I mentioned back in the fall that I had enrolled in Leo Babauta’s A-List Blogging Bootcamp in an effort to take my blogging to the next level. For those of you not familiar with Leo, he is the creator of Zen Habits, a blog he took from 0 to 150,000 subscribers in the span of about two years. Bottom line: Leo knows a thing or two about blogging, and better yet, he is dedicated to teaching others. Tomorrow TODAY (Saturday, Feb 13) Leo’s current bootcamp "How to Create a Blog that Rocks" will kick off at 5PM eastern with a live Webinar. If you are really serious about building and growing a blog, I’d be hard pressed to come up with a better place to start. When you sign up for the bootcamp, you get: direct access to Leo’s tremendously valuable knowledge and insights through a high quality series of lessons and Webinars; access to a great network of other bloggers who will be one of your best resources going forward; high quality interaction with Leo himself and his Bootcamp partner Mary Jaksch (also a highly successful blogger at Goodlife Zen and Write to Done). Like most things of this sort (or at least ones run by people who know what they are doing), you get lots of great free learning content simply by signing up to get more information. Even if you don’t sign on for the full Bootcamp, it’s worth at least signing up for more info on A-List Blogging Bootcamps to get the freebies. There are, of course, other ways to go about this. Leo’s course costs money, so you could opt for going out and finding free resources instead. In fact, I strongly encourage you to do that - you will learn a lot and make some great connections in the process. I did that for years to great benefit, but I found that when I finally connected in to the well organized set of resources and the great connections that Leo and Mary provide, the impact was much higher than anything I had been able to do on my own. Since signing on and starting to follow Leo and Mary’s advice my subscriptions and traffic here on Mission to Learn have gone up by 50 percent, and they have more than doubled on my personal blog. For the cynical out there - or more positively, those of you who are applying your critical thinking skills -  yes, the links I am giving you here are affiliate links. I mentioned in an earlier post that I was not an affiliate, but that was because there was not an affiliate program. As soon as Leo and Mary started one, I signed up right away. This is a program I believe in, and if it can produce a little income to cover hosting and other expenses here on Mission to Learn, so much the better. Really, if you are serious about blogging, check out How to Create a Blog That Rocks Jeff P.S. - I’ll be in the forums at the Bootcamp myself helping to answer questions and provide guidance to new bloggers. I hope to see you there! Related posts:The Short Goodbye 5 Learning Games for Climate Change - Blog Action Day

It’s incredibly easy to waste a lot of time on the Web by reading random blog posts, poking around on Twitter, watching videos, or succumbing to any number of other temptations. I try to avoid this sort of Web grazing as much as possible, but I realized recently that I have probably been too careful in avoiding it - my stock of ideas was starting to seem a bit depleted. So, this  morning I set aside some time specifically for that purpose.  Primarily, I spent a good bit of time sifting through posts in my Google Reader and a couple of discussion groups to see where they led. As a result, I came up with: At least three to four decent ideas for blog posts - and probably more as the various ideas I gathered percolate An eBook on pricing that helped me get me unstuck on an article I have been writing  - and will also probably help me solve some pricing challenges I have been wrestling with for a while. (Via Seth Godin. If pricing is a topic you care about, this is a gem.) A business model idea that may be just the ticket for a new initiative I have been pondering Great follow up notes (on a member-only discussion board) to help me review and synthesize some of what I learned at a recent conference A good example/idea to pass on to some of my clients that sell online learning All of that came from maybe 20 minutes or so of random poking around. Okay - maybe not entirely random in this case, since I started with blogs already saved in my Google Reader and discussion boards to which I already belong.  But the lesson I take from it is that I need to be more consistent about carving out some time just to poke around and generate ideas. It’s still easy to get carried away and waste a lot of time, of course, but if you set a time limit for yourself (use a timer if you have to!), you’ll probably be amazed at how much you can get out of 20-30 minutes. Maybe I’ll keep doing this on Saturday mornings; maybe I’ll pick another day - don’t know yet. But in any case, I plant to make it a more consistent habit. How about you?  How do you rev your idea engine? Please comment and share. Jeff P.S. - If you like what you read here on Mission to Learn, I’d really appreciate it if you would subscribe by RSS feed or by e-mail. P.S.S. - I missed this one when I was doing my Saturday morning surfing, but here’s a great post on Copyblogger that stresses learning and acting on what you find during your Web travels: Is Reading Posts Worth Your Time? No related posts.

Increasingly it seems to me there are really only three essential questions that drive a successful, fulfilling career: What do I really want to be great at? How can I be great at it? What am I willing to sacrifice? So much of lifelong learning involves figuring out the first question. Then figuring out how to do it. Then learning - usually along the way - the price you have to pay to get there. Of course, all of that flows from asking - and honestly answering - the questions in the first place. Jeff [tweetmeme] Related posts:Self Education: Five Essential Sites

A while back I was on the phone with a former client to whom I had not talked since my son was born. "I know you probably wouldn’t want to think about it this way," she said, "but it must be like having a little learning laboratory in your home." True - that’s not really how I tend to think about it, but on the other hand, it does feel like there is a mad scientist running around my house at times, and it’s fascinating to watch. I’m sure I could cite at least 50 lessons I have learned from watching, but here are seven big ones for starters: Ask why Regular readers here already know I am a big fan of asking why, but boy am I getting a dose of my own medicine these days.  "Why" is the fuel that powers a toddler’s learning engine as far as I can tell. And there is nothing like being asked "Why" several times in a row and dozens of times a day to make you examine your own assumptions, definitions, and established beliefs about the world. Lesson: Keep asking others why, and be sure also to ask yourself why on a regular basis. Imitate (It’s the sincerest form of learning) Every parent knows you hit a stage where you have to be careful what you say because it is likely to be repeated right back at you - and then to relatives, neighbors, and teachers. The toddler brain is a sponge that is amazing to watch in action. Lesson: Never stop looking for good examples to imitate - it is often the best way to pick up new knowledge and skills. Bang your head If I had a dollar for every time my son has bumped his head attempting something that a more cautious (i.e., older) human being would never attempt we’d be well on our way to paying for college tuition. Lots of crying results, but eventually the activity that caused the fall is either mastered or abandoned. Lesson: Take some risks - you won’t learn much otherwise. Do it now It doesn’t matter if you’ve got dinner dishes in your hands and a basket of laundry balanced on your head - now is the time the new train tracks in the hallway need to be inspected. Or to see how tall a tower can be built with wooden blocks. The trivial details of day-to-day existence don’t matter. Lesson: Don’t let get bogged down in the details or put things off. If you want to learn, start now. Imagine (It’s easy if you try) From cooking up a variety of delectable dishes in the bathtub for imaginary dinner guests to deciding to eat up all the porridge before Goldilocks arrives, my son rarely let’s reality stand in his way.  In the process, he takes his mind into new, undiscovered places all the time. Lesson: You don’t necessarily need books, classrooms, or any of the other traditional trappings of learning. You’ve got whole worlds of learning with you all the time. Persist (Even to the point of seeming irrational) Some things are just too thick to be stuck to the refrigerator with magnets, but if you try 20 or 30 times, you just might figure out a way to make it work. (Which, in fact, he did.)  As adults, of course, we are much more inclined to give up - or turn on the TV - at the first sign that learning something new is going to take a great deal of effort.  Lesson: Stick to it. Only 9,000 hours left to go. Laugh. Often. One of the introductory questions I was asked recently when speaking on a panel was "What’s the funniest thing you have ever done with e-learning." Forget the "e" - I couldn’t recall much funny in learning at all.  My son, on the other hand, laughs hysterically when he discovers that there are outdoor vacuum cleaners at gas stations or when he decides to change "please" to "pleak" for no other reason than to see how it sounds. (Entire avant garde movements have been founded on less.) Lesson: Learning really can be fun - and even funny. *** Like I said, these are just for starters. I’m sure I’ll point out others at some point. In the meantime, if you have or had toddlers in your life, what are some lessons you learned from them? Please comment and share the learning. Jeff [tweetmeme] P.S. - If you like this post, I’d be truly grateful if you would give it a Tweet or bookmark it using one of the links below. Related posts:When’s the last time you asked why? Two Brief Lessons from the Mile High Learning Club

