When you feel your learning progress is slow, it’s common to doubt or question your learning performance. You may feel nothing is “sinking in.” You can help yourself keep moving by:
· Getting feedback. If you are not receiving regular feedback on your progress, find ways to get it. If you are working with an instructor or teacher, but they are not giving you feedback, demand it from them! It’s as much their responsibility give you feedback as it is to teach you. If you are self-studying, find a mentor or guide who can give you feedback on your progress. Another alternative is to present a short presentation to your friends, family or work colleagues on what you are learning, and then ask them for feedback.
· Affirming your ability to learn. Use the anchoring technique to link to experiences when you have learned well. Use these anchors to stay motivated when you feel you are not learning well. Use assertions and scripts to affirm your natural ability to learn, even if you feel you’ve lost that ability to learn in past years.
· Looking at how far you’ve come. Sometimes it’s easy to ignore how far you have already come, especially while dealing with a few large challenges. Take a step back and look at where you are now. Consider the challenges you have already overcome, and use them as a motivator to keep going.
For example, I anchored back to the experience of my first solo flight to keep me going through the challenges of the latter parts of my license. I still use this anchor today when I’m challenged by some activity I’m trying.