Page 16 - Learning to Learn

RESOURCE EXPERIENCE 1: PERFORMING LIKE A STAR
16 L EARNING TO LEARN: BECOMING A SELF-GROWER
began to realize is that we were the controllers of our own destiny. The expectations were not
going to go away, but it was up to us to decide which of those expectations needed to be met in
order to improve on what we wanted to improve upon.
Now, I understand that we are not meant to look to others to see what we need to do, but instead
look to ourselves to see what we want to come away with from a situation. This new sense of
motivation was the turning point for me. No longer did I need to do something for the sake of
another person, but instead do it for the sake of self-improvement. This was really our first step
to understanding ourselves and understanding how we need to take charge of our growth (self-
growth).
This new sense of motivation led to the next important breakthrough: self-assessment. Before
stepping into the realm of self-assessment, I need to first explain what we previously thought
assessment meant. Throughout high school, we are taught to look for the bad in what we do
and improve upon those things and leave the good as is. While this provides an easy sense of
gratification if you got a good grade, the concept of growth through the use of assessment was
missing. Assessment is not about what you do wrong, but what you can improve upon and how
you can facilitate that improvement. We learned that it is not weakness we must analyze, but
instead the product as a whole. By understanding our strengths, areas of improvement, and
insights we can truly grow from the experience.
Now back to what it took to implement that self-assessment in ourselves. In the beginning of
the Institute, we looked to the faculty to assess our work and tell us how we did. As I mentioned
before, we were looking for their approval. But as we developed this new sense of motivation
we needed to come to a new realization on how we were to assess the effort we were putting
in. This came in the form of self-assessment. We learned that we cannot grow from what we
produced unless we analyze the final product. Without truly understanding our strengths, areas
of improvement, and the insights we gained from the process, there was no way for us to grow
from said process.
The strengths show where we have improved from where we were before; the areas for
improvement help show where we could work to improve the quality of work next time; and
finally the insights are what help us understand how to apply what we have taken from the whole
process and how we might apply it to a new situation. Through doing this we began to no longer
need the approval of another; we could assess ourselves and grow from ourselves, not from the
endorsement of another person. This became a liberating factor: We no longer needed another
person in order to grow, but instead could independently monitor and facilitate our own growth.
Another aspect of self-improvement came through learning the value of collaboration. While
we are now better self-growers, the growth we can attain through others is tremendous. Through
cooperation, we develop a new perspective. Through using others as tools we can arrive at new
approaches and solutions to problems that we would have never conceptualized alone. With
cooperation in play we can arrive at solutions much quicker and more efficiently than ever
before. One potential setback in team performance is not understanding how to make a team a