That giant sucking sound you hear is your time going down the Internet drain as you check your e-mail for the twentieth time today.  (Round about noon or so.) Sure, there’s Twitter. There’s Facebook. There’s all the general Web grazin’ you can do on any given day. But for me - and I’m betting for you too - the biggest suck of all is still good ol’ e-mail. I’ve read and heard what Tim Ferris has to say about it. I know it is the enemy of "getting things done." I even noted that e-mail remains a target in Seth Godin’s latest book, Linchpin. But I have yet to really act on the obvious and do something about my e-mail addiction. So, this week I am taking a stand, and I invite you to join me. At least for this week, I am dropping down to checking only three times a day - once in the early morning, once at around noon, and once at around 3:00. Depending on how that goes, I may adjust up or down next week. I don’t expect to kick the habit over night. I’m declaring my goal here because I believe Mary is right about "shouting it from the roof tops" and "finding buddies" (that would be you). For me, this is one of the most obvious ways to free up more time for learning, which is incredibly important not only to my sense of personal fulfillment, but also to my professional success. Maybe I’ll read something new or re-read something old. Maybe I’ll review notes or reflect or bone up on some Spanish. Mostly, though, I think I will concentrate on writing. What about you? Are you ready to finally tame the e-mail monster? And what will it give you more time to do (aside, of course, from commenting on this blog post ) Jeff [tweetmeme] P.S. If you enjoy what you read here on Mission to Learn, I’d be truly grateful if you would subscribe by RSS feed or e-mail. No related posts.

Want to know how to change your life, achieve pretty much anything, and make yourself rich to boot? There is a huge "self help" industry out there eager to help you do it. I bump up against this world frequently when researching and writing about lifelong learning, and I have to admit a bit of a love-hate relationship with it. On the one hand, so much of the advice that gets peddled seems hackneyed, poorly written, and derivative of concepts already established hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago. On the other hand, there is obviously a deep human need to return again and again to the issues and concepts that pervade self-help literature. Some current writers do a very good job of returning to these issues and examining them in a fresh way. And I have to assume that many people do learn and grow from it - or at least try. Repetition, as they say, is the mother of learning. So, I started thinking about the key themes and lessons that seem to show up in the self-help literature with which I am familiar. Knowledge of them can certainly be of use to the average lifelong learner. Here are the seven that strike me as most fundamental. It seems to me that most other themes or habits fall into one of these seven buckets. Desire This is almost always #1 in the standard self-help literature. If you want to achieve "it," you have to really want it. More importantly, with very few exceptions you must be conscious of the fact that you want it and you must be very clear about what it is.  When it will happen, what it will look like…you get the picture. Authenticity While most self-help literature is about change - changing your life, becoming a different person - it is almost always rooted in the notion that you have to "know yourself" (or know thy self, depending on how far back you go) and be yourself if you want to succeed and be happy in your success. Make sure the "it" that you desire aligns with who you truly are. Drive As the old saying goes, "If wishes were horses, beggars could ride." It is one thing to want something; it is another thing entirely to have the will to get it. Motivation plays a starring role in self-help literature, and for good reason: very few of us come equipped with self-sustaining will power.  Closely related concepts like being "pro-active" and persistent come into play here. Discipline You can want it and have the will to pursue it, but you still need to cultivate and practice appropriate, consistent habits if you expect to succeed. It is important to remember that "discipline" derives from the Latin "disciplina," meaning teaching or learning. Desire and drive alone do not add up to discipline. It must be learned. Reflection Reflection is arguably one of the key habits of discipline, but it also serves to counteract mindless discipline. In short, it is an important enough concept in self-help literature to stand on its own. Achieving your goals requires being conscious and thoughtful about how you are performing along the way. Doing so enables you to appreciate your progress and also to adjust as needed Connections While self-help literature by its nature tends to be very focused on the individual, I can’t think of a single example I have come across that doesn’t also emphasize the importance of our connection to others. Among other things, connections may help you enhance your own abilities - as in the concept of the "master mind" pioneered by Napoleon Hill (and represented earlier in Ben Franklin’s "junto"). They may help keep you accountable - as is common in 12-step groups. Or, they may help you reconcile yourself with the past - by saying thank you to those who have had a positive impact on your life, for example, as is so common in "happiness" literature. Faith I don’t necessarily mean "faith" in a religious sense - thought certainly there is a great deal of self-help literature with a religious orientation.  All of the self-help literature I have encountered posits a "higher power," whether that is a "God" in a religious sense or something more ethereal. I also place concepts like "making your own luck," "attitude," and "resilience" in this bucket because each is rooted in the notion that things somehow work out if you simply believe they will. *** Think what you will of the self-help industry, it’s hard to argue that these are not useful concepts - ones that apply in so many walks of life, including our efforts to continue learning. Here’s a challenge to readers: Where have you found any or all of these concepts expressed most meaningfully for you? And what am I missing? Please comment and share your sources! Jeff [tweetmeme] P.S. - P.S. If you enjoy what you read here on Mission to Learn, I’d be truly grateful if you would subscribe by RSS feed or e-mail. Related posts:Where Leaders Go to Learn (This I Believe) Discipline 7 Small "Mind Shifts" for When You Lack Discipline

Earlier this week I pushed "Send" on a new edition of the Learning Monitor, my twice-quarterly round-up of learning links, news and insights. To get this most recent edition, simply subscribe, confirm, and it will be automatically sent to your inbox. Here’s what one reader wrote in after reading the latest edition: I’m just writing to tell you how much I enjoy your newsletters! I don’t even remember how I found your site, but I’m certainly glad that I did.  … thank you for all the time and effort you obviously put into your newsletters. … It’s a perfect example of the benefits of the "information age." I thought I’d share the above comment mostly to emphasis that the Learning Monitor is not simply a piece of fluff to pollute your inbox. I put quite a bit of time into filtering through potential online learning opportunities (nearly all free) and also gathering links to interesting blog posts and other insights about learning in our hyper-connected, information overloaded world. You can get a feel for some of the recent editions by visiting the archives. (I am still rebuilding these, but there are several editions there.) Aside from the various links I provide in the Monitor, I’ve also started beefing up the editor’s note in recent editions. This is where I provide some of my own perspective on news or trends that I feel may be of interest to lifelong learners. Since this aspect of the newsletter may not be quite as clear as other parts of it in the archives, I thought I’d share this month’s note here, as well as the quote of the month, from which I drew inspiration. —————————————— 1. Quote of the Month —————————————— "No one expects anyone to sell a house," said Hannah, now a high school junior who hopes to become a nurse. "That’s kind of a ridiculous thing to do. For us, the house was just something we could live without. It was too big for us. Everyone has too much of something, whether it’s time, talent or treasure. Everyone does have their own half, you just have to find it." http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/opinion/24kristof.html?th&emc=th —————————————————————————————————- 3. A Note from the Editor: Thinking, Acting, and Learning at the Edge —————————————————————————————————- Since the last issue of the Learning Monitor, the Edge has published responses to its annual question, which this year is: How is the Internet Changing the Way You Think? http://www.edge.org/q2010/q10_index.html For any readers not familiar with the Edge or its annual question, the short of it is that the organization seems to exist to curate deep thinking about "intellectual, philosophical, artistic, and literary issues." (Perhaps true to intellectual form, the Web site does not actually make the organization’s value proposition all that clear, so I am making it up as best as I can.) The annual question is a way to get input from hundreds of thinkers on one big topic. I won’t pretend to have my thoughts fully together yet on this year’s question - I am a bit too slow a thinker. But I did want to make sure to point it out since I think it is so relevant to the topic of learning. And I’d also like to point out what I think is a related trend - one suggested by this month’s quote (above). The quote, is from Hannah Salwen, a teenager who convinced her family to sell it’s high-priced home and donate half the proceeds to charity. What resulted was, to say the least, a learning experience - one that resulted in a recently published book called The Power of Half. I contrast this act and the resulting learning, so deeply infused with passion, with a strain of thinking that seems to run through quite a few of the responses to the Edge question. Namely, that we are becoming a society of people who no longer read long or think deeply. That we are living increasingly shallow lives. I think the jury will be out for a very long time on whether the Internet is changing the way we think for the worse (or at all), but I feel like I do see a growing number of cases where people are grasping for depth, for opportunities to move beyond the ephemeral flow of information and "suck out all the marrow of life," as Thoreau put it. I see it in the Salwen’s decision. I see it any number of blogger/entrepreneurs that I encounter trying to follow their passion and live life on their own terms. I see it in the apparent "spiritual thirst" of the younger generation. My vision, I am sure, is distorted by the ways in which my own life has been changed by the Internet and the myriad influences it has brought. (To follow Thoreau’s lead and abandon it all seems awfully attractive at times!) Still, I have little doubt that there is a connection between the drive to act meaningfully and the challenges to our thinking that the Internet represents. But enough - who needs a lengthy editor’s note that attempts to ponder big questions? Scroll on (or subscribe) for this month’s links, and as always, I look forward to any feedback you may wish to send my way. (For blog readers, this would mean commenting below ) Jeff P.S. - Just use the form below or click subscribe if you would like to sign up to receive the Learning Monitor twice a quarter. I won’t use your e-mail address for any other reason. Period. And you can unsubscribe easily at any time. Related posts:35+ Delicious Learning Links - a new Monitor is out! Great Learning Resources for 2010 - A New Learning Monitor is Out!

