13 Feb The Enthusiast – Nine Types Of Learners
Meet Elvis and Essie.
Cheeky, charming, active, energetic.
Life is a grand adventure for Enthusiasts and they love spontaneity and fun. They want to experience the world, to be happy and fulfilled. Pain is something to be avoided, why be sad when you can just focus on the positive instead?
Learning Style
Enthusiasts have quick minds, allowing them to see patterns clearly and link different concepts. They learn by doing, by exploring and experimenting. ‘Hands on’ learning is the best for them and they get bored quickly if they have to do repetitive tasks or just stick to concepts.
Elvis and Essie love to multitask, but sometimes this can lead to procrastination because they have taken on too much. If things start to get hard or repetitive, Enthusiasts will be tempted to move onto something more shiny and exciting.
Joy is in the options, the new ideas and possibilities. Being naturally future-oriented, Elvis and Essie love making plans, connecting what they are doing now with something to come. They love to make plans and lists, but not necessarily to carry out the activities, more to marvel at the number of options they can identify.
Environment
Because of the innate need for excitement and possibility, an Enthusiast will thrive in an environment that offers choice and variety. They appreciate a classroom that allows them to follow their curiosity, to experiment with with hands and engage with their classmates.
Limitation feels demeaning or entrapping to Elvis and Essie – they want freedom and spontaneity, a fast-paced and interactive style of learning.
At times the high levels of energy in an Enthusiast can lead to them fidgeting or moving around (sometimes misunderstanding others’ need for space). When they do get in trouble, charm is their first line of defense and they often try to talk their way out of a tricky situation.
Tips
If you have an Elvis or an Essie in your life, you can help them in the following ways:
- Learn to appreciate their zest for life. Enthusiasts can transform the ordinary into something exciting just by being themselves.
- Help them to become accepting of the experience of pain. While this might feel terrifying to them, the confrontation builds such growth and will help them in their relationships later in life.
- When they become tempted to cast an activity aside because of boredom, help them stay just a little longer. The more they practice this muscle, the more responsible and effective they will become.
- Understand that boredom may mask fear or unwillingness to confront something. Use this as a prompt to allow them to go deeper in understanding themselves.
- Go on an adventure with them once in a while. Experience what a joy it is to view life in a positive way most of the time, with a talent of reframing even the most horrible experiences.
The Enthusiast can be the embodiment of pure joy in our world, allowing us to dream of a better way, an exciting future. With their strengths of vision, big-picture and future perspective, motivation and people gathering, these students can make our experience of life so much more rich and full. What a gift!
As the journey of self discovery is one best enjoyed by each individual, we suggest that you use this as an internal guide for yourself, rather than telling your children which type you think they might be. We do understand that each person is utterly unique and there will be variations within each type, but we have found this typology the most helpful for getting a basic understanding of human behaviour and motivation.
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