Remain Open to Continuous Learning
Adapted from Habits of Mind
Remaining Open to Continuous Learning is the opposite of arrogance. Successful people tend never to be complacent. They are always looking for new things to learn, new ways of doing things, never happy to be where they are, always wanting to grow. This is what this Habit is about.
Even when at the top of their field very few successful people will sit back, content to be the best. They seek new challenges, new ways forward, new ways to grow. Always seeking to improve.
It's a good thing too! Often our best thinking at the time is viewed less favorably with the benefit of hind sight. For example, in 1949 neurologist Walter Freeman won the Nobel Prize for medicine. To achieve this award you must be considered at the very top of your field. His award was given for lobotomizing mentally ill people by jabbing a spike behind their eyeballs and destroying part of the frontal lobe of their brains. Without an ability to remain open to continuous learning we might still be performing this type of procedure.
Likewise, view the images below - our best thinking at the time!
Even when at the top of their field very few successful people will sit back, content to be the best. They seek new challenges, new ways forward, new ways to grow. Always seeking to improve.
It's a good thing too! Often our best thinking at the time is viewed less favorably with the benefit of hind sight. For example, in 1949 neurologist Walter Freeman won the Nobel Prize for medicine. To achieve this award you must be considered at the very top of your field. His award was given for lobotomizing mentally ill people by jabbing a spike behind their eyeballs and destroying part of the frontal lobe of their brains. Without an ability to remain open to continuous learning we might still be performing this type of procedure.
Likewise, view the images below - our best thinking at the time!