Learn

As I move back to school today, I am reminded of why I'm here to begin with - I'm here to learn. Yoda seemed like a perfect fit for my attitude today. While it's true that learning can take place in the form of something completely new - a filling of a blank slate, if you will - the majority of the time learning involves 'unlearning' something else. Growth requires that something has to die in order for something new to take it's place.

Take this past semester for instance. I took an educational psychology class and one of the units was on test writing. Specifically, how to write a test so the answer isn't immediately obvious. If you have been a student, you probably know what I'm talking about. I loved the tests that you could answer one question by reading another question. It was almost too easy. Well, it was my goal to make sure that didn't happen. Going into the class, I thought I had it all figured out. I knew how to write a test, it's not that hard. Well, my work showed me otherwise. Little did I know I was just beginning the process of 'unlearning' my previous habits and practices in order to utilize better, newer practices.
Have you ever had an experience like this? Better yet, were you able to take the experience and learn from it? Perhaps you learned to take things with more openness, testing it before totally throwing it aside. That is something that I took from this lesson. Without unlearning, there can be no learning.

Do

One of my favorite movie series has to be Star Wars. While we don't possess the abilities of the Force, or even know a funny little green person, there are some applicable nuggets of wisdom within the movies.  The character Yoda is usually a source of this wisdom.

How many times in your life have you said something to the effect of "Sure, why not. I'll give it a try"? If you're like me, it's a lot. Now, in those same instances, how many times have you actually succeeded in doing what you set about doing? Again, if you're like me, it's not all that often. So what's the problem? What gives?

As Yoda is alluding to, often it has to do with attitude. You often get what you expect. So it stands to reason that if you are only 'trying' something, not fully convinced that you can do it, the chances of you succeeding are not that great. What does this mean for us in our daily lives? In my life, it means acting with reason, purpose and conviction. Instead of being content to just 'give it a shot', it means not stopping until I can do, I WILL do. Act with conviction. Do with passionate commitment. Go all in. Do or do not. There is no try.