I don’t have many examples, but to bring one or two up one was my scuba diving course in Thailand.
The dive instructor showed everything and we copied him in a pool. And everytime we had to do all the things I just looked bad.
Another example was climbing. They show how to tie the knot to harness, everyone successfully manages to tie the knot and I am standing their like an idi**.
The thing is what I observed is that if I have time to do things on my own and no pressure I seem to do “okay” and once I can do it I do it blind.
Anyone else experience this? What can I do? I am at a point I am afraid to learn new things because of failing infront of others.
Maybe you’re more introverted and tend towards learning in an autodidactic way?
Not being like all the other people isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Yes, it’s difficult to be different. But we should embrace being human and diverse. Everyone learns at their own pace. Some people learn better by watching and imitating, some people like to understand things down to the core and can’t just “do this and do that and you’re done.” And there are different learning styles anyways: Auditory, Visual, Tactile, …
I just wanted to say you’re not alone with that. I also regularly fail to remember dancing steps, when someone shows me how to assemble furniture or do some task. I can’t for the life of me remember driving directions. I’d much rather get handed an instruction manual and I can read it at my own pace. Everytime I get what I need and what matches my learning type, I can excel at things, so it’s not a lack of intelligence.
And it works, too if you’re taught 1 on 1. So you can ask your “instructor” to slow down or speed up things you already know. It’s just difficult in group scenarios. And I don’t think there is a way around speaking up and letting them show it to you once more. But I think most people should theoretically be able to relate. Other people struggled in maths in school and had things explained to them over and over again, which was super boring to me. But we all grasp different concepts in different amounts of time and we sometimes need to be taught in the way that is right for us individually.
And a last word to climbing: Getting it almost immediately isn’t the important part of the knot. The important part is that you never fail to do it correct in the years to come. Where I learned climbing they hand you a scrap piece of old rope and you can practice at home. And the week after you need to demonstrate that you’re able to do the knot and check it for correctness. I’ve been with the (boy) scouts for years, so I could already tie the knot perfectly.
(Edit: “Learning style theories have been criticized by many scholars and researchers. Some psychologists and neuroscientists have questioned the scientific basis for separating out students based on learning style. […] Many educational psychologists have shown that there is little evidence for the efficacy of most learning style models, and furthermore, that the models often rest on dubious theoretical grounds.” Source: Wikipedia)
Learning styles are educational astrology. They have no basis in science or paedagogy.
Thanks for enlighting me. I have to fact check this, but occasionally I also consume what they tell in random business coaching without questioning it.
Edit: Fact checked. And learned something today. Thx.
Building on your last point, it could be that others were also already somewhat familiar. Perhaps those learning to scuba dive with OP have experience swimming to the bottom of a pool or have gone snorkeling. It’s unlikely that people would go out of their ways to bring that up to the entire group.
Just remember that people who never fail also do not know what to do in the case of a mishap.