Islamic Life Coach School Podcast
Islamic Life Coach School Podcast
Applied Learning
Through my own journey from acquiring knowledge to applying it meaningfully, this episode tell you about how to become an 'implementationalist', where every theory learned becomes a lived practice .
I describe the stages of applied learning, from the initial spark of awareness to the resilience required in the face of challenges, all while sharing practical strategies for organizing your life and thoughts for lasting change.
I talk about how to use applied learning for self-regulation and body awareness. With guidance and reflection, learn how to interpret your body's signals as insights into personal growth, and how prayer can serve as a powerful tool for seeking wisdom, courage, and the fortitude to apply your knowledge every day.
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Welcome to Islamic Life Coach School Podcast. Apply tools that you learn in this podcast and your life will be unrecognizably successful. Now your host, dr Kamal Atar. Hello, hello, hello everyone. Peace and blessings be upon all of you.
Speaker 1:Today I want to talk to you guys about applied learning, and you must have heard the difference between active and passive learning. But all of that is different than applied learning. The concept that I created just to differentiate it from active and passive learning. So passive learning is note-taking, attending lectures very different than active learning, which is actually about paying attention in those lectures. But then there's applied learning. That involves elevating your thoughts and practicing new beliefs beyond the initial aha moments that you gain just from knowledge. Applied learning is active learning on steroids, and active learning is what you learn in a classroom lectures, youtube, books. Applied learning is what you use that remembered knowledge to apply to your life, just so you can improve it. So just to clarify passive learning being physically present, but not necessarily mentally present. Active learning being present both physically and mentally, participating, taking notes, being on time, being attentive, and any of those learning methods could be sticky notes, reminders, accountability partners. Applied learning methods are practicing new belief systems in the very moment when it counts the most. So how I define applied learning is about practicing new beliefs at a time other than when the initial learning happened. So I myself am a robust, active learner. I love the feeling that new knowledge gives me, but that dopamine hit doesn't translate into a life well lived, and that is the talent that I didn't acquire until recently. Elevating active learning to applied learning and that is amazing. It's awesome, it's transformational, and I mean where was this information all of my life? So this is what this podcast is about.
Speaker 1:Through the current educational system, most of us are very good at active learning and the informational fire hose that is available to us at our fingertips, the monumental amount of active learning that you can do just from the devices in your hands Because active learning that requires a little bit of attention is very achievable for many of us. But let's cross over to the side of applied learning. What are you supposed to do with the knowledge that you gain from active learning? You're supposed to use it to achieve your goals, to improve your relationships, to gain a higher level of spirituality, to obtain financial freedom, to get married. Most of us engage in active learning because we want to achieve some goal. You're not going to pay for a degree, a course, and you're not going to invest in a self-help journey with your time if you don't have a goal or an outcome in mind that you want to achieve at the end of it. So we all engage in active learning, but I'm going to venture a guess that it. So we all engage in active learning, but I'm going to venture a guess that 90% of what we learn in active learning does not get translated into applied learning, and there are a lot of reasons for that. But today's podcast is about making applied learning easier so that way we can all put our active learning to good use and maximize the return on that investment that we're putting in active learning.
Speaker 1:Applied learning goes beyond acquiring new knowledge. Yes, applied learning is slow. It's definitely slower than passive learning and yes, it's slower than active learning, but slow is good. Active learning takes time. Applied learning takes even more time, but it's time well spent.
Speaker 1:Knowledge gained through applied learning is long-lasting, while active learning might create mental change aha moments, feel-good sensations in your body, things that make sense but it rarely creates a lifelong change. Slow and methodical leads to change. That's applied learning. So it's slow but effective because the depth of learning is far more profound than both passive and active learning. The foundation of applied learning is the strength of knowledge. That knowledge includes insights that are shared by others teachers or your own life lessons and it all comes from active learning experiences. So this by no means is an attempt to undermine the richness of knowledge acquired through active learning. This is only to show you how you can take the active learning process and escalate it to applied, experiential learning, and, when you do, how profoundly it affects your life. No matter how slow your brain thinks the progress is or how minimal the change might seem, applied learning is the only thing that makes long-term change. The downstream effects of applied learning are far, far greater than a ton of active learning you can do today.