[tweetmeme] I had already planned to write a post about "curators" today when I noticed that Jeff De Cagna has posted about the "content challenge" over on SmartBlog. He sees "content curation" as one of the most significant innovation opportunities available to organizations. We’re in agreement on that and have spoken together about it before. Here on Mission to Learn, though, I’d like to focus on it as one of the most significant innovation opportunities for individual lifelong learners. —- First things first: What is a Curator? The idea behind curators and content curation is that there is such a flood of new content pouring through the Internet pipes these days that being aware of all of it and sorting it out in meaningful ways is simply not possible. Curators are people or organizations that do the hard work of sifting through the content within a particular topic area or "meme" and pulling out the things that seem to make most sense. This effort involves significantly more than finding and regurgitating links, though. A good curator must be skilled at: locating and evaluating valuable content organizing and connecting content so that it is as accessible as possible creating and re-purposing content when it adds to the underlying value capitalizing on the Social Web to build connections and context building trusted relationships with learners and other curators design learning experiences (in a much broader sense than traditional approaches) Bottom line: A curator is an individual or organization who excels at helping others make sense. For the individual lifelong learner, I see (at least) two powerful opportunities here. The first is to find great curators. If you want to combat information overload, I see this as one of the surest ways - find people who are already doing a great job making sense of the areas you care about. Follow them. Engage with them. Encourage them. And don’t just pick ones who seem to always be towing the same old line, that "simply pick and choose information that fits with their existing worldview," as Jeff puts it. Find ones that are willing to mix it up some and fight off homophily. Do this well and I can guarantee you will transform your learning efforts and open up new vistas. This, by the way, is an area to which the curators themselves - whether associations, other nonprofits, companies, or individuals - need to pay careful attention. I think most stakeholders are still a long ways from understanding how to find and use good curators. (Yes, I will definitely be writing more on that.) The second is to be a curator. If you really want to learn a body of knowledge or skills (or whatever other learning area you define), it is really hard to beat becoming a curator for that area. In a sense, this is what academics have always done. They focus in on a particular discipline and spend their lives researching, writing about, and (less and less) teaching it. The good curator does much the same, though typically in a less formal way and with no promise of tenure. (The only "job security" for a curator is in continually providing high value to the learning community.) It’s not an exaggeration to say that people have reinvented their lives through this sort of effort. I say my colleague David Houle do this with his focus on becoming a futurist. (Notably, David is the son of Cy Houle, one of the pioneers of lifelong learning.) Certainly Leo has done this over at Zen Habits. The Web/World is packed with examples. So what about you? Who are your curators and/or what are you curating? Please comment and share. Jeff P.S. - Many people have written about the concept of the "content curator" or "digital curator" over the past few years, but I am pretty certain I first came across it in George Siemens thoughts on curatorial  teaching. Just want to give credit where credit is due. Also, be sure to vote for Jeff De Cagna’s content challenge post on Wild Apricot. No related posts.

A while back Karen Schweitzer did a guest post here titled 15 Free Online Collaboration Tools and Apps. Karen is skilled at writing popular posts, but even so, I have been surprised at how much traffic this one has attracted. Apparently people are hungry for free online collaboration tools. Meanwhile, on other fronts, an attendee at a recent Webinar I was part of noted that collaborative learning … …should be a particular strength of e-learning from the perspective of technological capabilities. Yet I feel we are still in the early stages of discovering how to move from "broadcasting" knowledge to collaborating in learning. Where are the collaborative learning successes in e-learning? What can we do to accelerate this shift? The question got me thinking about Karen’s post. My suspicion is that most of the people searching for and finding that post are not thinking in terms of collaborative learning. Or, perhaps more accurately, they are not necessarily thinking of what they will do with the tools as "learning," even if it is. But in reality, I’m thinking there is a huge amount of collaborative learning going on out there. Whether you see it or not depends on your definition of learning. So, I’d be really interested to find out how readers here are using collaboration tools and how they see them feeding into their learning, whether in a formal, traditional sense (e.g., as part of working on a class assignment, participating in class discussion) or in an informal sense (e.g., building knowledge as a project team, sharing experiences across social networks, etc.). If you have an example of how you or others are using online collaboration tools with a learning twist, please comment and share. Is it working well? How or how not?  (And in case you hadn’t thought of it in these terms yet, this post is itself an attempt at collaborative learning!) Jeff [tweetmeme] P.S. - Please join me on the ongoing Mission to Learn. Subscribe to the RSS feed or use the e-mail subscription form at the top left side of this page. Related posts:15 Free Online Collaboration Tools and Apps Collaborative Learning with Grockit - Podcast

