Joyful Jubilant Learning

How do I blog? - Story from a Newbie

How do I blog? That, my friends is a loaded question for me. You see, I am very new to the “blogging” world and like a newborn infant, I think I stumble and grasp at things more than actually move and reach with a purpose. With that said, I can share with you my learning experience so far.

 

I started to blog because my dear friend and mentor strongly suggested that I do. Granted I am a techno-phile/geek at heart and the idea of learning a new technology was intriguing. I first started to explore the same way I like to explore any new city that I visit.  I tried to let myself get lost.  I started with the blogs that my friend had recommended and I followed links to links to links till often times my back button could not find me my way back home.  In those convoluted hour-long journeys, I learned so much about what was out there and I have found hidden gems of sites that I now love.

 

Tip #1 – Don’t be afraid to get lost.  Explore fearlessly and relentlessly. 

 

My first impression of The Big Blogging World (BBW) was one of awe.  Almost mind-numbing awe from the amount of learning and sharing that was out there.  Every where I looked, there was great minds and large hearts that were willing to give to anyone who will read.  It is truly incredible.  Of course, this wonderful view is in part because I started with the Ho’ohana Community and with JJLN. In these two communities, I have found the best teachers and guides.  They have coached, taught and encouraged me through this BBW and have shared their insight with me and have also allowed me to find my own way.  They have inspired me when I felt like quitting and they have saved me when I was lost and overwhelmed.

 

Tip #2 - If you are new and want a positive experience for blogging, find guides that will be kind, protective and nurturing teachers. 

 

 

Since these first few experiences and impressions, I have been blogging for about 3 months.  With the gentle guidance from my great teachers and my own wanderings, I have started to learn how to keep the flow of information controlled.  With so much out there to know and new material being released every day, every hour, my next challenge has been finding a way to control the amount of information I receive and still keep a hand on the pulse of current activity.  My solution so far has been learning how to use Bloglines, and RSS feeders.  Of course, the mundane solution of good habits that keeps me connected with my computer has also been essential.  Right now my habit is to check my sources at least once a day. I spend about 1-4 hours reading, exploring and learning.  Eventually I find the courage to write comments.

 

Tip #3 – Find a way to control the flow of information and keep in contact with the sites you love.

 

 

Ahhhh….. comments!  Now isn’t that a big team player to try and tackle?!  One of my teachers gave me the best advice for comments.  He said to make sure you really have something to say or add to the post.  Don’t fall into the trap of writing comments just to have a comment written.  As I have explored the BBW and have read other comments, I understand what he means.  I struggle with the internal argument of validating the comments I sometimes draft.  I have learned that if you have something to say, say it.  If you don’t have something to say, then read, enjoy and go back to read more later.  The best thing is, say what your thoughts are in a comment and then write about the post in your own post.  The highest compliment I have seen so far are the links that tracks back to someone else’s post.

 

Tip#4 – When it comes to comments, don’t be shy, be thoughtful and remember to link in your own posts your source of inspiration.

 

So far, this is my story and my advice from lessons learned.  I welcome you to share your stories, suggestions or feedback.  Please help me to continue to learn and Mahalo (thank you) for letting me write and reading my story.

 

Toni Howard is a Workplace Aloha Coach for Say Leadership Coaching. She is passionate about bringing nobility to working arts of management and leadership by sharing the principles and practices of Managing with Aloha.

Writing, Blogging, Business, and Learning Through it All

Steve Sherlock asked how we blog, and this is my sharing.

I do believe that blogging is a huge catalyst for learning, yet when Steve first proposed this series I honestly wondered why people would be interested in reading about how I do it. There are a wealth of bloggers who blog about blogging and offer terrific advice, such as Wayne Hurlburt of our Ho‘ohana Community who writes Blog Business World. Chris Cree has also started a great new series recently he calls Helping Businesses Fuel Growth Through Blogging (Start at Blog Shift ... Ho‘ohana unfolding in action!)

