Learning as a Way of Life

02/07/2005

"If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Way to Freedom

Learning as a Way of Life

Sharon Gilchrest O'Neil, writing in the January 2005 issue of Work and Family Life ([email protected]) observes that continuous learning is an attitude, a belief system, and ultimately, a lifestyle we can choose. Here are some ideas she offered for getting started on the road to continuous learning:

* Listen when you usually talk. Talk when you really have something to contribute.

* Always have two books in progress -- one on your vocation, another on an avocation or interest.

* Design a learning plan for yourself. Make it an annual activity. Draw it, chart it, hang it up -- do whatever works for you. Make your plan enjoyable. If it's just hard work, you may procrastinate.

* Teach other people who you work with something that you have learned that excites you.

* Learn exceptionally well the one thing you would choose if you were only allowed to learn one new thing this year.

* Build a time for reflection, meditation or inquiry into every day. Make it a time for mental, not physical, activity -- a time to step back and think about thinking.

For more ideas on self development, check out the 20 articles in the Exchange Articles on CD collection, "Avoiding Burnout" at: http://mail.ccie.com/go/eed/0525

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.