I Want it Now(!)

We recently came across a product called I Want It in an electronic goods store and had a good laugh about its tongue-in-cheek jibe at today's consumer. Something to think about in this fast moving, fast changing world, where attention spans are short and the name of the game is instant gratification. It is a world where people want quick results and easy answers.

In his book Emotional Intelligence (Why it can matter more than IQ), Daniel Goleman describes The Marshmallow Test conducted by Walter Mischel. A group of four year olds were offered two marshmallows if they could wait till the researcher returned, and one if they didn't want to wait.

"There is perhaps no psychological skill more fundamental than resisting impulse. It is the root of all emotional self-control..." (Goleman, 2004, p.81)

When these children were tracked down fourteen years later, it was found that those who had resisted temptation at the age of four, were now more socially competent and better able to cope with life's frustrations than those who had given in to impulse and grabbed the one marshmallow. They also fared better academically than those who had acted on whim. "More than a decade later, they were still able to delay gratification in pursuit of their goals."

But there's hope for us all. As Goleman states, "There is ample evidence that emotional skills such as impulse control and accurately reading a social situation can be learned."

Reference: Goleman, Daniel,(2004), Emotional Intelligence and Working with Emotional Intelligence, Bloomsbury Publishing

Changin Times and the Evolving Self

(Image courtesy: Paavan Karia)

"Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'..." Bob Dylan

Do you remember this Bob Dylan classic?

Classic because its still true and relevant today. Today I write about some eternal truths. Changing times and The Evolving Self (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi). In this brilliant discourse, Csikszentmihalyi delves into the role played by evolutionary adaptation and wired in, genetic programmes in shaping our psychology. And how in order to survive and progress and adapt to changing times, we must remain flexibhle because "with each generation the conditions that affect human consciousness change in subtle but important ways "(p.42). He recognises that in order for the human race to thrive, there is a need to develop skills beyond logic and rational thought because:

"The future...is not constrained by rules and predictable outcomes. We need to cultivate more than logic if we want to thrive in it. We must foster intuition to anticipate changes before they occur; empathy to understand that which cannot be clearly expressed; wisdom to see the connection between apparently unrelated events and creativity to discover new ways of defining problems, new rules that will make it possible to adapt to the unexpected."

For providers of learning, there is much to chew upon. Let us awaken to the changing times and the need to change the way learning is dished out. Let us stop cultivating sheep (no offence to sheep!).

For more insight into changing paradigms and new perspectives into learning, listen to this podcast - Informal Learning – an interview with Brian Sutton.