I remember in the Co-operative University of Kenya 🇰🇪 we had to take a bunch of random electives.
2 electives which didn't make sense to me were 'World Religions' and 'Tribalism in Kenya.'
Nothing personal against those 2 courses.
But I was in the School of Co-operative Management.
I had no clue how those courses tied into anything Co-operative related.
So I thought I was wasting my time.
One day, I went to my adviser, and asked him why I was taking these classes.
Last I checked, college courses weren't cheap.
His response:
'It's because you are gaining more perspective of how the world works.'
I thought that was a slick response.
Thought this guy was strong arming me into filling his pockets.
By the time I got into my first internship at The Co-operative Trust in Nairobi, my mindset had changed.
I realized exactly what he had meant.
Aspects such as religions played a big role in the creation of a co-operation product.
Example: A lot of our team members were off shored in India. Scheduling a deployment on Diwali would have been in poor taste.
Ultimately, the College of Co-operative Business knew what they were doing in making me take that class.
However, the question I have to ask you is....
Do you know which classes to take in the real world?
Hm....
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Meta cognition is when you're aware of your own thinking.
So pretty much, thinking about thinking.
Or being aware of being aware.
This is a big tool in the real world, because you are in charge of your curriculum.
No one is going to tell you which courses to take.
In order for you to choose the right subjects to learn effectively, being aware of your thinking is CRUCIAL.
A few articles ago, I bought up the 5 levels of communication.
And level 1 was: Communication with Yourself.
Meta cognition falls into level 1 communication.
Without it, you may be having your time wasted & be completely unaware of it.
In school, memorization was often rewarded.
But in the real world, understanding is.
If you are putting yourself in scenarios where you are cramming, then you are failing.
It means you are showing poor strategy in information accumulation.
Tsk tsk.
'How do I improve?'
You improve by observing your thinking.
One of the best ways to do this is thru 'thinking meditation.'
A common meditation practice is breathing mediation.
This is where you count your breaths.
But thinking meditation is where you just observe your thoughts.
Completely uninterrupted.
Go where it takes you.
Do this for a few weeks.
Once you have done this for a few weeks, you have developed the fundamentals of level 1 communication.
Now when you study, you will have an understanding of which areas you are good in & which areas you lack.
Then, you can design a strategy to fill in the gaps.
Much more effective than reading random books which have nothing to do with your vision.
Just consume information which is going to eventually lead to an output.
Everything else is secondary.
The more you practice observing your thinking, the more your metacognition skills improve.
There are a lot of resources out there which will be a waste of your time.
So being able to spot bs information is a skillset of its own.
Once you begin getting a grasp on your thinking patterns, you'll be able to see links & patterns among subjects much more effectively.
You may know that World Religions has a lot to do with Co-operation, who knows.
Start low & work your way up.
Level 1 communication reflects all other forms of communication.
So invest in it & see your work come into fruition.
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