Balancing Stress and Motivation

I’ve started this blog as a place to hold and share my thoughts about learning. Learnaroni sounds a little like pasta, making this a good enough receptacle for my noodling. I hold the idea that anyone can learn anything given low levels of stress and high levels of curiosity. For example, if an American falls in love with a Japanese person, they might have a high level of curiosity which encourages their ability to learn Japanese. However, if the American’s teacher is highly critical of their attempts to speak Japanese and if courses are very expensive or time-consuming, the prospects of really learning Japanese quickly grow dim because the level of stress around learning outweighs the American’s fantasies about speaking Japanese. When considering any learning situation, it’s worthwhile to examine the balance of stress against the desire to learn. One’s eagerness for new knowledge must clearly outweigh the barriers to learning.

         Stress in learning environments can be caused by myriad internal and external factors, beginning with technology. While technology is transforming the way we learn, it can also throw up a million reasons not to learn. Even if we think of school-based learning in the olden days, technology could easily get in the way. Remember classrooms with chalkboards and books where students took notes with pencils on paper? What if the chalk squeaked or there weren’t enough books or the pencil tip broke? Worse yet, what if the teacher spoke in monotone or other students in the class were distracting and disengaged? Any such aspects of that traditional learning environment impeded learning. Today, if we can’t logon, if we have limited bandwidth, or the LMS doesn’t interface well with the instructional design, our learning experiences are shot from the beginning. Learner familiarity and comfort with the platform is essential for a positive experience. If we expect a learner to navigate a new LMS or glitchy application while engaging with course content, the likelihood of success is minimized from moment one. There is much more to say about the importance of technology in learning. It is but one example of elements that can easily cause stress and block the learning process before it has begun. 

          Tenacity, engagement, desire, and curiosity move us through difficulties we may encounter when trying to learn. Once we have made a conscious decision to learn, we are taking a step toward reaching our goal. When the act of learning brings us pleasure, the experience becomes self-perpetuating. If wrapping our minds around a tricky concept is entertaining, for example watching a fascinating documentary, we are compelled to stay with it beyond moments of incomprehension. When we receive positive feedback a regular intervals it enables us to naturally set small goals and see our progression. Opportunities for applying what we are learning show us that the effort is worth our time and investment. Whatever we can do or can be done for us to increase the aha! moments in our experience contributes to our ultimate satisfaction and reward. This is just a starting place for thinking about learning in both individuals and organizations.