[tweetmeme] Big lists of free online courses, Web tools, learning games, and other resources for lifelong learners are relatively easy to find, but sites with a serious focus on helping people along the journey of self-education are fewer and farther between. Here are five you may want to bookmark or add to your feed reader. 1. Autodidact Press I mentioned the Autodidact Press in a post I did a while back on the famous self-educated. Its founder, Charles D. Hayes, is one of the Web’s longest standing proponents of lifelong learning and self-education.  The resources on the Web site itself are relatively limited, but it is worth signing up for the Self-University Newsletter. Also, check out the list of 52 ways to celebrate Self University Week (Sept. 1- 7). As the number 52 (i.e., the number of weeks in a year) suggests, lifelong learners can benefit from these activities throughout the year. 2. Self Made Scholar I’ve mentioned Jamie Littlefield’s Self Made Scholar at least a couple of times in the Learning Monitor newsletter, and deservedly so.  Perhaps more than any other blogger I have come across, she focuses on the mindset and habits required for being a successful self-educator. Check out her How to Learn on Your Own: Creating an Independent Scholar Resource Plan and, as far as big lists go, her Self Education Resource List is among the best. 3. Wide Awake Minds I only recently came across Wide Awake Minds, which blogger Ryan McCarl describes as a "resource for educators, self-educators, polymaths, and all who love to teach, read, think, and learn." One of the features of the site I particularly like is the series of interviews with self-educators. These are text-based, but are somewhat along the lines of what I do here with the Radio Free Learning podcast (though much more focused on self-education). I think one of the most helpful guides each of us can have in our lifelong learning efforts is the experience of other lifelong learners. Here are links to the interviews McCarl has done so far. #1: Self-educator Race Bannon #2: Self-educator Margaret Viola #3: University of Chicago Professor Charles Lipson #4: Author and Iraq War Veteran Wesley Gray #5: Self-educator Deven Black #6: Self-educator Peter Behr #7: Texas A&M Neuroscientist Dr. Bill Klemm #8: Self-educator Hoossam Malek 4. The Art of Self Education Race Bannon is one of the people that Ryan McCarl has interviewed for his self-educator series, and Bannon’s blog The Art of Self Education, is certainly a fit for this list. I recommend  his recent Self Education Checklist post to readers here on Mission to Learn. 5. The Personal MBA Josh Kaufman’s The Personal MBA site is by far the most popular out of this list, and it is also the most narrowly focused. As the site title suggests, Kaufman is concerned primarily with business, but the site offers a great example of how to curate learning in specific subject area. Kaufman’s approach could be applied to nearly any area, and of course, business itself is topic that crosses nearly all learning boundaries. Be sure to check out Josh’s recent interview with Seth Godin for some provocative perspectives on education. (Also, if you are interested in business learning, check out the business category here on Mission to Learn.) *** Enjoy these sites, and please comment with others that readers should know about. Jeff P.S. - Please join me on the ongoing Mission to Learn. Subscribe to the RSS feed or use the e-mail subscription form at the top left side of this page. Related posts:Customer Education: 25 Sampler Sites 35+ Free Online Business Education Sites The Three Essential Career Questions

I had the chance recently to get away for a long weekend on the North Carolina coast. As always, one of the main attractions of this short break from the rat race was the opportunity to read. In a quiet, pleasant setting. For extended periods of time. This doesn’t happen nearly so often as I would like. Sure, I read all the time - it’s an essential part of my work day in and day out. And I always snatch some time before bed or at any odd hour I can to read for pleasure. But reading as a true luxury, with time as no object, is another thing entirely. This time around, I was struck more than ever by the sheer physicality of "old school" reading and by the ways in which I tend to go about reading a book. I dog ear numerous pages, underline, and take notes in the margins - practices that would no doubt make a true bibliophile cringe. I scribble notes in a small notebook I always try to keep with me. Things I want to remember. Things I may want to use later in some piece of writing of my own. I remember other times and places - sights, sounds, smells - associated with other books. Reading War and Peace on the Trans-Siberian railroad decades ago - easily one of the highlights of my life. I still have that copy of Tolstoy’s masterpiece on my bookshelf.  (I need to do better following a friend’s habit of always writing the date and place of each reading in the front of the book.) I listen to my wife’s voice as we once again read a book aloud. This time it is Jane Austen’s Persuasion and Louisa Musgrove has just tumbled from the steps at Lyme. We read the copy I used to teach the book many years ago. There is a certain poetry, I think, in experiencing a real, physical book. As many intellectual thrills as I have encountered on the Web, as many exciting prospects as holding a vast library in the palm of my hand may represent, I have yet to experience this poetry in the digital world. Perhaps it will come eventually. How about you? How do you read a book? Jeff P.S. - In spite of the somewhat wistful tone of this post, regular readers here know I am a stalwart fan of technology when it comes to learning. As far as books and technology go, you may want to check out 15 Online Resources for Book Lovers (which, admittedly - and perhaps appropriately - I did not write). Related posts:15 Online Resources for Book Lovers The Power of Re-Reading 10 Personal Favorites from the M2L Archives

This is a guest post from Christian Arno on why learning second language should be top of your to-do list. Christian covers many practical reasons why you might want to add a second (or third, or fourth) language to your skill set, but the reason I like best is that the process of learning a language opens up new perspectives on culture and communication - as well as on learning itself. Enjoy - and please comment to share any experiences you have or are having with learning another language.  - Jeff *** If you’re reading this, then we can safely assume that you speak English, either as a native speaker or to a reasonable degree of fluency. Well lucky you, you just so happen to have linguistic competency in the current language of international business and the top contender for global language. Have you considered, though, how your life and career prospects might be enhanced by branching out into other languages? Globalisation doesn’t - and shouldn’t - mean that the world will all end up speaking the one language; rather, it means that to be successful in the modern world you need to be able to communicate effectively across a broad range of cultures and languages. Until recently, studying a foreign language (if you’re a native English speaker) was considered to be a necessity only for those going into the fields of translation, teaching or diplomacy. Now, businesses are beginning to realize that having staff with language skills, as well as the relevant technical skills, makes them far better equipped to compete in the global marketplace. No matter what your industry - whether it’s IT, entertainment law or engineering - your employability can only be enhanced by knowledge of a second, third or fourth language. Many employers will even pay higher initial salaries to those with foreign language skills, both for the skills themselves, but also because the very act of learning a foreign language takes time and dedication - in having foreign language skills you’re telling an employer that you have focus, drive and can commit to hard work. The decision to learn a foreign language shouldn’t be dictated by financial reasons alone, though. That would be ignoring the many other benefits that come with studying language. You learn up-close how other cultures operate, which in turn provides you with a new perspective on your own cultural background. You gain a new appreciation for the ways in which languages are structured and how communication works - learning another language’s grammar systems can be both frustrating and very rewarding. Learning one language will also get you started on understanding other languages, as well. For instance, the Romance languages, which have their roots in Latin, all have many similarities - if you speak French, then getting a grasp of Spanish will be far easier than picking up Chinese or Russian, and once you can understand Spanish then moving onto Portuguese or Romanian should be much easier, with its many similar phrases and grammatical rules, after which the leap to learning Italian is simply a linguistic skip and a step. Well, in theory at least. Naturally, if you’re learning the language of a place where you would like to travel or eventually live, then being able to speak the lingo will make your life a thousand times easier - the locals will respect you, you’ll find it much easier to get around and get what you want, you’re less likely to fall into unwise financial deals, and you’ll never order something unusual and unpalatable at local restaurants. This is not to mention the increase in opportunities to be employed and work overseas in exotic locations, or that people will perceive you to be more intelligent because you can converse in a language they can’t. Or the fact that you’ll look incredibly cool in front of your friends if you’re traveling or meeting people for the first time and you’re able to converse fluently in their local language. With all signs pointing towards either China, or maybe even India, becoming the world’s next great superpower, now might be a good time to think about expanding your linguistics repertoire - it doesn’t really matter what language you choose to learn, as being bilingual can only be of benefit - whether you use it to become a professional translator, seek out new overseas business contacts, run an international NGO, go into diplomacy, or just impress people at dinner parties. Learning a language can open all sorts of new doors to you. About the author Christian Arno is the founder and Managing Director of global translations company Lingo24. Launched in 2001, Lingo24 employs some 4,000 professional freelance translators covering a hundred different language combinations. Follow Christian on Twitter: @Lingo24chr. P.S. - Interested in learning a second language? Check out 20 Language Learning Links from the Learning Monitor and 15 Language Learning Tools for Lifelong Learners. Related posts:15 Language Learning Tools for Lifelong Learners 20 Language Learning Sites from the Learning Monitor

