Learn by Doing
Have you ever intended to learn one thing, and actually ended up learning something else?
Cynthia Sue Larson
Learn by Doing
“Not having heard of it is not as good as having heard of it.
Having heard of it is not as good as having seen it.
Having seen it is not as good as knowing it.
Knowing it is not as good as putting it into practice.
Learning arrives at putting it into practice. ”
– Xunzi (Xun Kuang)
Have you ever intended to learn one thing, and actually ended up learning something else? I've come to recognize this pattern when it arises in my life, and I enjoy noticing what reality is sharing in each moment, beyond what I anticipate.
One of my most interesting experiences learning something different than what I'd intended happened when I was a student in San Francisco university's MBA graduate school program. I was working on a group project with Susan and Stanley, my friends and fellow students. We were specializing in Information Systems, and enjoyed working together as partners on group projects when we got the chance. For our systems analysis project, we chose to study an administrative department on campus because it was conveniently accessible, and could also offer us an opportunity to gain an inside view of our university's operations.
Cynthia Sue Larson
Everything seemed to be going smoothly at first, as we received permission to conduct interviews with department managers. In our enthusiasm to get started, we drew data flow diagrams for what we surmised the administrative department was doing, as seen from the outside. Our initial optimism was dampened when we arrived for our first scheduled interview, only to find that our meeting had been rescheduled for the following week. We were disappointed, but took the news in stride, looking forward to getting started with interviews the next week. When we returned the next week, however, we heard another excuse for why no interview could occur that day, so our first interview meeting was again rescheduled. After several weeks of this repeating pattern, we became concerned, since our report needed to be finished soon, and we'd not yet managed to conduct a single interview. After many weeks of attempting to complete this project, all we had to show for our efforts was our original data flow diagram depicting an outside view of some of the department's processes. The internal operations remained a mysterious black box, and our written and oral report was due tomorrow.
Susan and Stanley and I wondered how on Earth we could present an essentially empty report? We agreed that the best we could do was to write our report describing every pitiful detail from the entire series of rescheduled meetings. Despite employing all of our collective charm, charisma, and wit in numerous attempts to glean insights into this department's operations, we'd not succeeded in cracking a single clue to the underlying mysteries of this top-secret administrative department. I told Susan and Stanley that our best option for presenting our written and oral report to the class would be to tell the entire sorry tale of how despite our best efforts, the university administrative department had successfully fended us off, ensuring that their hidden operational secrets remained concealed. Susan and Stanley agreed, and told me that I should be the one to present our oral report tomorrow.
On the day of our oral report, I began by explaining that this presentation would be a bit different, since we did not actually achieve the objective of documenting the work flows of the administrative department, and we had not managed to successfully complete a single interview. Instead, I would give a report summarizing the conversations and specific details of our numerous failed attempts to conduct an interview. I looked around the room to see how this dismaying—yet tragicomic—news was being received, and was pleasantly surprised to see our professor grinning and then laughing aloud as he leaned on the door at the back of the room. The students were laughing along with our professor, who laughed so hard at one point, that the door he was leaning on opened momentarily into the hall outside. The entire presentation continued in that fashion, with me sharing a series of depressing setbacks, and the class and our professor roaring with laughter. Much to my surprise, we received long and loud applause at the end of this report, which was heartening, since it seemed to us we had clearly failed the assignment, but at least everyone had a good laugh.
I was later astonished to see that our professor gave us an “A” grade on our report. Why did he do that? In a flash of insight, it occurred to me that recounting our tragicomical adventure was instructive in its own ways. I felt a spark of joy from the realization that the university's administrative offices probably never had any intention of revealing what they were really up to, or how they invested their time, effort, and energy. This discovery would not have been possible without our dogged commitment to doing our very best to gain access to this information, so our 'failed' project had value in its own right. That was the one and only time I got such a high grade for not being able to complete an assignment. I imagine our professor is probably still laughing any time he thinks of our experience attempting to analyze San Francisco university's inscrutable administrative department!
My biggest lesson from this particular experience is that I saw just how amazing it can be to learn by doing. In this case, I didn't get to practice as much data flow diagramming as I'd hoped to be doing, but I was astonished to witness some surprising lessons having to do with human relationships and interactions, including what we sometimes learn when we might have presumed we'd been shut out. Sometimes, the greatest lessons—and gifts—are possible when it seems we've got nothing at all!
I invite you to explore some truly amazing reality shifts that have been reported over the past twenty plus years and posted at RealityShifters. Any time you'd like to remind yourself of some of the remarkable changes we've witnessed, I welcome you to browse through a few issues, and fall more deeply and fully in love with the wonder and magic of life.
Love always,
Cynthia Sue Larson
email Cynthia at cynthia@realityshifters.com