Then I read what Steve shared in kicking this off, and it struck me how different our approach. Soon after, I read a letter to the editor in Oprah’s magazine about an interview she’d done with Janet Fitch, the author of White Oleander. A reader had written in,

“Please give us more interviews with writers. We love to know how authors work, what they think, where their inspiration comes from – many of us find them much more fascinating than actors. Thank you for all the emphasis on books and reading.”
— Heide Manfredi

In short, that is the “why” I blog; to continually practice and add to my writing. I love thinking of myself as a writer first and a coach second, but in my real life it has to be the other way around (for now). If I were wealthy enough to have complete financial freedom, I’d opt for a literary life without hesitation, cocooning myself more often than I am now able to, in a sparse writer’s nook furnished with few distractions and the stuff of my best inspirations – other books. In my perfect world, everything I post on a blog would have been written in advance.

Benjamin Franklin, the Writer
Benjamin Franklin loved to read. When he was young, he borrowed books from anyone who would lend them. He read about all kinds of subjects. Franklin also wanted to write, but he didn't know how. He only had two years of school, so he taught himself. He found stories that he liked and rewrote them. Some he rewrote from memory. Others he turned into poetry and then rewrote back into stories. Sometimes he took notes on a story, then mixed up his notes and tried to put them back in the correct order. His hard work paid off. When he was 16 years old, he submitted 14 letters to his brother's newspaper, the New England Courant, and his brother published them. Photo credit.

I believe that writing is good for one’s soul, and for the energy of our spirit. Words, luscious words, and the stringing together of them in expressive thought, is a creative and empowering force. Reading, writing, reading some more, and then writing with the renewed energy of cascading thinking is a kind of continuous feedback loop for me, comfortable yet unpredictable all at the same time, for at some point the words take over if the writing has been any good. The all of it thrills and nourishes me.

That’s how I think of blogging now, as the writing practice I like to thrive on. However there is a catch; the reading communities of blogs need constant care and feeding. It becomes about people, and not just about the stuff of dynamic words. People cannot be kept waiting like a book or pre-published article can. Blogs can distract, and they constantly do, keeping a working writer who does not yet have that luxury of a literary life from the writing of their next book.

I don’t consider my blog posts to be book worthy. I take much care in posting my articles for the blogs I write, and I’ll post less rather than add to the blog clutter which now contributes to our RSS overload, however in my mind, blog posts are very far removed from the writing of a book. They don’t have the constancy of focus, the consistent narrative, and the discipline of well crafted editing. Blogging is writing practice, and the fun stuff of constant short-lived experiments.

This may sound sacrilegious to some, but I think that the best bloggers are those who aren’t trying to write a book. I’m a “Begin with the End in Mind” kind of writer, and to me, blogs and books are like oil and water. I’m one who believes blogs are conversations. In comparison, books are passionate presentations of ideas, and once you sit to write it, conversation is interruption and distraction.

Year End Assessment and New Year Planning

Since early adulthood, the greatest significance of the holiday season for me has revolved around the New Year.  Each of the major Autumn holidays celebrated in the U.S. - Halloween , Thanksgiving , Ramadan , Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa - serve as markers along a calendar path toward the end of the year and the beginning of the new.

The significance of the new year is embedded in its calling for self-reflection and renewal. The changing of the calendar beckons for an assessment of what has occurred during the preceding 12 months and planning for the next.

To carry out this assessment and planning, some patterns have evolved over time, through which I undertake various activities - rituals, if you will - which allow for examination of the various parts of my life.  For each item, I try to ask three questions:

1. What is the current status of this aspect of my life?  
2. To what extent am I satisfied with this aspect of life?  
3. What changes am I willing to commit to making in the coming year?

Current Status
Answering the current status question is perhaps the most time consuming. I typically carry out a sort of inventory to consider all relevant information. The items I generally consider are:

• Relationships (with family, colleagues, friends and neighbors, others)  
• Career  
• Physical Health  
• Mental Stimulation (i.e., learning)  
• Finances  
• Hobbies/Activities  
• Residence  
• Personal Items (wardrobe, grooming, etc.)
• Transportation  
• Services (ISP, lawn care, etc.)  

Some items require little more than a thought. For example, I have been living in the same house for several years and do not plan to move any time soon. However, the Residence category will still be assessed as I determine whether this is the year to plan for a new roof, painting, or other upkeep.

Many items, such as Finances, require checking paperwork. Therefore, I spend some time each Autumn "nesting" to make sure my systems are organized and that I can clearly assess the current status.

