Learning by experimenting

What is "learning by experimenting"? It simply means to learn to do the right thing by practicing, by failing, and by re-enacting.

I am sure we all have experimented with our lives as an infant, as a kid, as a young man, as an adult, and as an old guy. However, the experiments we do as an infant or a kid have some kind of strength and vigor. For example, I vividly remember those days when I bumped into the sharp edges of the table bruising my head, swallowing a ball-bearing while playing with it laying on the ground and plugging a iron rod into an electrical socket holding the rod with bare hands and getting electric shock. Things that seem not only dangerous but also silly, when I think of them today. The reason for such relentless exploration might be the lack-of-knowledge in how, what and why of things combined with the persistent check of my parents to never-ever-try-to-do-that. That was time when I had a fervent zeal to explore the nature around me. The zeal persisted as I grew, but only scarcely.

As I grew into an adult I acquired knowledge about many things, knowledge that acted more as a curse than a boon. This very knowledge gave me enough information to analyze my actions, analysis that destabilized me when I was on a certain course, made me feel insecure about the direction I choose or threw me into state of complacency or utter confusion. As a result, my life turned out to be stereotypical that lacked creative activity or enthusiasm. My actions were easily guessed and always bore a sense of security. On the other hand, my body became less receptive to absorbing nature around me. Thus, today, I do not have courage nor will to experience the world around me.

Anyways, my point is that the zeal to explore things around us will lead to experimentation and the results obtained in the process of experimentation are much more powerful than those obtained from any conventional learning process.

I will give you few examples from my own life -
1) Let's see how we learn to "talk over the phone". Many times we try to learn phone-sense by observing other people around us how they do it, by reading books on phone etiquette or by acquiring knowledge from friends, family in the best practices. With out a speck of doubt, we follow such practices all the time. Despite the knowledge we acquire from several sources, we tend to grasp more from what we learn by experimenting. Even today, we may still be working on attaining the best results, but then we are still experimenting.
2) Similar is the case with driving a car- we had to test our ways before we conclude the best that suits us, irrespective of all the info we get from outside sources. People tell us not to speed on a highway, but we do it anyway. We are on a constant look out for a cop, while cruising at a 90 mph speed on a 60 mph speed limit, but then again we are trying a new way.
3) And how about our private (personal) life? Parents, from their long life experience, caution us about the various pitfalls of a certain path. Yet, most of the times, we tend to get caught in the trap by doing what they did not intend us to do. Again, I would argue that we are experimenting and we would ultimately discover the best way of doing a given task. We may face obstacles along the way, but those obstacles only make the win more fruitful.

Alrite - my intention in writing this article is to make a point that there exists NO SINGLE way of doing a certain task. Of course, there can be good and bad things about doing it one way, but that judgment has to be left to the discretion of the performer - you or me or some other person. When our parents, family, friends, colleagues or bosses remember this statement and let us perform the tasks and explore the benefits and drawbacks, I believe we could generate tremendous amount of knowledge, which can enable us to make better decisions in life.

So, don't nag about the actions of the other person - let him/her just do it. Eventually he or she will find the best way.

Now, this statement holds good both for personal and professional life.