When I was little, my parents started taking me to piano lessons when I was just 3 years old. In 1980s China, this was the hot new trend – having your child learn a musical instrument at a young age. 

 

At the time, Chinese parents were just starting to catch on to the research connecting music and intellectual development, and it seemed everyone we knew had a piano in their house. In fact, one of my earliest memories was of my childhood piano being carried into our home.

 

Over the years, I spent a LOT of time on that piano bench – thousands of hours of practicing, starting with simple one-handed melodies and eventually advancing to complex Beethoven concertos.

 

As it turns out, this type of learning – learning to DO – is just one of 3 different types of learning. 

 

In this article, we’ll walk through the 3 different types of learning, why each is important, and how to leverage all of them to help you discover your true purpose and forge your own uncareer path.

 

 

The first type of learning – learning to KNOW – is the one that you’re likely most familiar with, because most of us have spent years learning to know while sitting behind a desk in a classroom.

 

Learning to know focuses on knowledge that can be captured in books, lectures, Google, and Wikipedia – things like timelines, historical facts, and definitions. 

 

Most of your memories of school likely revolve around learning to know, through reading textbooks, taking notes, and studying for multiple choice tests.

 

But, as more and more of us have come to realize, learning to know is just a small sliver of what leads to your overall success in life, and learning to know is becoming more and more obsolete with the advent of Google and smartphones, which put all the information we could possibly ever need right at our fingertips.

 

But what if you were after something more than just knowing? What if you wanted to fix a car, build a chicken coop, or paint your own masterpiece? This brings us to the second type of learning.

 

 

The second type of learning involves learning to DO, as in my opening example with learning to play the piano. No textbook can teach you how to play the piano, no matter how many facts and figures you memorize.

 

Only through sitting down at the piano bench and putting your fingers on the keys will you start to truly learn how to play the instrument. You know you’re learning to do if you’re spending significant time and energy practicing the skill at hand, rather than reading about it in a book.

 

These days, abstract skills like leadership, mindfulness, creative problem solving, and innovation are in high demand, and all of them require significant practice and learning how to do. 

 

You can learn what leadership is through a textbook, but to actually lead a team and inspire others requires ongoing practice, feedback, and iteration.

 

Okay, so if learning to know and learning to do are the first 2 types of learning, what’s the third type, you ask? 

 

The third type of learning is the type of learning that most people gloss over and spend very little time on. In fact, most people don’t even think of this type of learning as learning at all, yet it is one of the most important elements of achieving success and self awareness.

 

 

The third type of learning is learning to BE. This is one of the most critical types of learning and is arguably one that gets the least amount of attention in today’s world, largely because it can’t be measured.

 

Learning to be focuses on understanding who you are and who you want to be. Through learning to be, you start to answer questions like, “What do I love doing? What gives me energy? And what am I truly passionate about?”

 

I remember reading career development articles at many points in my uncareer path that spouted wisdom like, “Follow your passions.” After reading them, I would feel inspired, yet have absolutely no idea what to do next. 

 

I needed a roadmap, but self-help articles were only feeding my need for learning to know; I didn’t realize at the time that I needed to learn to be.

 

 

Learning to be is the most individualistic of the 3 types of learning. In other words, learning to be looks different for everyone, so there’s no prescriptive path you can take to truly learn how to be.

 

However, once you start integrating the art of learning to be into your life, you’ll start to discover who you truly are and what you truly love to do. 

 

So if you’re struggling with the feeling that your current job or career path just doesn’t seem right for you, yet you can’t quite put your finger on what’s wrong or where you want to go next, start by taking some time to learn to be.

 

 The first step in learning to be is to make time for it. This is incredibly hard. Trust me, I’ve been there. When your life is filled with deadlines and Zoom meetings, it’s hard to block an hour to just “be,” especially since the results can’t be measured.

 

But the good news is, you don’t need to block an hour. You don’t even need half an hour. You just need a few minutes here and there, throughout your day, to reflect. Reflect on what you’re doing, what you love and don’t love, and what gives you energy.

 

Learning to be is more of a habit and way of life, rather than a finite activity you do once in a while. To truly learn to be, start to integrate ongoing awareness and reflection into every part of your life.

 

 One exercise I found particularly helpful in learning how to be was to keep a simple log of what I was doing each day for a few days. I’d write down every little thing – analyzed numbers on a spreadsheet, wrote an email to a colleague, did a team presentation, checked my Facebook feed, etc.

 

Then, at the end of the day, I’d rate each item based on (1) how much I enjoyed doing it and (2) whether it gave me energy, sucked away my energy, or was energy neutral.

 

Over the course of just a few days, I started to see patterns start to emerge, giving me insights into what I truly love to do and am passionate about – things that no textbook could ever teach me.

 

 Regardless of where you are on your career path, uncareer path, or life in general, intentionally integrating these 3 types of learning into your life will help you discover more about yourself and where you want to go, build the skills you need to take the next step, and develop the courage to embark on your next adventure.

 

Even if you take nothing away from this article except to integrate tiny moments of reflection into your day, you’ll start learning how to be, which is one of the most important types of learning. 

 

Once you learn to be, you’ll discover the direction you want to head next, and once the path is clear, learning the skills and knowledge you need to get there will be a piece of cake in comparison.