This post is part of a series I’m writing about lessons that Music-in-Canada can learn from Hockey-in-Canada.
- Lesson #1: Hockey Brings People Together
- Lesson #2: Hockey is Anytime, Anywhere!
- Lesson #3: Hockey is Spontaneous
- Lesson #4: Hockey is Simply Structured
- Lesson #5: Hockey Creates Feedback Loops
- Lesson #6: There are No Undergraduate Degrees in Hockey
- Lesson #7: Hockey Supports Connection and Feedback
Here’s #6:
There Are No Undergraduate Degrees in Hockey
That’s because play’s the thing.
Whatever your passion, you don’t need a degree to perform and create. If you want to play, get out there and play!
Also, you don’t necessarily need school environments to learn.
If you want to learn how to learn, study hockey players (and athletes in general). How do they structure their hockey activities? How do they balance playing and practicing? How much hockey do they watch? How do they access their role models? How do they balance hockey activities with non-hockey activities?
If you studied leaders in all fields, I suspect you would find many parallels in how learning and development was structured. I think you’d also find that being a highly skilled, knowledgeable leader isn’t exclusive to people with degrees.
That’s because discipline, a major prerequisite for learning, can be applied without being in a school environment. School environments also aren’t the only way to access your role models.
That being said, getting a degree may be your best option. Similarly, I’m sure some hockey players would benefit from hockey academia!
Regardless, the lesson is in knowing how you learn, and cultivating the circumstances so you can optimize learning.