The Relationships category mostly involves a mental exercise of reflecting on each person who I hold dear, and each person with whom I interact regularly. Obviously, maintaining positive personal and social relationships requires more than a once-a-year assessment, but this Year End ritual helps ensure that I focus on each person that matters.

Satisfaction Level
Calling this section "Satisfaction" is a glass-half-full approach, because it could easily be viewed as a measurement of 'dissatisfaction'. Because I have never found that focusing on the negative is effective for me, I first try to understand what is good about the current status of each aspect listed above. I typically find this section easiest to complete because it is easy to determine how I feel about various aspects of life. When the level of satisfaction is high, I commit to continuing my past behaviors.  When the level of satisfaction is low, I begin examining the need for change.

Commitments for Change
This section is both the most difficult and the most rewarding. For a few decisions, the satisfaction level makes various decisions clear. For example, if my satisfaction level is, say, 90% with my current transportation but only 65% with my relationship with my brother, then I will likely want to plan to spend more time with my brother than kicking tires or reading Consumer Reports for a new vehicle.

Other decisions are more difficult, especially when values and reality conflict. For example, I value going to professional soccer games with my son more than I value gardening.  I also value blogging more than shopping for new clothes.  However, if I spend all of my free time going to soccer games and blogging, I will have a lousy garden and worn clothes.  This sort of situation is what makes doing the inventory so meaningful, because it points out that I will need a plan to improve my satisfaction level with both my garden and wardrobe.

In the end, I try to chart a course of action that will guide my activities in each aspect of life for the coming year. I tend to be a realist when it comes to goal setting, arriving at pragmatic options that avoid absolutes. Unlike New Year's resolutions, which I have found to be too sporadic and rigid for usefulness, I find that this kind of deliberate approach allows me to make good progress in the direction set forth in the Year End Assessment and New Year Planning.

Today's IPO - How I Blog

IPO? Input, process, output.

Yes, most technologists have a thing for acronyms. I hang around a bunch and get caught in the lingo from time to time, although I have more fun translating this to everyday English. Making sense of it all. Explaining what it really means to you.

  How do I blog? Let me count the ways. Simplistically, as part of my normal daily life, I have lots of input opportunities. I let them get tossed around in the gray matter. Then somewhat regularly, I let the outputs flow. Sometimes, there is a queue to get out. Sometimes, the well seems dry. More often, there is almost too much to come out and they get clogged fighting for attention time to form coherent sentences.

Inputs come from RSS feeds. I use Bloglines as my reader of choice. I started playing with the Goggle Reader but had some trouble with it in the time allocated on that day and it got put aside. Some day I'll go back to it. In the meantime, there are multiple folders set up in Bloglines. I have one folder for "my vanity feed". This has the Technorati searches for variations of my name and my blogs as they get referenced by others on the net. I have one folder for the Ho'ohana Community. I have one for the PodCamp blogs. I have a "discoveries folder" for places that I find that I want to write about on the Hitchhikers Guide. Once they are posted, the feeds get moved to another folder (where it makes sense) or to the default Hitchhiked folder. My "Must read" folder is the largest and has been growing over time. I probably should cull it because realistically I do not read all of them, even once a week. (I could, and probably should, do a full post just with my Bloglines folder structure.) Aside from RSS feeds, Google News is a good source of what's happening. I get the Boston Globe delivered daily and that is a diminishing source of info.

I was surprised when I counted up the newsletters I do receive regularly. This will also be the source for a separate posting so I won't go into great detail here. But there are over 25 that I get delivered via email over time; a couple daily, some weekly, some monthly, some irregularly.

I spend very little time watching TV but radio is a good source of info almost on a daily basis. News, weather, sports scores and of course music.

Books and magazines are major sources of input. A few of the key books are referenced here. I have a top ten book posting in the works that should get completed before the year end. (By also announcing it here, I know that you will help to keep me on track to complete that one.) I can be a voracious reader. My book reviews can be found here. The train time helps. I need to balance the reading time between the books and magazines so the magazines don't get too stale. Runner's World, FastCompany, National Geographic, and the revamped Motto are the primary subscriptions.

JJL Anthem

The Joyful Jubilant Learning Anthem (with apologies to Neil Diamond).

Many thanks to my daughters Carolyn and Allison and to Allie's friends Ashley and Theresa for putting this together for us. It will be treasured!