I did a "Saturday Morning Idea Engine" post a few weeks ago and have been thinking since then that maybe I should start making it a regular feature. Please comment and share your thoughts on that. In the meantime, I thought I’d rev the engine and take it out for another test drive. This time around the main idea that has occurred to me is that I often don’t need to look any further than readers here for some great ideas. With that idea in mind, I took  a look at comments on some recent posts and came up with some great suggestions for managing your ongoing learning. The first is from Avil Beckford, who writes the great Invisible Mentor blog. In a comment on "How Do You Read A Book?" Avil shared some helpful posts she has done on getting the most out of reading - certainly a highly useful skill for the average lifelong learner! It must be serendipity that we are in the same head space. My blog post today is Reading and Listening Plan Process, which includes reference guides on how to read. As a voracious reader, I am always talking about reading, and often take notes in the front of the book when I reading because I do book reviews. I have a series of questions that I like to answer to get the most from my reading. Here are three related blog posts to assist when reading books: Reading and Listening Plan Process Book Summary Template: How to Get the Most from a Book How to Master a Subject Meanwhile, on a recent post asking "Who are your curators?" reader  Eric Wilbanks commented that he finds both Twitter and Facebook useful as curation tools. (Agree on the former, but I struggle a bit with the latter.) Reader Luise Barnikel at IsssueLab adds that the "share" function on Google Reader is also a great tool. (Google Reader , in general, is one of my favorite curation tools.) A favorite curation tool of mine is the "share" functionality on Google Reader. I can follow people who I know share good information, and then I have a complete feed of new blog posts and sites which have been vetted by the folks I follow. It’s how I found THIS post! I also curate my own info stream on nonprofit marketing, knowledge sharing and information management via Google Reader, and anybody is welcome to follow or subscribe: http://www.google.com/reader/shared/luise.barnikel Great ideas for managing personal learning. Got any you’d like to share? Help me rev up the Saturday Morning Idea Engine. (And let me know if you would like this as a regular feature.) Jeff P.S. If you enjoy what you read here on Mission to Learn, I’d be truly grateful if you would subscribe by RSS feed or e-mail. Related posts:The Saturday Morning Idea Engine

[tweetmeme] If you are reading Mission to Learn, chances are good that you already feel comfortable with the whole social media thing. But maybe not. Or maybe you are always on the lookout for new ways to explain the mysterious ways of social media to colleagues, friends, or family. Either way, this brief video - Social Medial Explained Visually - from the folks at Say It Visually is both fun and useful. Jeff P.S. - You might also want to check out Skype: A Visual Explanation Related posts:Skype: A Visual Explanation Howard Rheingold - Social Media Classroom

[tweetmeme] Sonia Simone over at Copyblogger has a nice post on How to Get a First-Class Online Business Education. Her focus is specifically on online business - i.e., how to create and run a successful online business - but the philosophy and process she describes applies well to self-educating yourself more generally in business and pretty much anything else. Well worth reading and internalizing. With respect to broader business education resources, I have highlighted a number of them previously in 35+ Free Online Business Education Sites, but I want to be sure to point out a nice new set of resources organized by the folks at Online Colleges. They have pulled together a catalog of pretty much every open education resource you can imagine, and among them are links to a wide range of open courses in business. Check out the links on the pages below to school yourself in pretty much any business topic Accounting & Finance Entrepreneurship General Business Human Resources Innovation International Business Management Marketing Of course, as with an self-education effort, you will need to be motivated, and you must be prepared to make time for focused learning, set learning goals, and apply discipline as needed. Jeff Related posts:35+ Free Online Business Education Sites Where to Find Free Computer Programming Education Online 25 Free Online Resources and Web Apps for Lifelong Learners

A New Yorker (or in some versions Arthur Rubinstein) is approached in the street near Carnegie Hall, and asked, "Pardon me sir, how do I get to Carnegie Hall?" He replies, "Practice, practice, practice." (Wikipedia) [tweetmeme] We’ve all heard the old Carnegie Hall joke (well, at least those of us above a certain age have). More recently, you may have caught the buzz about the importance of "10,000 hours" as popularized by Malcom Gladwell in Outliers. The message in both cases it that if you really want to excel at something, a lot of time and a lot of practice are required. The time part seems straightforward enough, but I know from my own love/hate experience with learning the guitar over many years that simply clocking hours of practice is not enough. The practice has to be of a certain quality. In the words of a recent article on "expert performance" in the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, it has to be deliberate. Some readers may find the journal article a bit long and academic, but if you can motivate yourself to read and take notes on the whole thing, I think you will find some great wisdom in it. You don’t have to consider yourself an entrepreneur to benefit from the insights - they apply broadly. Whether or not you read the whole thing, here are eight key features of deliberate practice as it is discussed in the article. I’ve provided my own gloss on each: 1. Deliberate practice is highly demanding mentally, requiring high levels of focus and concentration. You’ve heard it before - no pain, no gain. But the authors also stress that you have to be "fully absorbed" in your practice for it to truly be effective. This is suggestive of the concept of "flow." 2. It is designed specifically to improve performance—to strengthen it beyond its current levels. This is the part that says you can’t just put in time and expect to get significantly better at anything - you have to consistently stretch yourself, and then stretch some more. 3. It must continue for long of periods of time. This is Gladwell’s 10,000 hours/10 years. The authors go on to say "Basic research on expert performance suggests that the benefits it generates cannot usually be attained with less than 10 years of continued, vigorous effort (e.g., Ericsson, 2006)." 4. It must be repeated. Even though repetition alone won’t get you to the level of excellence, you also won’t get there without out it. Perhaps this why the word "Practice" is repeated three times in the old joke. 5. It requires continuous feedback on results. Sometimes you can tell on your own whether you are doing things right. I know when I hit a wrong note on the guitar, for example. But very often this is the area where having a great teacher, coach, or mentor can make all the difference. 6. Pre-performance preparation is essential. This is where goal setting comes in - you have to know where you want to go if you expect to get there. And as the authors stress, goal-setting "should involve not merely outcomes, but also the processes involved in reaching predetermined goals." 7. It involves self-observation and self-reflection. As you practice, you need to be continually aware of your own performance and be focused on correcting and adapting as appropriate.  This kind of in-the-moment self-assessment is critical regardless of whether a teacher is involved. 8. It involves careful reflection on performance after practice sessions are completed. In addition to being aware of your performance as you are practicing, you need to look back on it once you are done and determine where you stand with respect to your overall goals. What might you change the next time to ensure ongoing progress? (And see my earlier thoughts on reflection as a learning habit.) The overall focus of this article is on entrepreneurship, but regardless of whether you are an entrepreneur, I think you will find many insights here that are useful to practice in your particular area of interest. Given that "entrepreneurship" is a somewhat fuzzy area, however, the article may be especially helpful to you if you are pursuing interests that are not as straightforward as learning a musical instrument or a new language. How does deliberate practice factor in to your learning habits? Please comment and share with other readers. Jeff P.S. If you enjoy what you read here on Mission to Learn, I’d be truly grateful if you would subscribe by RSS feed or e-mail. No related posts.

[tweetmeme] In my day-to-day work I conduct a lot of interviews with the customers and potential customers of organizations that sell education and training. You know, trade and professional associations, training firms, etc. The usual aim of these interviews is to gain insight into how and whether the organization might broaden its reach online. Inevitably, at some point in an interview, a large percentage of the interviewees will say something along the lines of "Well, learning online is fine, but it can’t beat the networking you get face-to-face at a conference." And I always think to myself, really? At the bottom of my question is some skepticism about (a) how good the average person really is at networking for learning in a live conference environment, and (b) whether the quality of that networking is really better than the (often unconscious) networking that most people - at least among the sorts that are likely to attend conferences - already do online. Here are some of my theories: Most people meet a relatively small number of new people at any given conference or other face-to-face event, and many of the conversations with those people are confined to polite chatter like "So, have you been to this conference before?" Related to the first point, most people tend to connect or re-connect with people they already know, and in many cases, are in touch with relatively frequently. Sometimes these people have new knowledge to impart. Often they don’t, or to the extent they do, it remains hidden. Increasingly, a great deal of the valuable networking that goes on around a conference is actually happening online or on our mobile phones - through e-mail, through Twitter, on Facebook, in blog comments and posts. As I have written elsewhere, people don’t tend to think of this as online learning, or even learning in general, but it is. Arguably, the place-based event is a catalyst for it, but much of the value generated is not really dependent upon face-to-face interaction. Now, none of this is to say that there is not value in face-to-face events and the networking that comes with them. Some people view them as essential for removing distractions and focusing, for example. I agree with that, up to a point, but certainly conference fees and travel costs can be a high price to pay for artificially imposed self-discipline. Additionally, connecting with friends, colleagues, and the occasional new acquaintance helps to form and cement emotional bonds that are vital to a productive, happy professional and personal life. Admittedly, these bonds are sometimes (though certainly not always)  the foundation for effective networking online. But I suspect they are just that in many cases - a foundation - and that increasingly a lot of the actual networking and value generation, from a learning standpoint, is happening online. "Can’t beat the networking you get face-to-face" - at least to the extent that the objective of the networking is developing new knowledge - is overrated. Well, that’s my perspective at least. What’s your? Jeff No related posts.

