Honest Learning

Yeah you’re probably sitting there wondering what the fuck actually is ‘Honest Learning’?

You’re probably apprehensive and consider it some pseudoscience bullshit. I don’t blame your for your presuppositions and your predisposition to ignore articles titled ‘Creative Control’ or ‘Masterful Productivity’

I aint selling it and you aint buying it.

Cool.

What i’m referring to when i’m talking about honest learning is the ability to admit you don’t know shit and you’re hungry to learn more. It’s the ability to put your hands up in the air, admit you’ve been wrong and progress forwards. It’s a mindset that approaches every new situation, challenge and hurdle with the child-like wonder of a toddler picking up his first Nintendo. It’s also not trying to sell you any far fetched dream, it uses real (sometimes painful to admit) experiences and self-accountability to work.

Now i’m gonna say something that you probably don’t see much from wise, advice-bestowing strangers. This concept of Honest Learning is just something i’ve conceived to approach life with. I still don’t fully understand what it is or how to use it. I’m still learning. It’s ever changing in nature and meaning but its fundamental core is unvarying. It’s just about admitting where you’re at, saying “i don’t know’ and moving on from there.

I think there in lies the beauty of it, Honest Learning is about being exactly who you are and portraying yourself as you are (not some altered version of yourself).

This is what we’re missing so much of in the digital age. There are so many countless digital gurus and experts depicting themselves as masters of the craft; telling you the way to do things, how to do things and why you should do them.

Their ways the only way and their ways the best.

After all, why you shouldn’t listen to them? They have a professional photo of them drinking coffee in a plaid shirt and have self-proclaimed their vital worth in their bio. Why shouldn’t you trust a complete stranger who’s took the time to write something?

Maybe i’m just cynical but i find it hard to believe so much of the nonsense fed to us through the internet. I wish people were more honest about the advise they publish.

This is where honest learning comes in; as a tool to approach life and separate the useful information from the bullshit.

Here’s some examples:

You have to start studying for your exams but you lie to yourself and tell yourself that you know more than you do. You’ll be fine if you just start your studying on this day, right? No, just admit you’re behind, accept it and start the process of learning to change that. Also, don’t bullshit to your fellow students and under/over estimate your level of knowledge. No-one likes the guy who says he knows nothing and then aces the test and certainly no-one likes the know-it-alls who claim they know everything even when their world is crumbling around them.

We all know the ‘entrepreneur’ who constantly self-affirms his success and worth by informing you of their successes. The ones who claim to be everything but in the end turn out to be less than nothing. First they lie to themselves, then they lie to you. It’s a perpetual wheel of disappointment for them and pity for you. If only they were honest about where they were at, admitted they could use the help and were willing to learn. Not only would they gain the trust and admiration of peers but they’d also be far more likely to succeed.

You’re constantly telling yourself that one day you’ll be successful, earn lots of money and travel the world. All you need to do is wait, you’re destined for a life of fame and quick cash. It’s inevitable.

That’s what so many of us feed to ourselves — lie after lie after lie.

The only way to combat this is to accept the harsh reality that you aint shit and you’re gonna have to actually try if you want to be anything in life.

You mean to say life’s not handed to me on a silver platter? Shock horror.

Admit where you’re at.

Admit you don’t know shit.

Announce you’re willing to learn.

Start somewhere, enjoy the learning process and start making progress.

This is why the concept of Honest Learning is so important for me and you. There’s genuinely so much we don’t know yet, there’s so many avenues unexplored and futures that are as of yet unknown. We wont get there lying about our true position and over-estimating our worth. Just be honest with yourself, cultivate it and soon you’ll be living life exactly as it is — not stuck in some fantasy world.

If i could sum this concept in a single phrase it’d be:

“Call your own bullshit”

I just want to note that this is still a learning process for me and this concept is something i’m trying to integrate in to my life, i want to be as open and as honest with my writing and that’s exactly what i intend to do. Let’s learn together.

An idol of mine that lives this truth would be Nathaniel Drew (check him out on YouTube). I couldn’t recommend his content more and highly recommend you all go check out his channel for his honest approach to life and learning.

Yours Honestly,

Liam Lawson.