THE LEARNING ORIENTATION FALLACY
An individual who identifies as learning oriented can tend to overlook the value of experience and the unconscious learning that comes with it. Being a constant student is a dormant position. The pursuit of mastery in anything demands a balanced position, being a player in the game and an observer (scholar) of the game. The greats in any domain showcase this. Kobe Bryant studied the game of basketball and clearly participated constantly (rarely ever sitting out).
It’s the equivalent of being a golfer who only hits golf balls on the range. At a certain point in time, the range will do nothing to improve your game, it may even create illusions of validity of having you think you are better than you are. The range has a flat even surface, no pressure on the shot, and an endless supply of balls. To be a strong golfer one needs to leverage range and course time because the course provides the individual with an opportunity to cultivate different aspects of their Professional Profile, in which the driving range cannot provide (the same can be said vice versa with the range).
Pursuit of Mastery in anything requires Range & Course time. The one who doesn’t see the value in experience or scholarly work will seize to meet their full potential. The blend of both experience and scholarly work is what differentiates the good and the great. For the individual who doesn’t take the scholarly part of their craft seriously run the risk of their talent taking them somewhere their character cannot keep them. The individual who doesn’t take experience seriously and is lost in the scholarly portion runs the risk of keeping talents dormant by not allowing them to discover and cultivate them.
Being a “lifelong learner” is great, it just recognizes that learning is done through experience and scholarly work, not one or the other, it’s the blend of the two that illuminates. For there are things that can only be learned through experience, and other things that can only be learned through scholarly work. To be a master in any domain the blend and balance of experience and scholarly work is key.
