Some people say they want to learn.
The ones who mean it are paying attention. To what’s hard. To what’s next. To what’s possible.
Learning isn’t passive. It’s not just collecting feedback or reading books or sitting through training. Real learning—the kind that moves a business or a person forward—requires reflection, discomfort, and most of all, action.
Learning begins when we look back—not to assign blame, but to gather insight. Where am resisting change, even if it is needed?” The past doesn’t get to lead, but it does get to teach. You don’t carry the past—you carry the lesson.
Growth doesn’t start with information. It starts with willingness. Willingness to be wrong. To evolve. To try again with better insight.
In the workplace, learning can be blocked not by lack of information but by emotional resistance.
“If it’s still functioning, why fix it?”
Because functioning isn’t the goal. Thriving is. Leading is. Building something better is.
HOW TO LEARN (WHEN YOU DON’T THINK YOU NEED TO):
- Notice where you’re checked out.
If you’ve stopped asking questions, assumed you already know, or keep repeating “it’s fine,” that’s a flag. Start there. - Pay attention to resistance.
What do you avoid? What makes you defensive? That’s usually where learning wants to happen. - What have I just gotten used to?
Comfort can be its own kind of trap. Maybe it’s not the change I’m resisting—maybe it’s the feeling that I won’t be good at the new thing. Where might my team be stuck in the same way? - Get clear on what feels unfamiliar—not unsafe.
Just because it’s new or uncomfortable doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea. It just means it’s unfamiliar. That’s not a stop sign. - You learn more once you’re in motion.
Doing reveals what thinking can’t.
The point isn’t to fix what’s not broken. It’s to wonder what else might be possible—if we’re willing to look.
“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”
— Pablo Picasso
