Overcoming barriers to learning
You are ready to learn, feeling relaxed and alert. You have decided
where you want to learn and have organized your learning environ-
ment. But, somehow you never seem to get round to it—learning that
new computer program, working out how to tile your bathroom, find-
ing out why your tomato plants produce fruit that never ripen.
What’s the problem? Your mind is receptive but still not turned on.
As with horses, so with learners. You can take us to water but
you cannot make us drink. As US academic Chris Argyris puts it:
“No one can develop anyone else apart from himself. The door to
development is locked from inside.”
This is the conundrum of being motivated to learn. Once you
have left school or college, all of life’s conflicting demands press
down on you. There are many barriers to prevent you from engag-
ing in learning. Here are some of the common ones, with sugges-
tions of how you can overcome them. I haven’t got enough time. If it is important, then you have to make
time for it! Set aside small but regular amounts of time to fit in with
your other commitments and think about giving yourself whole
days or weekends devoted to something you are keen to learn. Use
the life planning activity in Chapter 12.
I can’t get the kind of learning I want near where I live or work. This may
be true at first sight, but think more laterally. Can you get it online?
Have you really investigated what is available? You need to search
a long way beyond the training department of the organization for
which you work. In the UK there is a free national helpline,
Learndirect on 0800 100900, and other countries have similar
ideas. Or try talking to your colleagues and friends about what you
want to do and see what creative ideas they come up with. Rather
than going on a customer care course, for example, why not go and
see how another organization not in your line of work does it?
What’s on offer does not fit with the way I like to learn. The way you like
learning is a helpful first approach when searching for what you
want, but will be very limiting if you use it as an excuse for not try-72 Power Up Your Mind
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