Unlocking your learning motivation

14 Oct

Written By Meg Smith

What motivates you to learn? We've been exploring the mindsets and methods that shape our learning experience, but this week let's get a bigger picture perspective on learning.

Understanding what motivates you to learn is going to be increasingly important; connecting learning with purpose is one way to become future-ready.

Sinead Bovell wrote "AI is coming for the unmotivated." Her article talks about the rise of vibe coding and the widening gap between people who use critical thinking skills when working with AI versus those who are passively engaging to get a "good enough" output.

"Those who treat AI as a magic wand waved over passive ambition will easily be outcompeted, even by AIs themselves."

In an AI world the advantage goes to those who are curious and adaptable learners.

So, why do you want to learn?

Often we can find ourselves chasing arbitrary learning goals - only doing what's required by employers or to meet minimum qualifications.

The 'Five Whys' technique is used by Toyota in their production system to identify the root cause of an issue. Analysts might review a system failure, first asking why it happened. Then asking why again, as many as five times, to try and understand the cause of the condition.

You can use this simple exercise to help you understand what's motivating your learning goals:

1. Grab a pen and write down the question: Why do I want to [learn a topic]?
2. Set a timer for 2 minutes and write whatever comes into your mind.
3. Next, read what you've written and, thinking about your answer, ask yourself 'why?' again.

Repeat that process until you've asked "why?" five times. At that point, you'll have a deeper insight into why you want to learn.

Say you had a learning goal to achieve a particular certification. You'd start by asking:

Why do I want this certification?

The answer might be because it makes you eligible for a particular job.

Why do I want that job?

Perhaps the answer then highlights that you want to make more money.

Why do I want to make more money?

What is revealed in the answer to this 'why', and the subsequent answers will help you either connect that goal to your purpose or identify an opportunity to reframe the goal.

Try this Prompt

To understand why you want to learn, ask your favourite AI tool to help you with this exercise:

I want to understand what's motivating my learning goals. I'm going to use the Five Whys technique to explore this.

My learning goal is: [state your goal]

Please guide me through five rounds of asking "why?" Help me dig deeper with each question. After we complete all five rounds, analyze what you've learned about my core motivations and suggest whether this goal aligns with my deeper purpose or if there's an opportunity to reframe it.

Let me know if you try this exercise and if it uncovers any surprising insights for you.

Next week we explore "Just-in-time" learning techniques and how to use AI to teach you.

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