1 minute, 33 seconds

MP3 File

It Is Better To Give AND Receive

Thanksgiving is not a result of perception; thanksgiving is the access to perception.
   ~Virginia Stem Owens, And The Trees Clap Their Hands

Some people like to open gifts with care and precision. They peel off the tape and unfold the wrapping gently, cautious not to tear it.

Not me.

Once I have a gift in my possession that has my name on it, the wrapping paper is shredded in a blur. I look for any type of handhold on the wrapping and make quick work of it.

I'm not saying there's a right and a wrong way to open a gift. It's just a matter of approach.

Some people like to take their time, saying things like, "Oh what beautiful wrapping, I will save this for later," or "This is so pretty, I think I'll put a frame around this wrapping paper and hang it on my wall."

But for those of you like me, the wrapping paper is merely a barrier that must be overcome. Quickly, and with reckless abandon.

I think it's great to have different ways of opening a gift. I think savoring the moment and rushing with excitement all have their place throughout the holiday season (or through much of life for that matter).

What I'm discovering, especially during this time of year, is how you open a gift isn't nearly as important as how you receive a gift.

I know that this is the season of giving, but at some point along the way, someone will give something to us. At some point, we will receive -- and how we receive is an opportunity to give in return.

Gratitude can be a tricky thing. Sometimes we don't want to be on the receiving end of things. We like to be givers. But we forget that the joy of giving is often super-sized by the expressions of gratitude from those whom we give to. We love to see people receive our gifts with a sense of humble appreciation, like they were never expecting anything like this.

So this season, I want to be a great giver. But I also want to receive well by being truly grateful.

The person who lives with a genuine sense of gratitude discovers that there are more gifts to open then just the ones under the tree. The grateful person sees that each day is a gift full of things that are meant to be savored and things that are most enjoyed when they are torn into with childlike exuberance.

---

Tim Milburn approaches life a lot like he approaches presents, enthusiastically moving past the surface of things so that he can get to the heart of the matter. He dedicates much of his time to developing student leaders through his blog and resources at www.studentlinc.net.

Thankful for Learning; Thanksgiving 2006

On this Thanksgiving Day, we are thankful we have come together to learn!
We asked you, our joyful community of readers, how you would finish this sentence;

“I am thankful that I am a Joyful Jubilant Learner!

Why? Since October I have learned ...”

This is what you said:

... the paths to learning have changed dramatically during my lifetime.  When I was growing up, the twice-monthly trip to the library was the best access to knowledge and learning.  I am thankful that modern advances have placed the world's knowledge at my fingertips and expanded the opportunities for learning. —Blaine Collins

I learned to see the unseen and in this instance I'm not talking about business or making money. I mean seeing the people around you. Giving people your time, acknowledging them and sharing of yourself is paramount in this life.
—Tim Draayer

... that working together starts with the heart. If you're working with people you care about, and who care about you, you can accomplish anything your heart desires. It may take time, and it certainly will take effort, but it's so worth it.
—Phil Gerbyshak

—though we no longer learn in schools made of brick and wood, there are so many classrooms begging for us to join in.  I am lucky that I have found this virtual classroom called JJLN that is filled with the best teaching staff and support team that reminds me that I do not have to "go it alone".   
—Toni Howard

… that relationships are central to producing anything of significance. Our projects, tasks, assignments, and dreams are merely a means to an end and not the ends in and of themselves. At the end of the day, it is the people that matter the most - that an accomplishment is best celebrated with the ones who made the journey with you.
—Tim Milburn

... that I have an impact on others that I have often underestimated.  But more to the point in being authentic and real, and sometimes quite vulnerable, that I am nurturing the souls, insights and wisdom of others.  That really blows me away and is very difficult to grasp.  And that's what I get back in spades, bucket and truckloads.  Thank you to all those people who interact with me.  I value the lessons you're sharing with me.
—Chris Owen

...that distance between others is bridged by spirit and desire and that learning races back and forth on the tracks of friendship.
—Dave Rothacker

… that collaborative learning within a virtual community spread all over the world can take time, work, and focused effort. Perhaps most of all, it requires patience and humility! However the rewards are fantastic!
—Rosa Say

... that there is so much to learn, that we all won't move at the same pace, and that I am thankful for having found such a talented group to share this passion for learning... it makes the journey all that more worthwhile!
—Steve Sherlock

