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over and over again? Does
practice require feedback?
Should practice be hard? Or
should it be fun?
But a growing body of
research is making it clear that
learners are made, not born.
Through the deliberate use of
practice and dedicated strat-
egies to improve our ability
to learn, we can all develop
expertise faster and more
eff ectively. In short, we can all
get better at getting better.
A study by Marcel Veen-
man shows how learning
strategies can be moreMANY PEOPLE MISTAKENLY
believe that the ability to
learn is a matter of intelli-
gence. For them, learning
is an immutable trait like
eye color, simply luck of the
genetic draw. People are born
learners, or they’re not, the
thinking goes. So why bother
getting better at it?
That’s why many people
tend to approach the topic of
learning without much focus.
They don’t really think about
how they will develop an area
of mastery. Does practice
mean repeating the same skillties. Even without pressing
problems, engaging in learn-
ing as a central feature of your
work life will help you build
personal resources and be
resilient and prepared to nav-
igate future stress at work.
Originally published on HBR.org
September 4, 2018
HBR Reprint H04IS3Chen Zhang is an assistant
professor of leadership and
organization management at
Tsinghua University’s School of
Economics and Management.
Her research explores time,
energy, and well-being issues,
as well as workday design and
dynamics. Christopher G.
Myers is an assistant professor
at Johns Hopkins University
on the faculty of the Carey
Business School, School of
Medicine, and Armstrong
Institute for Patient Safety and
Quality. His research explores
interpersonal processes of
learning, development, and
innovation in health care and
other knowledge-intensive
work environments. Follow
him on Twitter: @chrisgmyers.
David M. Mayer is a professor
of management and organi-
zations at the University of
Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross
School of Business, where he
focuses on leadership, ethics,
and diversity. Follow him on
Twitter: @davemmayer.with a stressful challenge
solely in your own head, get
input from others. Discussing
a stressor with your peers
and colleagues might reveal
hidden insights, either from
their experiences or from the
questions and perspectives
they raise.- Craft learning activities
as a new form of work
break. Alongside purely
relaxing breaks—either
short ones like meditating or
longer ones like taking vaca-
tion days—consider recasting
learning itself as a break from
your routine tasks at work.
This might seem like a mere
mental rebranding, but if
a learning activity allows you
to divert from the type of
eff ort you use in regular work
activities (for example, work-
ing with numbers or inter-
acting with clients) and also
fi ts your intrinsic interests,
it can replenish you psycho-
logically. Viewing learning as
“more work” will make it less
attractive in an already stress-
ful situation, but approaching
it as a form of respite can
make it more appealing and
more likely to create positive,
enjoyable experiences.
Embracing learning can be
a more active way to protect
yourself from negative eff ects
of work stress, but don’t
wait for stress to arise before
seeking learning opportuni-
5. Learning Is a Learned
Behavior: Here’s How to
Get Better at It
→ by ULRICH BOSER
HOW TO LEARN
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