Falling in Love with Learning: Begin with Inspiration

"Learning begins with inspiration. It's the engine behind a student's motivation and the glue that makes ideas stick." – David Perell

Over the past few years, I have been delving deeper into the world of neuroscience and exploring how we learn. I have been fascinated with what I have uncovered and it has left me with more questions, which is good because it keeps the journey going. When I came across a recent essay by David Perell, titled How Learning Happens, I was taken back because he hit it right on the head when he talked about learning being like falling in love with a song. Here is a quick excerpt:

Initially, you're only attracted to songs that move you emotionally. If they are catchy, you will listen to them enough to get stuck in your head. If the song keeps resonating with you, you will learn about the artist and explore the lyrics in depth. Talk to an obsessive, and in addition to singing the lyrics for you, they will tell you the backstory behind the music.

I immediately thought back to my youth and my ability to recall the lyrics of every Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead, or David Bowie song imaginable. Annoyingly spouting off the year each album was released and the back story behind every song. The key here is that there was a strong emotional connection with the music that moved me into learning more, and most of what I learned has stayed with me today, many decades later (go ahead and quiz me!).

What do you think? Can you relate to this experience? How can you take this approach into your life? Let's begin with inspiration.