It's a good thing too! Often our best thinking at the time is viewed less favorably with the benefit of hind sight. For example, in 1949 neurologist Walter Freeman won the Nobel Prize for medicine. To achieve this award you must be considered at the very top of your field. His award was given for lobotomizing mentally ill people by jabbing a spike behind their eyeballs and destroying part of the frontal lobe of their brains. Without an ability to remain open to continuous learning we might still be performing this type of procedure.
Likewise, view the images below - our best thinking at the time!
We can laugh now, but we have to remember that without the ability to remain open to continuous learning we might still be using these products and procedures. It's interesting to ponder what we might be doing now that future generations will look back on in a similar way to the way we view these.
Remaining Open to Continuous Learning is exactly what you are doing now. You've decided that their is more for you to learn and you are hoping to learn more by reading these pages. This is a good thing and puts you a significant step ahead of many people who believe education finishes when you leave school.
Remaining Open to Continuous Learning is exactly what you are doing now. You've decided that their is more for you to learn and you are hoping to learn more by reading these pages. This is a good thing and puts you a significant step ahead of many people who believe education finishes when you leave school.