Learning is a marathon, not a sprint

study learn know book cover
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Remember when you were a kid and wanted to learn quickly? You wanted things to go smoothly, and you had no patience at all. Learning is a marathon, not a sprint. Most of us want to learn and expect to be experts at once. But life doesn’t work that way. You need to take time to learn, and that’s what’s so fascinating about life. You live and learn all the time and don’t graduate from life.

I love learning new things and even things I already know. There is no harm in repeating what you learned in the past because people have different teaching styles and opinions. You might even get excited again about something you didn’t like when you were younger. In 3rd grade, we had to learn to play the fipple flute (also called recorder). I wasn’t excited to learn the instrument then. But when I got older, I took it up again. I taught myself to play music notes, and now I can play songs by heart. I even learned to play ‘Soft Kitty‘ (the song Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory sang). I just played with the flute some tunes, and then suddenly there the song was. I can play a tune by listening to the sound, and there’s a song. The instrument is easier to play than the piano. I’ve learned the easier music notes, and on the Duolingo app, you can learn music notes on the piano. I’m also learning Norwegian there. It sounds like Swedish but is spelled differently, so it isn’t so hard to learn for me.

I’ve been learning social media marketing lately, which is why I haven’t blogged as often recently. Writing in Finnish has been challenging because I’ve been writing in English so much. I get more written in English than in Finnish. I’m better at writing fiction than about real life. I’m like that little kid who wants to learn, but the results take ages. It feels like I’m wasting my time trying to write something and not getting anything in return. It makes me doubt that I will ever make it as an entrepreneur or that I can’t do anything right. Or that I’m too dull and no one cares. Learning to be patient and not giving up despite feeling disappointed. You also need some luck to make it. But the most important thing is that you learn things you want to learn and not what others want you to. Life is much more fun when you do.

On the long run

cyclers from the back

I hate running so I would never take a marathon. But if it comes to movies, then yes I’m up for one. People who run marathons must have great willpower training for one for months. I’ve seen competitions on TV and it really takes a lot out of the runners. Us normal humans, even getting off the couch, is a challenge. Some have never exercised in their life so they can’t understand how much time and effort it takes. The runners also need to think about the heat and what to eat. If running a marathon was easy, anyone could do it.

I can have a listening to music marathon. I could listen to different music all day and not getting tired of it. At the same time, writing or doing something productive. If you run, it’s just that. When you watch a movie marathon, that’s the only thing you do. In that you need to concentrate. I love all the Lord of the rings and The Hobbit movie, extended versions. One of these days I will watch all six of them. It takes forever and the only thing that’s gonna get sore is my eyes and back. I’ve watched them separately but never together. You need time to watch something like that. That’s part of my retirement plan. If I ever get that far.

Sometimes I have writing fiction marathons. One story at the time of course. Ideas comes flooding no matter what time it is. Once you start you can’t stop. There is times I’ve haven’t slept all night because I got so much to write. I don’t want to lose the train of thought. When I got into that world in my mind, even a little distraction gets me irritated. It’s difficult to get that mood back again. That was something my mother couldn’t really understand. That’s why I’m a writer and only writer’s understand the flow you sometimes get. Having so much thoughts in your head, your hand or fingers can’t keep up. That’s kind of marathons I take part in. Running? Nah, I rather do it in my head.