Assessing the Strength of Love of Learning

Love of learning is one of the five character strengths that comprise the Virtue of Wisdom.

Wisdom describes strengths that help you gather and use knowledge.

What is love of learning?

Love of learning means a passion for learning, a desire to learn just for learning’s sake.

If you love to learn, then reading one blog post or hearing a two sentence response to your question is not enough for you. You want to delve into the topic and really learn a new skill or master new material. You are prone to viewing most of your life experiences as learning opportunities.

You feel genuinely excited about new information and this can result in positive emotions like gratitude, joy, pride, hope and peacefulness. 

Why is love of learning of value?

• Love of learning leads to the development of a deeper base of knowledge, enhancing competency and efficacy.
• Love of learning supports positive experiences that, in turn, may predispose an individual to psychological and physical wellbeing and has been associated with healthy productive aging.
• Viewing a new setback or challenge as an opportunity for learning and growth leads to greater perseverance. 

A couple of questions to consider

• What areas of learning do you find most interesting?
• How does knowledge improve your life?

Some things that you can do to practise love of learning

• Seek out someone with whom you can have an in-depth conversation on a topic of mutual interest or a topic you are interested in learning more about.
• During a work break, give yourself 5-10 minutes to learn something new on a specific topic that interests you.
• Visit a building or a new business in your community and take the opportunity to learn more about it through as many forms of media as you can (eg video, social and other media, website) 

For more information on the strength of love of learning, go to https://www.viacharacter.org/character…/love-of-learning.

If you are interested in exploring how the practice of Character Strengths might be of benefit to your business and culture, contact Peter Maguire on 0438 533 311 or at info@poswork.com.au.

Acknowledgement: the primary reference for this post is “The Power of Character Strengths: Appreciate And Ignite Your Positive Personality” by Ryan M. Niemiec & Robert E. McGrath (An Official Guide From The VIA Institute on Character)