Speaker 1:So now I'm going to point out some stages of applied learning that might be recognizable to you because you've gone through them in your life. I'm just pointing them out here so you know that this is a replicable method. So applied learning stages are awareness acquisition, euphoria, slump questioning and trial and error. These are the phases that will help you transition from understanding to implementation, and repeating these strategies in your life will make you an implementationalist, and it's a completely made up word. An implementationalist is a person who championed the execution of learned strategies. She transforms theory into practice. Of learned strategies, she transforms theory into practice. So applied learning transcends the mere absorption of information. It demands application and the transmutation of acquired knowledge. It requires the transformation into tangible daily action. And to make that easy, I'm going to describe to you how that actually transpires.
Speaker 1:And during explanation of these stages, I'm going to give you an example of a person who's trying to be more organized. So the first one is awareness and interest, which initially you become aware of something you're interested in, such as a desire to be more organized, which sparks an interest in your quest of knowledge. So then you go to the next stage of acquisition and understanding. You learn the necessary concepts, maybe from a self-help book that tells you all about the detailed organization techniques. At this stage you've gained a very good theoretical understanding of what needs to be done. Then is the stage of euphoria, because when you understand these new concepts, you feel a surge of enthusiasm. You're optimistic about implementing these strategies and actually transforming your life. You feel like, yes, finally somebody understands what I'm going through. Finally somebody has a name for what I'm experiencing and this is a classic aha moment has a name for what I'm experiencing, and this is a classic aha moment.
Speaker 1:Then this euphoria stage is followed by the slump, because soon after the aha moment, reality sets in. Despite your newfound knowledge, you open your fridge, your kitchen cabinet or you look at your office, only to find chaos. This dissonance between knowledge and reality creates a slump where you start to question the effectiveness of what you learned, when it's not the learning that's ineffective, it's the application. If you're questioning why whatever you learn doesn't work in your life, that's a sign that you're in a stage of slump after active learning. After this slump, we go into the stage of questioning and doubting, because doubts creep in about why the organizational techniques that you learned aren't working in your life. I mean, after all, you learned how to prioritize, delegate. You learned everything about planning, communicating, starting all the way from goal setting to visualizations and everything in between, but it just doesn't work. Is it the method? Is it you, who or what is broken here? That's the stage of questioning and doubting. This questioning is a natural response when knowledge alone doesn't lead to a meaningful change, but how you engage in this questioning is what will make this active learning into applied learning, and this is where most of the true applied learning falls off.
Speaker 1:So the next stage becomes the implementing of change. For example, after reading about organization, you decide to maintain just an organized drawer. You start small committing to keeping your makeup tidy after each use for a week, but soon after that you say to yourself, what's the big deal about keeping one drawer organized? I mean, look at my office, look at the garage, look at the kitchen. It will only truly matter when I can keep these places organized. These micro criticisms of yourself are why active learning never transforms into applied learning, because before behavior changes, there needs to be a change in your thought patterns, and this is the most important stage. I mean, this is what makes or breaks your hours of learning. The 300-page book that you read the masters in clinical psychology that you got, that used to help others, but you can't seem to turn that learning into helping yourself. All of that is because of this stage. This stage depends on how patient you are in implementing, creating small change and then not diminishing yourself or the method for the small change that you created.
Speaker 1:This stage in applied learning is about changing detrimental thought patterns into beneficial ones, because if you previously engaged in self-sabotaging thoughts, such as self-judgment or doubts about your ability to stay organized, those are the ones that need to be addressed first. So, for example, instead of thinking I'm always so messy, because in that moment when you're staring at your messy office, your brain will have a tendency to present to you I'm so messy. And in that moment of this thought is when applied learning matters. In that moment, shift your mindset to I'm learning to be more organized every day. I'm not going to criticize my approach of keeping one drawer organized at a time, because this non-punitive approach is what creates a positive self-view and that's what reinforces your ability to change. That's what applied learning is Practicing a new belief at a time other than when the initial learning happened. Because with self-criticism, this reinforcement breaks. So this positive self-view, no matter how small the change seems, it helps you create consistency With awareness of your thoughts and shifting them from self-criticizing to self-accepting. Without that, you will not be able to create a behavior change. That is at the essence of applied learning. Habit formation only follows your consistent ability to self-evaluate without self-hate, your consistent ability to self-evaluate without self-hate.