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[tweetmeme] I’ve been focused more and more lately on how we learn. This has led me to re-read Stephen Pinker’s How the Mind Works, which - whether you ultimately agree with Pinker’s views or not - really is a must-read for anyone passionate about learning. (I’m moving on now to re-reading his earlier The Language Instinct.) I also Googled the phrase "how we learn" - surely not for the first time? - and noted immediately that a TED channel titled "How We Learn" comes up near the top of the results. That led me to the following, recently-posted video featuring Adora Svitak. No doubt this has already made the rounds out yonder on the Web, but I am a little behind on my blog reading these days. And besides, if you have seen it before you already know it is worth seeing again. Prepare to be schooled, delightfully, by a 12-year old: - No related posts.

[tweetmeme] I’ve written about a range of habits related to learning, but one I have not yet covered is concentration - perhaps because I find it among the hardest of habits to truly master. I’m as apt as anybody to have my working memory hijacked by the temptations of multi-tasking, ….or simply to become distracted by the shiny new learning objects that I encounter on a daily basis, …or to start writing about one thing and find myself wandering to other topics as new thoughts occur to me, …or….uh, right - concentration. Here are some of the approaches to it that I find helpful: 1. Be conscious and intentional I keep coming back to "consciousness" as the cornerstone of most effective learning habits. Before you are likely to be successful at concentrating you have to make a clear, conscious decision to focus your attention. Sounds simple enough, but more often than not we move from one experience to the next without any real consciousness, and certainly without a decision to concentrate. 2. Set clear goals - and victories I’ve lamented my own lack of goal setting before. To concentrate effectively, it really helps to have specific outcomes in mind.  Break down longer term goals - like mastering a new language - into smaller chunks that are achievable in short bursts of concentration - like memorizing how an irregular verb is conjugated. 3. Be consistent A foolish consistency may be the hobgoblin of little minds, but a wise consistency is often essential to enlarging the mind. Great athletes, musicians, writers, and others who excel in their chosen field nearly always have set times and places for concentrated thinking and practice. Consistency of environment helps to normalize distractions and consistency of time helps establish a pattern and rhythm to support concentration. Pick a limited range of places where and times when you do your most focused learning. You can and should vary these over time to avoid falling into rote learning habits, but don’t be too fast or erratic in making changes. 4. Avoid or remove distractions Part of what sparked me to write about concentration this week is the ongoing debate about the impact of the Internet on our brains. (See, for example, Pinker and Carr on this.)  I’m still undecided about the deeper, longer term impact, but I don’t have much doubt about the ability of the Internet - and countless other modern wonders - to distract us on a minute-to-minute basis and interfere with concentration. You may be able to train your mind to block out such distractions, but for me, the easiest path has always been simply to avoid cognitive overload by turning off the e-mail, the browser, the phone, the iPod, the [add your own distraction here], etc.. 5. Set time limits and allow for breaks Similar to how the body has limits for focused physical activity and needs recovery time from exercise, the mind benefits from periodic short breaks during periods of concentration as well as longer breaks between periods of concentration to help consolidate learning. During shorter breaks, it is better not to turn to other tasks, but to truly take a break and let the mind rest. (For a scientific perspective on this - including a helpful video abstract - see a recent article on "awake rest" in Neuron.). Longer breaks should include essential activities like getting sufficient sleep at night. 6. Take care of mind and body Speaking of sleep - I’ve written before about the important role it plays in memory. And having sufficient sleep is also likely to positively impact your attitude towards concentrating and ability to concentrate in the first place. Likewise, a balanced diet and plenty of aerobic exercise are very important factors in promoting healthy brain activity and memory. Really, being well rested, well fed, and in good physical shape is the foundation for being able to concentrate well. 7. Practice Finally, few of us are able to will ourselves to concentrate and become effective at it over night. I wrote recently about the keys to deliberate practice and those keys apply here as much as they do anywhere else. Yes, that’s right - you have to focus and concentrate in order to learn to focus and concentrate. Here are a few simple techniques for improving concentration that might help you in your practice. I’m also a fan of breathing exercises as a way to help clear the mind and focus attention. So, those are my tips. Got any you think should be added to the list? Jeff Related posts:5 Key Paths to Improving Memory, Part I While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Or the Importance of Setting Learning Goals 5 Tips to Lean Towards Lifelong Learning

[tweetmeme] This is a guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. When most people think of social networks, they think of Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, or similar sites, but there are many other types of social networks popping up on the web. Some of the fastest growing networks are designed specifically for education. These sites allow people to learn in a social context through discussion, file sharing, and collaboration. Here are 20 social learning networks to visit in your spare time. LearnCentral - LearnCentral is an open environment that is half social network and half learning community. The site can be used to create courses, host meetings, connect with other education enthusiasts, and find learning resources Udemy - Udemy encourages members to teach and learn online using the site’s many free tools and applications. Members can create their own online courses or search for courses that have been created and posted by other people. Academici - This web-based site for academics and knowledge workers makes it easy to network, collaborate, and conduct commerce online. Members can post articles, share resources, and much more. Academia.edu - Academia.edu is an online community that helps academics connect with colleagues and follow the latest research. Members can also share their own research and be notified when someone searches for them on Google. Campusbug - One of the original social learning networks, Campusbug provides students and lifelong learners with tools they can use to network and educate themselves on a variety of topics. iMantri - iMantri is a peer-to-peer community for people who are seeking mentors or offering coaching in a particular area. Members can use the site’s tools to assess their competencies and find people who are either willing to help or in need of help. Smart.fm - Smart.fm is an education platform and online community that relies on personalized learning algorithms to help people achieve their academic goals. The site helps users establish goals, create a study schedule, and track learning progress. Grockit - This online interactive learning environment uses social gaming technology and a Web 2.0 infrastructure to help students master academic skills and prepare for standardized tests. Grockit members can study alone or in groups. Loomagoo - Created by Students at Loyola University New Orleans, Loomagoo is a social network for students who want to share notes and other learning materials with each other. The site also allows students to buy and sell old textbooks and other school supplies. wePapers - The goal of wePapers is to create the world’s largest online study group. Members can use the site to share knowledge, find lecture notes and study guides, and store papers and research work. Pronetos - Also known as the Professor’s Network, Pronetos welcomes academics of every discipline. Members can share papers and course materials, connect with other scholars, and locate recent field research. We the Teachers - We the Teachers caters to educators but welcomes anyone who has an interest in learning or teaching. Members of this social network can share lesson plans and classroom resources as well as tools for creating games, puzzles, and other activities. ResearchGate - ResearchGate is a professional network for scientists. The site has more than 400,000 members who collaborate using the site’s free applications. Members can also upload papers, share scientific news, read the latest publications, and search for job opportunities. WiserEarth - WiserEarth is a social network for sustainability. Site features include community forums where members can collaborate or engage in discussion, an international directory of non-governmental and socially responsible organizations, and a classification of issues related to social justice and environmental restoration. WriterFace - This social network is intended for beginning writers, professional writers, and other people who simply have an interest in writing. WriterFace is also open to literary agents, editors, librarians, and anyone else who works in the media or publishing industry. Members can network with each other, market themselves, sell their work, and much more. GoodReads - GoodReads is a social network for booklovers who want to share what they have been reading and get book recommendations from other people. Members can also form book clubs, play trivia games, and browse famous quotes. Livemocha - Livemocha is the largest social network for language learners. The site has more than 6 million members who help each other learn English, Spanish, French, Hindi, German, and Mandarin Chinese. Busuu - Like Livemocha, Busuu is an online community for people who want to practice their language skills. Popular site features include an integrated video-chat-application, writing exercises that can be corrected by native speakers, review quizzes, and learning units. Busuu supports several languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. Brazen Careerist - Created for Gen Y professionals, this social site emphasizes professional networking but also provides members with the chance to learn how to create a resume, develop a base of solid contacts, showcase ideas, and manage their career. Tutpup - Tutpup is an award-winning social learning network that allows young learners to come together online to play fun, educational games. The site is free of advertising and exceeds the information security and privacy requirements of the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Game categories include spelling, basic math, times tables, and algebra. This is a guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes for PharmacyTechnicianCertification.com. Please vote for this entry on Association Jam! Related posts:15 Language Learning Tools for Lifelong Learners 25 Free Online Resources and Web Apps for Lifelong Learners 7 LinkedIn Tactics for Lifelong Learning

