The art of being wrong and the beauty of learning

"The unexamined life is not worth living" ~ Socrates

[The pursuit of knowledge and wisdom through questioning, logical argument, examining and thinking]

Lately,  I have been observing how people, including my own self, react to criticism, disagreement and challenging expressions. There is always an embedded instinct that drives a strong defend to our beliefs as those beliefs are attached somehow to our egos, self-worth and self-existence. When these beliefs get occasionally challenged, we feel exposed and vulnerable. Being wrong is scary. And it is our reaction to vulnerability and fear that drives our forces to either accept criticism - even if that seems to us fundamentally wrong - or reject criticism - even if that seems to us fundamentally right.

Learning something from scratch at a later age can be exciting but also challenging. When considering learning a new sport as a former athlete coming from a different sport, things can get more complicated. We are not talking here about physical ability and how fast one can transition and produce speed or endurance in the new sport. We are talking about building upon past experiences, questioning current beliefs, reconstructing egos, and the attitude towards learning, fear and vulnerability. 

Learning requires a certain degree of desire to accumulate new information, be open to criticism, accept your ignorance, allow your ego to get smaller and let your experiences integrate into the new reality in a constructive way. In other words, raise up your beliefs by learning to be vulnerable and artful at times you may be wrong; allow your beliefs to be flexible and occasionally accept to break them.

Science, concepts, techniques, strategies and understanding of the sport are constantly being refined. Putting yourself out there, sharing your thoughts, stating your beliefs, but also allowing yourself to change, be open and vulnerable throughout the learning process is one of the best ways to find the holes in your knowledge, the blunders in your training and the people you should surround yourself with.

How one progresses in a sport can take many ways. There is no right or wrong really. There is science, there is experience and then there is some art to it. During progress, learning how to artfully disagree with yourself and others is a challenging but beautiful path to chose throughout this process.