Learning something new is exciting – so don’t be afraid to ask questions and show weakness

In an ideal world, we constantly learn and develop. Learning and constant change, even though still seen by many as scary and negative, can be very rewarding and offers a constant opportunity for development. Learning something new is however stressful. We are put into new environments, with new people, learning new skills that are more or less complex depending on the job. It almost feels like we start all over again. And this is exactly how we should see this. Rather than pretending to know it all, we should ask questions, observe, and show weaknesses openly and authentically. We are learners - so we don’t need to know it all from the start.

Learning means we are developing new skills and we almost always develop and thrive in the end. Learning gives us a sense of achievement, of moving forward and is therefore something we should embrace and thrive for. However, we have to not only learn a new craft, but also learn to ask questions again, to be open to new ways of working as well as to start listening to others again, rather than pretending to know it all. Learning will broaden our horizon and will almost always push us out if our comfort zone. But all this is a good thing, as it is the only way to move forward.

Nevertheless, learning can be difficult. Whenever we want to gain new skills, we have to put the work in and practice. Things like strengths and talent make it faster or slower for us to learn, but as with most things, in the beginning we have to make the effort to acquire and improve our new skills over time. Many of us are often afraid to ask questions or have concern about their image not to be seen as stupid by asking too many questions or not being able to pick things up too fast. We need to leave this behind and see the early learning stage as a great period where we are allowed to ask as many (sometimes even stupid) questions as we want. In this period, we are allowed to show weaknesses and tell our managers and leaders that we don’t really understand what they might be talking about sometimes. It will give them a much better picture of our strengths and weaknesses, as well as make us seem human and authentic. It is ok not to know everything and to even ask for help.

This highlights another important aspect of learning - finding people that can help and that will ideally later become strong allies. As a learner we can ask as many people for help as we find relevant. People generally like to help and will appreciate us asking them for advice which can build very strong relationships for our future careers.

Learning is something exciting as is moving out of our comfort zone and going the extra mile to develop further. However, as a learner we should not be afraid to not know certain things, to have to ask questions that sometimes might be perceived as stupid or strange by others as well as to experience setbacks. We need to be ware of our gaps and should not attempt to hide them, rather than address them with the help of strong helpers that will eventually become allies if appreciated and valued by us. Learning is a great thing, that we should never stop in life, as it allows us to actively influence and bring about change in an active rather than passive way. Therefore, keep learning, don’t be afraid to ask questions and challenge the status quo - it can only do your good – if you are however also willing to put the work in -which is the strong foundation of any great learning outcome.