Week 41 - Find Your Zest for Learning
Jessica Valentine Nelson
Making the workplace one where people are productive, inspired, and enabled to create positive change.
Work week 41 of the year...less than 3 months until 2025...it may start off seeming monotonous or it can begin with a sense of adventure.
You (and I) do not know what will unfold in the week ahead. Yes, we may be aware of looming deadlines or big discussions, but if you treat this week like an adventure, you will find your zest for learning.
This theme of zest was inspired by my first day of class at NYU, pursuing the FINAL class of a professional certificate in Training & Talent Development within the School of Professional Studies (NYU-SPS).
When I consider the 2 years it took to complete, the spark of the idea to pursue education in the field of Human Capital Management, the professors I have learned from or my fellow peers who turned from classmates to friends, I am aware of the experience of feeling a sense of wonder that this new educational experience will bring.
What is beautiful about early career professionals is their endless energy and willingness to learn, fail, grow, and begin again. Yet if you have had a career tenure of 10+ years, it can seem that we hit a lull with seeking learning or educational opportunities.
One of the benefits of identifying as a teacher's kid, is that curriculum and studying becomes second nature. Self-study in Sanskit is svadyaya. It's one of my favorite Niyamas, part of the 8 limb path in the yoga path.
As an adult learner, self-study is a luxury. Being able to slow down time and space to replenish the brain and create new neural pathways is a privilege.
As I dive into a 7-week, 3.5 hours of class every Monday evening rhythm, I encourage you to find your zest for learning. A new habit, a new book or publication, take 15 minutes out of your day or week to study. If you took 30 minutes every work day, you would study 2.5 hours a week, if you remained consistent for a year, that is 130 hours of learning.
What's most important is that this zest feels like a quest for knowledge and wisdom. It is not another item on your to do list, but an action that leans you into growth and goodness for your heart and mind.
Enjoy this weekly challenge leaning into your Weekly Work Wisdom #41.