Slow Learning - Collaborate
This week we continue our look into the different types of learning and how understanding our personal learning styles will help us develop ways to adopt even more slow-ness and mindfulness to our lives.
Today’s poggie is all about collaboration - probably the most well-known type of learning. I personally identify a lot with this kind of learning (though during today’s episode I stat to wonder whether it’s the most helpful for me!) and think a lot of you will identify with this mode as well.
Collaborative learning is all about collective intelligence. This podcast is a great example of collaborative learning, or learning of one another in order to benefit the whole. I don’t know if I realised it when we started out more than two years ago, but essentially we’re building a community of like-minded people, and it’s one of the most valuable things I’ve ever been a part of. In fact, it’s where I want to focus more of my efforts over the coming months, developing this rad group of people and seeing how we can create a stronger community together.
But I digress! There are so many ways you can tap in to collaborative learning when it comes to slow and simple living. There are:
- Online forums, chat rooms
- Facebook groups
- Mentoring groups (like the one Ben is involved in at the moment)
- Live calls (like our Patreon monthly catch-ups)
The key here though, as I realise throughout today’s episode, is that if you identify with this type of learning it’s important to acknowledge its limitations. Often I find myself getting overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information available, as well as the breadth of opinions and advice. It can feel completely defeating when there is literally an opinion for every option, so the key is to also apply a little discernment. Find an entry point that works for you and only go looking for additional information as and when you need it, rather than bathing in the infinite pools of opinions online!
It’s also been helpful for me to realise that I sometimes use this tendency towards collaborative learning as a way to procrastinate while still feeling productive. It’s great to understand a lot about a topic before making changes, but it becomes counter-productive when that learning stops us from doing.
And it’s in the doing that we learn.