Judgment is one of the biggest challenges to learning.

It can be one’s judgment as much as the one offered by others; both prevent learning from happening. That is true even when, as many of us have, we remember occasions in which feeling judged by others or receiving terrible feedback enabled transformation.

Feeling judged shifts the focus from one’s activity to one’s status. It is as if suddenly one’s reputation is at stake. The focus has become “What do others think of me?” The worry it creates can feel existential.

Learning, on the other hand, only happens when one is capable of letting go of judgments or one’s attachment to one’s identity and simply observing or recalling what happened. It is based on such observation that one can figure out what didn’t work, whether it requires a change, and if so, which one.

To be able to step into learning, one needs to be curious and interested in one’s doing. This ability disappears whenever one feels anxious about the appreciation it might lead to or one received.

It helps when others don’t judge and provide a supportive atmosphere. In the end, however, it is our own responsibility to create a space where learning is possible for us.

We need to figure out how to create this space for ourselves. It’ll hopefully happen through a range of useful experiences we’ve had, which could have been good or bad. How would we otherwise know what doesn’t work for us?