It is commonly believed that learning is restricted to academics, which is not true. In order to be successful, one has to learn a lot more than just academics. One of the surest and smartest ways to learn and brush up your skills is through observing and imitating others.

We are surrounded by people who are better at a number of things we yearn to learn.

By paying attention to them, we can learn things such as to dress appropriately, choose the right words while communicating, handle stress, be patient and steadfast, and so much more.

Learning through imitation implies emulating the practices you find others practicing. For example, my previous tuition teacher was remarkably patient. He would correct even the most basic of mistakes without shaming his students. His way of teaching made his students so comfortable that even if he were to teach for hours on end, they would not get tired. I try to live up to the standard of teaching that he observed and maintained every time I teach my younger siblings.

Similarly, I have a friend who had a disciplinary approach towards studies. He was perhaps the only student of our class who could recall everything that had been previously taught, even if it was years ago. Whenever the teacher would ask us to recall something, he was always the first to raise his hand.

I once approached him to ask about how he does his revision?

His response was, “My father is in the army and he has taught us that we should be prepared to face unforeseen challenges all the time, for you never know when the enemy might attack. To apply this concept of preparedness in my daily life, I plan my revision and adhere to it. If I have to revise a certain chapter, I study that chapter from the scratch and from previous books as well.”

From that day forth, I adopted the same approach towards revision and saw my retention, as well as class participation, get better.

Another instance that afforded me the opportunity to learn through imitation was when I transitioned from school to college. Hailing from an O Level background, I found it difficult to adapt to the ways of intermediate education as it is largely based on rote learning, profoundly different from the conceptual method of study we had had in school. At some point, during my college days, I came across an article about Imran Khan that expounded on how he completely remodelled his bowling action to achieve his ambition of becoming the world’s best all-rounder.

Inspired by his story, I began to make sincere and dedicated efforts to adapt to the changes I encountered in my new academics environment. This involved being more considerate about presentation when writing answers and repeating notes to myself over and over so as to memorise them. It worked and I saw my grades improve.

Thus, imitation is a simple yet effective method of learning that enables you to learn from almost everyone — your parents, siblings, teachers, friends and even those you have never met.

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 22nd, 2018