Speaker 1:Applied learning involves changing detrimental thought patterns that then allow you to implement incremental changes in behavior. You cannot create consistency in small changes if you're always punishing yourself for how small the change is. Insights gained from trial and error is worth a million dollars, and that's because applied learning is not a linear process. It requires you to continually assess the effectiveness of your thoughts and actions and make adjustments as needed. Small changes in behavior will accumulate into big changes over time. That's when there's a higher chance that one organized drawer will turn into an organized dresser, that will turn into an organized bedroom, that will turn into an organized office, and so on. You get the point. This is the basis of creating lasting change. This approach is what turns theoretical knowledge into practical skills, taking the learning process from being active to profoundly transformative. The pace of applied learning is slower because the depth of change is immense. If active learning takes days to weeks, then applied learning might take months to years, just because of implementation.
Speaker 1:The next example I want to give you has to do with creating your body safety. How can you use the applied learning method to learn to use your body to self-regulate? So human beings are always introspective. Even if they're not aware of it, we're always subconsciously taking cues from our body that is giving us information of safety and danger. We are always registering this information with some sort of mental bandwidth. The only time you're not introspecting is when you're watching a very engaging movie and it's hard for you to break your attention away from that. Other than examples like that, you're mostly in a state of subconscious introspection. You're turning inwards, finding out what state your body is in and reacting to it, because that's where the problem is. We're not engaging in the information with awareness, we're mostly just reacting to it.
Speaker 1:So for me, applied learning involves understanding what my body feels like in a moment, and that's what I've used my applied learning for in myself. So you've recently learned about the concept of self-regulation in my podcast. It would look something like you becoming more attuned to your own reactions, you turning into your body and mind, making sense of the signals they're sending you and consciously deciding how to respond. So applied learning in this sense first you start noticing the subtle cues your body gives off, like whether you feel calm or tense, at ease or on edge, and in those moments you decide to choose your reaction. It's like having an ongoing conversation with yourself, even when you're not fully aware of it. This is your body's way of communicating with you, giving you clues about your well-being. So you engage in applied learning, so that, instead of just reacting automatically to your body's signals, you take a moment to pause and reflect.
Speaker 1:You ask yourself is there an actual risk to my safety or am I just feeling like there is a risk? Feeling like you're at risk is not less real than the other, but feeling under threat without an actual threat can be addressed without drastic measures. Most of the time, what I'm finding to be unsettling in my body is nothing actually dangerous. The unsettled feeling in my body might be just that. I'm afraid that my kids won't be steadfast in Islam, or they won't find stable jobs, or they'll face harassment and discrimination because of their faith. This fear and stress of future feels unsettling in my body. The passive response would be that I react to this fear by further propagating the stress onto my kids. Applied learning here would require being curious about the sensations of stress in my body and asking what is actually true here. Is what my mind presenting me the absolute truth, or is my body just believing an unconscious fear? Is there something else I can choose to believe in that moment that will be more helpful, practicing a new belief at a time other than when the initial learning happened.
Speaker 1:We are using applied learning to get better at understanding our body's cues. So again, you learned about self-regulation in my podcast. You apply that information to yourself without self-judgment, in a moment when you feel dysregulated, when you feel a knot of worry in your stomach about your kid's future. While that might be a natural concern just find out if it's based on facts or fears Applied learning is towards not reacting to this knot in your stomach, rather responding to this concern. Choosing your response. You challenge those anxious thoughts, asking yourself if they're really true and if stressing out will actually make a difference here. Next, you consciously choose how to respond. Rather than letting stress take the wheel, you decide to create a new pattern. Maybe it's through grounding techniques like deep breathing or positive affirmations, or maybe it's about reaffirming your perspective, focusing on what you can control rather than what you can't, focusing on educating your kids, making dua to Allah to keep them steadfast and to protect them from harm. Over time, this practice is what becomes a habit, a new way of engaging with life's uncertainties.
