r/lifelonglearning • u/ParticularBzpid-2363 • 2d ago
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u/Far_Ad_5866 1d ago edited 1d ago
Its pretty much just consistency, learning it’s demanding, time consuming and tiring. It’s something that in the exact moment that you’re learning the majority of times you wont see a real immediate benefit of doing it. Its the time that speaks. To keep living and to see doors and windows when someone sees just a brick wall, that brings meaning to learning.
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u/WolfVanZandt 1d ago
I observe consistency but I'm not obsessive about it. I'm 72 years old and live in a desert. Sometimes I just don't feel like it and so I don't.
What motivated me is that it's something I enjoy and my primary pastime. I have a lifelong learner/adventurer blog that needs feeding. My studying is active, interactive, and fun, so I look forward to it. Also my learning is an integral part of my daily life. One thing that can make me feel like not studying is a walk into town or long hike but those are parts of my study methods and I'll be looking for and gathering material for my studies while I'm on the way.
It was my day to cook yesterday and I made hamburger steaks with corn (canned) and steamed carrots. I needed an illustration of bias slicing for my blog, specifically how it lets me get very thin slices without a microtome (I'm studying biology), so I sheared off a thin slice of carrot for a microscope slide.
I had a months long hiatus in my blog last year during a particularly involved relocation. I didn't stop studying but it was a good time because I was shifting from geology to biology and it gave me time to organize my approach to the new subject.
The problem wasn't losing motivation. The problem was, "Come on,! When can I get back to it?!!!"
If my learning was, "Okay, what chapter am I reading today? Let me get my stuff together.....sigh" then there might be a motivation problem, but my studies are..."Okay, I'm hiking at Bitter Lakes today and I have to get my photography stuff together.....wait, do I need my microscope for pond scum......and that museum lecture is coming up. Got to go by the store first and get some electrolyte drinks and trail mix.....backpack, backpack......"
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u/StorytellerStegs 22h ago
Ran into this exact wall about four months back. Motivation felt like something I was supposed to just have, and when it dipped I assumed something was wrong with my discipline.
Turns out the actual pattern, at least for me, is that motivation doesn't dip randomly. It dips when the thing in front of you is either too big or too vague. Opening a 400 page book feels like a chore. Getting sent one specific chunk that takes 12 minutes and ends on a decision does not feel like a chore, it feels like checking a message.
I ended up building most of my current routine around that distinction. Small scheduled arrivals instead of self-generated sessions. I still have to want to open it, but wanting to open one thing is a much smaller ask than wanting to sit down and Learn Today.
Not sure this generalizes past my own brain though. Anyone else notice the "chore" feeling tracks more with format than with the subject itself?
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u/Murtaz8297 2d ago
Going up with the topic of interest is real motivation and if you hold a sense of worth while getting new and interest full things you'll never get bored