The New Learning

By Mohit Khandelwal

Is learning something new, essential to growth? Whether learning is still essential when you achieve perfection in any work? So answering to both questions my answer will be “Yes”. In my opinion new learning and perfection both are different things and both are equally important for growth in life. Most people believe that once perfection is achieved in any work then new learning is not required at all. They keep on ensuring that perfection is a substitute for new learning. But, according to me they both play different roles in our life, in our growth. Once you achieve perfection in any work that will only mean that you can solve the same or similar problems in the series but, will that help you in achieving another milestone? My answer will be “No”. You can only grow in your work or in your business, when you get out of the mischief that only perfection can turn up in your life. Learning new things can make you better not in terms of your work but in terms of your life. Many of the people think that after attaining a certain age new learning will not pay off. But I think any learning at any age will definitely pay off if it is in the right direction and continuously followed. Most of the people say that we are old enough to learn, this is not our age for learning new things. The repeatedly asked questions are what to learn and what will happen. Will it give some monetary benefits? To answer this question, I believe that there are lots of things in this world which you can learn like learning new languages, computer courses, music instruments etc. in which you are interested. In fact you will fall short of age if you start learning.

To answer the second question, it may or may not give monetary benefits. But, one thing which it will give is Confidence. New learning will help you in facing new challenges with more confidence. Learning helps you in enhancing reasoning ability, helps you in developing an approach to solve the problem which you have not encountered yet. Don’t wait for the time when a problem will occur, we will find the solution while learning something new. In fact we should always keep on learning new skills without waiting for the problems. Let me tell you a short story about how new learning helps us in gaining new knowledge and encountering problems.

Once there was an old man running a business for the last 50 years. He was a confectioner and having a shop where he used to sell curd, milk and only one sweet i.e. Rasgulla. The sweet which he was selling was one of the best sweets in the market. He was having good business but as the time runs out everyone needs some addition or new learning to remain in the market and if you don’t add any new things with the passage of time then after a certain point of time your business gets stuck and your growth stops. Old man was perfect in making Rasgulla and setting curd but after so much effort his sales were not growing. Many customers asked him to introduce some new sweets as they were all bored after eating the same sweets every time. They said that there are many other sweets which can be made from milk as well. But old man always replied that he was perfect in making Rasgulla and curd so why introduce anything new and in future if he encounters a problem he will try to learn new recipes.

Meanwhile a young boy entered into the market with new innovative sweets of milk except Rasgulla. He didn't had much experience in the business but had the willpower to learn new things so that he could grow his business rapidly. Within a few months, he started providing a variety of milk sweets except Rasgulla to customers and it showed a tremendous growth in his sales compared to old man. The old man got worried about his business as he was perfect in making rasgulla only and if the young boy started making the same sweet with the same taste then what will happen to his business. He went to saint to get a solution ,that what to do and how to get growth in his business and his life which got stuck due to the entry of a young boy. The saint told him that, I got a solution to your problem and you have to bring 3 buckets in the morning tomorrow in this manner. One bucket should be filled with polluted water; another bucket should be half empty and with half polluted water and the third bucket should be completely empty. The old man said, “Ok, I will bring the buckets as per your instructions”. Next morning the old man reached the saint hermitage. Saint asked the old man to walk with him to the river where water is flowing in the river from the waterfall. The saint asked the old man to fill river water in all the buckets and tell him when the water gets filled in all buckets. The old man followed the instructions of the saint and filled all the buckets with water. The saint asked how much time did the buckets take in getting filled. The old man replied, one bucket was already filled so he didn't have to make any efforts to get that filled. One bucket which was completely empty took most of the time. The bucket which was half empty took less time as compared to empty bucket. Old man asked the saint about the logic behind that activity. The saint replied and taught him that the bucket which was already filled with polluted water is the mind of those people who don't want to accept new things. If you tell them to learn new things they will spread your idea here and there. They are happy in their dirt. Second bucket which was half empty and half filled is of those people who will learn new things to only some extent as per their needs. They will keep on waiting for the problems and as soon as they encounter the problem they will find the way to get rid of the problems. If they don’t get any problem ,then they will also have the same polluted water in their bucket. But, the third bucket which was completely empty is of those people who are always willing to learn something new irrespective of its use and those who are willing to learn new things will always have clear water in their bucket. They are open to learning new things and they believe that good thoughts should go on in mind. Saint keeps on explaining to the old man that when he was alone in the market he was like a polluted water bucket that was happy in his mind and didn't want to learn new things. But, when people asked him to provide some new sweets, he was like half filled with polluted water. He was waiting to encounter a problem then to find a solution. But now, as your growth gets stuck then you want to become an empty bucket that is willing to learn and grow and adapt to changes. The saint told him not to wait for the problems and always be open to learning new things. The old man understood the lesson of the saint and started learning new recipes and within some time his business got back on the growth track.

The opinion which I want to share is that there is no age limit for learning new things. It’s only you who have to select the bucket of your life. What I believe is that we should never stop learning because Investment in learning is the only source of earning which can give you the maximum return of your life.

“New Learning helps you to become a better person than the person you were yesterday”.

By Mohit Khandelwal