Learning, studying
and other tribulations
 

Sure.  This is a trick title.  Learning is not necessarily a tribulation.  People do lots of learning.  They do some learning eagerly, as in games.  They do some learning casually, as in finding things they want to buy or places they want to go. 

We all know the rest of the story.  Learning is a tribulation when you have to do it.  When it is assigned by the Shudoffs and becomes a duty, an obligation, a demand imposed by other people.  When you don’t really know why you have to do it.  When you don’t have any clear goal except to satisfy somebody else’s requirement.

Then learning becomes studying.  And that makes it boring.   If you want to make it even more boring, make up a goal that also matches a requirement from somebody else. 

If you are bored, does it mean the Brain Borers have won?

“I will study this stuff for the next hour.”  Feel free to replace stuff with a word that better expresses you feelings. 

By the way, how much studying did you need
 to learn that replacement word?

An hour sounds like a well-defined goal.  That’s just what everybody says you are supposed to have.  You know exactly what an hour is.  But are you sure you know what studying is?  Is there just one way of studying?  Or do people change what they do in studying depending on the content and what they will have to do with the content?  And can people really study for an hour, anyway?  

Can you find satisfaction if you don’t know what will satisfy you?

In this venue, we will suggest some Thinkerer tools that may be helpful in studying.  Or even in converting a study session into a learning session.

Sweet are the uses of perversity.