Think Differently
You cannot solve a problem with the same mindset that created it.
Introduction
Not learning means standing still, but to learn I don’t have to study.
- Anonymous
I have heard many answers like this from people who I ask why they don’t want to study at university.
Why study?
Many individuals question the significance of studying at university and believe that they don’t need to. It’s not relevant for their lives.
They often hold the view that the primary reason to study is to acquire new skills, which in turn can lead to other benefits. They also believe that success can be directly measured and only study when they can see tangible benefits such as a higher salary or better job prospects.
They believe that the basic motivation of studying is to learn skills, which presumably leads to other benefits as well.
They want to derive direct benefit from a course of study: If they can see that it will improve their salary or enable them to get a new job, then they would want study. If they can directly see and measure the outcome, then they plan to do it.
Some people may feel that the courses they are required to take in university are not relevant to the career they want to pursue.
However, this capitalist way of thinking (“What is my advantage?”) is very short-term thinking.
Limited thinking mindset
They are limited in the thinking they currently have — namely, precisely that of the person who has not yet studied.
One has to manage to put oneself in the position (visualize!) of the person who has already done these things.
This requires creativity and imagination.
You must be able to place yourself in the shoes of someone who has already accomplished what you aspire to achieve
Only when you’ve done that can you look beyond yourself and decide what to do after that.
And then you realize that it made sense to attend university, because that’s when this opportunity (whatever you do afterwards) arose.
Does a child come into the world and know that it wants to be an engineer when it doesn’t yet know that this possibility even exists?
This is not possible.
Our thinking is limited by our current knowledge and experiences and we are limited by such thinking.
A different mindset
An intelligent man once said:
You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.
– Albert Einstein
So if you want to solve or change something, you first have to change your mindset.
And you can’t do that by just saying “I have now changed my thinking”.
Studying is a way to change our thinking
and broaden our perspectives.
While learning in general is crucial to changing our thinking, studying new subjects is especially important. This is because it helps us learn things that we have not encountered before, and therefore, think differently.
