• Do you feel that there are a lot of things that you need to learn?

• Do you believe that learning new skills is essential for your growth, whether personal or professional?

• Have you tried learning new skills and left halfway, because you got scared of being ridiculed?

• Do you, somewhere inside, feel that making mistakes is bad for your image and makes a negative impression?

Learning, as we have already agreed to, is something that is constant. Life is nothing but a journey where you learn constantly. However, as we grow older and progress in our years, we tend to start losing this phenomenal ability of learning and picking up new skills consciously, and the farther we grow in age the lesser becomes our ability to learn something new.

What could be the reason?

Well! The reason that comes straight out is “The Ego” which becomes pronounced as we grow older, we somehow connect failure to our self-worth and self-esteem, and get out extremely scared of being judged and ridiculed by people around us.

What bewilders me the most is, that we not only get petrified at getting ridiculed but also forget that learning and making mistakes are not separable.

The primary difference between the one who has learned and the one who is learning is simply the right or the persuasion of the latter to making mistakes. The process of learning is nothing but making attempts of doing something, getting feedback in terms of success or failure correctly, of course, by analyzing the feedback, and finally making a re-attempt. If this is the process of learning, where does attaching failure to our self-esteem feature?

Another truth I would like to share with you all is that there is a process, people around you, though however well-meaning they are, would put you through while you are attempting to learn something. And that is when you learn you are bound to fail and fall in your attempt and the moment you do that people will laugh at you sneer at you or ridicule you. One cannot separate these three things learning, failing, and being made fun of. However, close that person may be, he or she will laugh with no mal intention. This is where your choice comes in; you can either, out of the fear of being made fun of, leave something from learning or you, in spite of all the negative feedback that you receive, continue to persevere and eventually become successful.

What is equally astonishing to know and believe, is that once you become successful, there is no one who would remember your struggles at learning something that you are now good at. Your past failures would just be omitted and forgotten.

And, finally, the most important point to consider is that in today’s competitive and fast-paced world, no one has the time or the desire to think about anyone else except oneself.

Ask yourself a question and you would then understand the reason. Do you actually think much about others or are simply too busy to take care of your own problems, troubles, and challenges in life?

This is the irony, everybody is busy thinking that others are carefully thinking and judging them, whereas no one is thinking about others, except worrying about others thinking about them.

You see this picture; you would immediately come out of this limiting belief and live a fuller and joyous life sans any stress.

I would hence implore you all to just shun this limiting belief and make an attempt of learning with a burden-free mind. Learning means making mistakes and that is it. The more mistakes you make the brisker would be your process of learning and even if others make fun of you or attempt to ridicule you, care two hoots about them.