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Solitary style exploration

Solitary style exploration involves learning mainly on your own. Solitary exploration also involves understanding your own views and emotions on particular topics. You can extend this to try to understand other people’s motivation behind their work. Here are some techniques to try:

• Note your own reactions. Keep track of your own reactions, opinions and emotions as you progress through your course. Do you find it interesting, exciting, boring or dull? How do you feel when something finally makes sense, versus when you are struggling to understand an idea? Emotions play a big role in understanding and remembering material, so don’t ignore this valuable part of learning.
• Keep a journal or learning log. While you are studying, keep a journal or log of your activities. Take particular attention to your reactions to various topics as outlined above. Through history, some of the greatest contributors to society and science wrote down their inner thoughts, emotions, hopes and ambitions. They used diaries, journals, letters, poems, essays and articles to capture and explore their lives. These include people such as Newton, Jefferson, Bach, Edison, da Vinci, and more. Some researchers believe their scribbling and writing helped them achieve their success.
• Explore the people. Ask your instructor or lecturer what motivates them to teach what they do. Explore the people behind your topics, both current and past. What can you find out about their lives, motivation, concerns and other achievements? Try reading biographies or do some research on the Internet.
• Make up your own mind. Much of what you read is an expression of beliefs of other people. Those people are not always right. Try keeping an attitude of “I choose to believe that for now.” Keep an open and independent mind.