Speaker 1:This is applied learning when it comes to self-regulation. So in review the stages when it comes to applied learning, is interest ignition. When it comes to applied learning, is interest ignition, which is beginning by creating an interest and understanding and mastering of the art of self-regulation for body safety. Then there's accusation and absorption, where you learn more about self-regulation through resources like my podcast or articles, where you're absorbing knowledge about interpreting body signals and how to respond effectively. Then you'll have initial excitement, where you're absorbing knowledge about interpreting body signals and how to respond effectively. Then you'll have initial excitement, where you'll feel enthusiastic and motivated as you dive deeper into the concept of self-regulation, excited about the potential of personal growth and well-being. Then you might fall into a slump where you encounter some challenges, because when you have doubt as to how to apply these techniques, you will face moments of uncertainty, discomfort, unfamiliarity, confusion. And that's all okay as long as you don't judge yourself for them, because through that you can challenge your automatic reactions and beliefs and rewire thought patterns through evaluation and beliefs. And rewire thought patterns through evaluation, shift your thinking, replacing anxious thoughts with constructive, empowering beliefs that are about your safety and well-being. Then action, implementation, is when you apply self-regulation techniques in real-time situations, consciously choosing how to respond to body signals with calm and clarity, consciously choosing how to respond to body signals with calm and clarity.
Speaker 1:Applied learning with self-regulation or with anything for that matter, is about practicing a new belief at a time other than when the initial learning happened. Or let me describe an example to you that's a little bit more tangible, like if you want to learn swimming. So in the acquisition and understanding phase, you find yourself standing at the poolside intrigued by the idea of mastering the water. It's always been your lifelong goal. You might gather information about swimming techniques, safety, precautions, and you might feel really good about this knowledge. And you'll have a surge of determination to go in the pool and conquer your fear With the initial euphoria. And you'll have a surge of determination to go in the pool and conquer your fear With the initial euphoria. You will feel a rush of exhilaration. You will be filled with optimism, excitement, envisioning yourself having an effortless swimming session.
Speaker 1:But then the slump might hit, because when you go in the water it feels different than what you imagined. Doubts come to surface and you find yourself struggling even to stay afloat. That's when the questioning and the doubting creeps in. You reflect on your journey why is it so hard? How can I let my fear get to me Is swimming really worth the effort and discomfort? And you're constantly going back and forth tackling these levels of uncertainties in your mind. So that's when changes in the thought patterns come into play.
Speaker 1:You remember that applied learning requires shift in a mindset in the moment. So instead of focusing on your limitations, you choose to focus on your potential for growth. Yeah, you might have not learned to even stay afloat on your first session, but at least you got in the pool, because that's what implements change Arming yourself with the new mindset, you return to the water with renewed purpose. You start small, practicing basic strokes, starting in the shallow end of the pool and never criticizing yourself to the extent that you don't come back to the pool. True, applied learning is a journey of self-discovery and transformation. You can engage applied learning when you want to buy a new house, but every time you think about this goal you fall into thought patterns that I can't afford a mortgage.
Speaker 1:Engage applied learning when your mother-in-law self-invites her whole family to your house for your husband's birthday party, comes over a day ahead of time to comment on the content of your fridge, gives you unsolicited advice on what you should and shouldn't be serving. Applied learning in this case, is breaking away from your old self. That cannot create clean, respectful boundaries. Engage applied learning to break your old patterns of despair. Every time you check your bank account, instead of falling into despair, practice an abundant mindset that you might just have enough money and resources to break out of scarcity. Use applied learning to retrain your brain on how to react to your past, because you can't change your past. You can only change the way you think about it. The reason you want to change the way you think about your past is to change your future. In all of these scenarios, applied learning is a phenomenal process, my friends. It has profound implications and I hope you learn to engage with it.
Speaker 1:With that, I pray to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. O Allah, grant me the wisdom and courage to apply all of the knowledge that you've bestowed on me. Grant me the strength to challenge my doubts and transform my thought patterns. Bless me and all of us with patience and resilience to implement small changes, especially when progress feels slow. O Allah, we only ask for your blessings and mercy in each small step forward that we take. Make our applied learning a source to lead into lasting, meaningful change in this world that also translates into success in the next world. O Allah, I place all of my trust in your wisdom. Help this ummah unlock the door to a brighter, more fulfilling future. Ameen, ya Rabbul Ameen, please keep me in your du'as. I will talk to you guys next time.