Business Fit Magazine January 2019 Issue 1 | Page 64

Mindset & Emotion
What Influences how much an
ADULT
LEARNS?
Veronika Christodoulides
Research, many coaches and educators are
preaching, is how we can willingly influence our
reality and future. “Get clarity, make your vision
board and make it happen.”
The problem is though, that we tend to
NOT believe in something, that we haven’t
experienced or observed and is not part of
our wealth of experience. Our imagination is
limited by our own limiting thoughts. That is
also why you hear “You become the five people
around you.”.
People’s behaviour and perception of the
world is strongly defined through previous
experiences and so are learning habits. Over-
generational research has even shown how
strongly learning habits are influenced over
generations and through environmental
condition of the different social classes.
How can adults break through those old habits
and truly create something new, not just
something in another colour?
Basic principles behind adult
education and lifelong learning
In contrast to Primary, Secondary Education,
as well as Tertiary education (University), the
fourth level of education (adult education) has
no defined curriculum. Adult education is very
diverse. It includes continuing professional
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education, but also formal and informal
education outside the professional career,
implicit learning and the mechanism to deal
with life in general. It is mainly driven by the
adults need or desire to learn.
An adult learns mainly if she or he wants
to learn. Since learning habits are formed