Library Service Blog

From languishing to lifelong learning – How to find your ‘flow’

Michele offers a glimpse into the hobbies of Skills Team members... 

7.5 minute read 

How are you? Are you languishing? I read about this concept recently. It’s a state of joylessness and aimlessness, or feeling a bit ‘meh’. Lots of people I speak to feel like this at the moment.  We’re not really depressed, but we’re not feeling very lively or thriving either. Researchers are still looking into how to counteract this state in a post-pandemic world. Some early results suggest that getting into a “state of flow” might help - losing yourself in the process of an activity, unaware of your surroundings and completely immersed in the task at hand. Reconnecting with past interests or learning a new skill can help us to find our flow - we might also think of this as our ‘lifelong learning’.  And it’s clear from a quick survey round the Skills Team that lifelong learning and development are in our DNA... 

The joy of learning and perfecting a new skill 

Several team members have spent their lockdowns working to improve and develop their skills.  Skills Adviser Kate is a wild swimmer and intrepid wild camper. Her swimming exploits including ice dipping and swimming at the Hathersage outdoor pool 3-4 times a week. She says regular swims kept her sane during lockdown, but were ultimately motivated by the desire to be a more confident swimmer.  

Nick found a way to meld his interests – gaming and collecting Lego (particularly Star Wars designs) - with newfound cross-stitching skills. Here’s his recent cross stitch logo from Star Wars for “Clone Force 99 aka the Bad Batch”. Similarly, Kirsty found that getting lost in crochet, and creating a baby blanket for a friend, was a welcome, meditative break from work-from-home days filled with primarily thinking about ideas and concepts. She says finishing the design was down to the sense of achievement from making something useful and practical. 

I’ve been building on language skills watching German TV programmes such as documentaries, films and dramas. Old habits die hard and I have a vocabulary book nearby to write down new words and phrases. There’s always something new to learn, lately a whole tranche of vocabulary relating to science and Covid-19. I’ve moved my dip pen and ink to digital calligraphy. It’s quick and instant and you don’t have to get lots of equipment out. I also tried a drawing a day for a while. This was a challenge because I’ve never thought I could draw. I’m still not so sure, but it was good to experiment. 

Losing yourself in a good book 

Truman once said ‘leaders are readers’. For many in the Skills Team, reading is a pastime. If you read for your course, it can be helpful to read something completely different whether novels, comics or blogs relating to your interests. Susannah is a keen reader and has been reading fiction and a book on meditation. I asked her what message she has taken from recent reading: ‘When you stop expecting to know and understand everything, then you can truly experience life.’ Susannah believes remaining open to learning has helped hone critical thinking skills, such as digging more deeply to seek true causes rather than surface correlations. Skills she takes from lifelong learning such as open-mindedness and not jumping to conclusions underpin her whole approach to life: ‘Curiosity and the confidence to keep learning keeps you young, and keeps alternative career doors open to you.’ 

I’ve just started finding new things to read. I watched videos from the Edinburgh International Book Festival to find writers I’ve not heard of, and I’m also doing a re-reading challenge, going through my bookshelves and re-reading books I’ve not read for ages. It's amazing how much a second, slower read reveals new details and surprises I missed the first time around. 

Why consider lifelong learning?  

It’s clear that as technology changes the landscape of jobs, no one can afford to rest and assume they have a career that will last them into older age. It is suggested that by 2025, 50% of jobs will be done by a combination of humans and machines. Robots, automation and artificial intelligence will create challenges to the employment market as we know it. As our career paths become less linear, developing a real curiosity for learning, adaptability and a thirst for new skills can stand us all in good stead for the future. So perhaps it’s worth establishing lifelong learning habits early on. 

We can consider formal and informal learning. Skills Adviser Sam is quite new to the team and he’s enjoyed getting back into studying with his MA, which he started before lockdown. He said it has been useful to notice how he could stay motivated and develop learning independently as the course is all delivered online. Sam has realised he’s resourceful as he’s developed useful ways to find relevant information and write creatively without much input from others.  

Emma is also fairly new to the team and her recent job hunt has led her to focus on developing employability skills, particularly as recruitment processes have shifted online. Following online interviews, she found a brilliant TED talk which gave practical steps and advice on the subject of overcoming nerves and how to use ‘power poses’ to build confidence. Emma said this advice has helped her to find confidence in stressful situations and after using the power pose, she got the job!   

So, you might be in the middle of your degree or have just finished (congratulations!), but this really shouldn’t be the end to learning: it should be the beginning. Take a few moments today to assess what your learning goals are: learning a new language, developing new technical skills that can supplement your major field of expertise, or exploring an interest that could be an avenue to new opportunities? We’d love to hear about your learning, hobbies and interests - tweet us @HallamSkills. 

Michele, Skills Team