I write a fair amount here on Mission to Learn about focused learning; about things like carving out time for learning, setting goals, concentrating, practicing, and reflecting. These are all necessary activities for mastering particular skills or bodies of knowledge, but they are, of course, only the more obvious, visible aspects of what we tend to think of as learning. The greater part of learning, the stuff we engage in moment-to-moment, day in and day out, often has little to do with achieving conscious goals. Whether we know it or not, our minds and bodies are constantly learning from our experiences and the environment around.  And at a semi-conscious level, we are constantly making choices that contribute to our ongoing learning - the conversations we engage in; the media we watch, read or listen to; the places we go, just to name a very few. I think a distinction that the philosopher Alan Watts made many years ago between what he saw as "spotlight consciousness" and "floodlight consciousness" can be applied to these two types of learning: Generally speaking, we have two kinds of consciousness. One I will call the "spotlight," and the other the "floodlight." The spotlight is what we call conscious attention, and we are trained from childhood that it is the most valuable form of perception. When the teacher in class says "Pay attention!" everybody stares, and looks right at the teacher. That is spotlight consciousness; fixing your mind on one thing at a time. You concentrate, and even though you may not be able to have a very long attention span, nevertheless you use your spotlight: one thing after another, one thing after another… However we also have floodlight consciousness. For example, you can drive your car for several miles with a friend sitting next to you, and be completely absorbed in talking to your friend. Nevertheless, your floodlight consciousness will manage the driving of the car, will notice all the stoplights, the other idiots on the road, and so on, and you will get there safely without even thinking about it. Even if you happen to find Watts a bit dated and "groovy," I’m betting you can find some value in his spotlight-floodlight distinction and how it might apply to learning. At a personal, organizational, and societal level, we tend to focus on and value "spotlight" learning much more highly than "floodlight" learning.  The spotlight perspective dominates the world of degrees, certifications, and even much of the self-help literature that claims to carve out alternate paths.  There’s nothing surprising or even necessarily wrong with the bias towards the spotlight - things tend to be easier to see, understand, and manage in the spotlight. But being aware of and regularly tuning into floodlight learning is increasingly important in a world where we are bombarded daily with information and influences, where we have a bewildering array of choices about how and with whom we interact (for example, in social networks).  So much of learning is driven by context and circumstances - whether we choose them or they are thrust upon us, but we don’t often think critically about our context and circumstances.  We often learn on "auto-pilot" - not unlike how we often drive on auto-pilot. That may be fine, in most cases, but among other possible dangers it can cause us to gravitate  toward what is familiar, comfortable, easy - towards a state in which little significant learning is happening at all. Focus, concentrate, set goals - let your spotlight shine bright. But occasionally peer out into the floodlight and make sure you like what you see. Jeff P.S. - If you aren’t familiar with Watts, or simply want to expand your knowledge about his work, I recommend Learn Out Loud’s Out of Your Mind: Essential Listening from the Alan Watts Audio Archives. Related posts:How to Improve Concentration and Focus: 7 Tips Two Brief Lessons from the Mile High Learning Club While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Or the Importance of Setting Learning Goals

[tweetmeme]Much as I deplore his early politics, it would be difficult as the writer of a blog like Mission to Learn not to be greatly saddened by the recent death of Senator Robert Byrd. As the obituary in the Washington Post noted, Byrd was "a lifelong autodidact and a firm believer in continuing education." He was also a musician - an avid fiddler who even recorded an album including one of my old-time favorites, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." Most of all though, I will miss Byrd as a prodigious and talented quoter of poetry. I haven’t located a source, but I’ve heard on more than one occasion that Byrd had memorized so much poetry that he could recite non-stop on the 6-hour trip from Charleston, West Virginia to Washington, DC and back. Perhaps that story is apocryphal, but judging solely from his use of Shakespeare on the Senate floor, it is clear that he had stored away a huge amount - and he knew how to retrieve it in highly appropriate ways. Of course, you don’t get much credit for memorizing much of anything these days. Memorization has long since fallen out of favor in education circles. At least in the rhetoric. And poetry - well, it seems no one reads poetry anymore, much less memorizes it. That’s a true shame. As Byrd clearly understood and appreciated, rote memorization may be of little value, but memorization as a path to expand your thinking, as a way to dig more deeply into your subject is of immense value. And poetry - well, personally I believe that to memorize and deeply know a poem is among the more sublime learning experiences there is. So, with the hope of inspiring you to take up the challenge of memorizing a poem - or renew your commitment if you are already a converted memorizer, here are seven reasons to master a bit of verse, no matter how small: 1. It Helps You Appreciate How Much Things Change As absorbed as each of us tends to be in our day-to-day lives, it’s easy to lose perspective on exactly how much things have changed - even over the course of the past several generations. Poems from other times often bring the forces of change into stark relief. I clearly recall the first poem I had to memorize a poem back in high school - and yes, it mostly still survives somewhere in the depths of my hippocampus.  It was a chunk of the General Prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in Middle English: Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote The droghte of March hath perced to the roote And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth Inspired hath in every holt and heeth The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne, And smale foweles maken melodye, That slepen al the nyght with open eye- (So priketh hem Nature in hir corages); Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages Yes, folks. This is English. An earlier version of the same stuff you and I speak today. And it was well under a 1000 years ago that people were walking around talking in this bizarre fashion. We all thought Mrs. Dunning was a bit off her rocker for making us memorize and recite these lines, but I carry them with me to this day, and among the many other purposes they serve, they make it clear to me how malleable our language is and always has been - a point that everyone who is uptight about texting and the various abuses that plague the younger generations’ use of language might do well to keep in mind. (See Librarius for a side-by-side Middle/Modern version) 2. It Helps You Appreciate How Much Things Stay the Same Of course, we all know that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The next poem I memorized - this time in college - was William Wordsworth’s sonnet "The World is Too Much With Us." I’ll just quote the first few lines of this one, but I encourage you to read the full text. The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! Ah, fine Romantic sentiment - but also completely applicable today and to pretty much every age of the human race. How many of us do not feel on a regular basis - if we take the time to stop and reflect - that we are too bogged down in the trivialities of day-to-day worldly existence? I quoted this one often to my infant son when putting him to sleep at night. Its rhythms had a soothing effect, and of course, I hoped secretly that a bit of its message might sink in! 3. It Helps You Connect with Other Human Beings This one is strongly tied to the first two points, but I think it is so important that it deserves its own bullet.  There is a school of thought that says you should not confuse the "I" of a poem with the author. I understand that point of view to a certain extent, but for the most part I think it is rubbish. Regardless of whether the speaker in the poem is the same as the poet, the words of a poem always form a bridge between reader and poet. They make that "connection" that there is so much buzz about these days on the social Web, and they do it in a much more distilled and intense fashion that pretty much any other form of communication. Yes, time for another poem. Here is all of "Spring," a sonnet by Philip Larkin: Green-shadowed people sit, or walk in rings, Their children finger the awakened grass, Calmly a cloud stands, calmly a bird sings, And, flashing like a dangled looking-glass, Sun lights the balls that bounce, the dogs that bark, The branch-arrested mist of leaf, and me, Threading my pursed-up way across the park, An indigestible sterility. Spring, of all seasons most gratuitous, Is fold of untaught flower, is race of water, Is earth’s most multiple, excited daughter; And those she has least use for see her best, Their paths grown craven and circuitous, Their visions mountain-clear, their needs immodest. I suppose you could argue that T.S. Eliot summed things up much more concisely when he wrote simply "April is the cruelest month," but I’ll take Larkin’s words any day for beautifully capturing the mixed emotions the arrival of spring often brings. What you know of Larkin from this poem, you also know of yourself. 4.  It Anchors Other Memories Wordsworth wrote "Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting." I’d go further and say that sentiment characterizes much of our lives. We forget vastly more than we remember as we go through life. (And, of course, we sleep away a lot of our time as well!). I’ve already mentioned that I remember memorizing the General Prologue back in high school - and I even remember my teacher, Mrs. Dunning, quite clearly. I also remember the teaching assistant at the University of Virginia who insisted that his students memorize a poem - and I recall sitting in his office tremulously speaking of "glimpses that would make me less forlorn." Whether clearly or vaguely I associate every poem I have memorized (and many I have since forgotten) with particular events or time periods in my life. I always recall these times better for having a poem associated with them. I also tend to recall them very fondly. 5.  It’s Downright Impressive In the Right Circumstances Admittedly, it doesn’t happen often, but my wife and I occasionally have the opportunity to recite a poem from memory at a dinner or some other such occasion. Given how unusual it is for someone to be capable of such a feat these days, there is always an amusing amount of oohing and ahhing. (And, no doubt some mumbling behind our backs about what geeks we are!) Certainly Robert Byrd understood how powerful it could be to recite a bit of poetry in the right context - and the political arena is ripe for such contexts. I remember (of course) a while back when a friend who was running for office lost. He had to give the obligatory concession speech in front of his gathered supporters, and I offered him the following lines from Robert Frost’s "Reluctance": Ah, when to the heart of man Was it ever less than a treason To go with the drift of things, To yield with a grace to reason, And bow and accept the end Of a love or a season? It fit the context well and made the impression my friend wanted to make.  Having lines like these tucked away in your memory can come in handy more often than you may think. 6. It Can Be a Platform for Learning New Things I should be crystal clear that when I talk about memorizing a poem, I am not talking about "rote" memorization. Memory should come out of really getting to know a poem; out of reading it closely and living with it over time. If you do this, you can’t help but learn in the process. At a minimum, you may pick up some new vocabulary - like "gratuitous," or "circuitous." Or you may find yourself diving into the world of mythology. Who was Zephirus? Who was Proteus? What does Tennyson’s Ulysses mean when he says, we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles, whom we knew Or stretching across time in a different way, you might try to understand what Adrienne Rich’s "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning" could possibly have to do with the John Donne poem of the same name. The possibilities are as endless as learning itself. Dive down the rabbit hole of any given poem and you will emerge much the wiser for it. 7. Who Knows, It May Actually Inspire You To Write A Poem I said earlier that the "General Prologue" was the first poem I ever memorized, but that is not precisely true. When I was a boy, my father would occasionally recite a small bit of doggerel that stuck in my mind: You’re a poet and you don’t even know it But your feet show it They’re Longfellows Well, I’m no Longfellow. And I am certainly not a Frost or a Larkin, but I have from time to time tried to write a poem or two. Whether or not you produce a work of genius, simply trying to capture a thought or feeling in focused, intense language is a great learning exercise. And who knows, maybe someday a high school English teacher will assign your poem to be memorized. ** So, those are my reasons for memorizing poetry. I’m sure I could come up with many others, but what about you? If you are someone who memorizes, or aspires to memorize poetry, why? And what are some of your favorite poems? Jeff Related posts:5 Powerful Reasons to Make Reflection a Daily Learning Habit, and How to Do It

Could it be that, in some sense, the point of evolution has been to create these social brains, and maybe even to weave them into a giant, loosely organized planetary brain? [tweetmeme]Once upon a time, the idea of all humanity being connected into a single, universal mind was confined to the realms of science fiction and mysticism. Lately, though, I notice that it has gone mainstream. The quote above the photo is from a recent OpEd column in The New York Times in which Robert Wright speculates that we may be missing the point in our hand-wringing over the intellectual impact of the social Web. Whether Google is making us stupid - as Nicholas Carr has provocatively argued - or not is beside the point. What we are experiencing as we become hooked more and more tightly into the social Web is something much bigger than we are. It is technology that is blasting forward, and humanity just happens to be caught in its evolutionary wake. As Carr himself has made clear in the past, Google is hardly unaware of this possibility. In The Big Switch: Rewiring the World from Edison to Google, Carr cites a Playboy interview in which Google co-founder Sergey Brin asserts that far from wanting to stem the flow of information our goal should be to tap into as much of it as possible. "The solution isn’t to limit the information you receive," Brin says. "Ultimately you want to have the entire world’s knowledge connected directly to your mind." [p. 212] Larry Page, the other Google founder, took that thought several steps further when he later said that "For us, working on search is a way to work on artificial intelligence."[p. 213] You didn’t think Sergey and Larry were just interested in building a better search engine, did you? The upbeat side of linking our brains together is persuasively articulated by Clay Shirky in his latest book, Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age. Shirky views television and other traditional forms of mass media as forces that essentially hijacked our minds over the past century. The non-work time that we had available to us for mental activity was absorbed by watching Gilligan’s Island, Dancing with the Stars, and other mindless programming. The social Web has now given us the opportunity to take back that time, to use our "cognitive surplus" in much more dynamic and meaningful ways. But as positive as this may sound, it’s hard to avoid the feeling that there is something not just disturbing, but downright creepy lurking just below the surface.  By connecting human minds through machines we open up the possibility that the machines themselves begin to acquire something akin to a "mind."  That appears to be what Sergey and Larry are thinking, and it is certainly what the well-known and widely-read futurist Ray Kurzweil has in mind when he talks about concepts like "the singularity." "The Singularity" - at least as Kurzweil sees it - is "an era in which our intelligence will become increasingly nonbiological and trillions of times more powerful than it is today—the dawning of a new civilization that will enable us to transcend our biological limitations and amplify our creativity." Certainly there could be upsides to such a civilization, but the descriptor "nonbiological" makes my back tingle just a bit at the place where the plug will be inserted just before I am placed in my pod next to Keanu Reeves. (Not coincidentally, Kurzweil’s Singularity University is partially funded by Google.) Kevin Kelly - a Wired founder, future thinker, and generally very smart guy - will apparently cap off the Summer of the Big Brain in a forthcoming book titled What Technology Wants. I’ve already pre-ordered a copy on Amazon and can’t wait to hear what Kevin has to say. But in the meantime: What do you think? Have you been paying attention to the growing conversation about the "big brain?" What do you think the implications are for you personally and for the world in general? Please comment and share your thoughts. Jeff Related posts:25+ Sites and Tools to Exercise Your Brain Beef Up Your Brain and other Assorted Edutweets