....that learning, particularly group learning, is even more powerful as a positive force than I first thought. This burst of joyous and optimistic energy has been a great boost for me, and I ask all my fellow "Half-Fullers" everywhere to join in and crank up the vibe even higher!
—Terry Starbucker

1.How to teach matrices
2. How to teach graphing so a student understands it
3. How to develop a storyboard
4. That I can help get people where they want to go
5. Watching cartoons is definitely not just for kids!
(It's been a busy month!)
—Rebecca Thomas

....the value of participation and of opening myself up to new ideas and fresh concepts.
I have learned the power of collaboration and the amazing strength in community, even online…
Most of all, I have learned that I have so much I want to learn!
And along with all that, I have learned there aren’t enough hours in the day…
-Karen Wallace

Thank you for participating!

From all of us, to all of you, a very Happy Thanksgiving.

It Adds up to Life

The grueling trek started Christmas eve...

Rosemary and I would go to her parent's house late afternoon Christmas eve to celebrate her grandmother's birthday.  From there we would go to my parent's house a half hour away.  We would begin a four hour period of eating around seven, followed by a forty-five minute trip to church for Midnight Mass.  After that we went back to my parent's house to open gifts.  Rosemary and I would get home about four in the morning.  We were up early to open gifts in our house and then back to Rosemary's parent's house and off to nine o'clock Mass.  Back at their house, we'd open up gifts and then prepare for a Christmas dinner of around twenty-five people.  Following dinner Rosemary's younger brother and sisters would have friends over and the serious partying began.  We usually didn't get home until midnight.

The importance of family cannot be understated.  Neither can the importance of self-preservation.  We carried out the above ritual for four or five years until finally telling our parents that we just couldn't do it anymore.  Although we had to endure a few knocks upside the head, we learned the old adage:  You can't please everyone.

After putting together a more sensible schedule we noticed a greater enjoyment of the holidays.

In those first few years we also had a few side adventures.  Our car broke down on the way home from Midnight Mass in one of the most dangerous areas in Cleveland, Ohio.  And twice I had to shovel ten plus inches of snow out of the driveway before we could pull in.  It had to be at least five when we made it to bed.

We all trek the roadways of experience that combine to make us the persons we are today.  As we garner tidbits of learning along the way, it adds up to one thing.  It adds up to life.

---

David Rothacker is the author of Rothacker Reviews, where he presents “Most Excellent Books, Businesses and Folks.”

A Thanksgiving Miracle and a Lesson in Humanity

It was the day before Thanksgiving, 1981. I was in the back seat of my 1974 Oldsmoble ’98, sleeping soundly after driving most of the night. Four college buddies and I started in San Antonio the day before, stopped in St. Louis to drop of three off, and now it was just the two of us, heading north towards Chicago at about six o’clock in the morning.

It was a cool and sunny morning, and I was very much looking forward to getting home to Milwaukee to be with my family and celebrate Thanksgiving together. I was going to college more than 1,100 miles away, so I hadn’t seen them since August. Since we only had a few days before we had to be back in class, we had decided to travel these many miles straight through, stopping only for food, gas and drop offs.

As we neared the town of Litchfield, Illinois the quiet was suddenly replaced by the sound of a shattered windshield. I quickly awoke to find we had gone off the road, hit a temporary road sign, and was careening into a roadside ditch. The driver had fallen asleep behind the wheel. We barreled through the ditch for what seemed an eternity and finally came to a stop, the radiator destroyed and the car very much undrivable.

There we were, two college kids with very little money and a broken car, still many miles from home. So as the police car came and got us a tow into Litchfield I was very skeptical that we could get the car fixed in time to even get back for classes the following Monday. Little did I know I was going to learn a lot about the basic good nature of humanity as the day progressed.

Our first stop was the local garage, and we were greeted with smiles as well as concern – we told our story as the mechanic took a look at the car and then disappeared into a back room, and I was very apprehensive as he returned and began to tell us what he found and what he could do. “Boys”, he said, “It’s your lucky day”.  “I just happen to have found the last radiator for a ‘74 Oldsmobile in the whole town of Litchfield – and since I know you are trying to get home for Thanksgiving, I’ll move the repair to the top of the list and we’ll have you out of here by early afternoon”.

Needless to say we were thrilled, but there still was a problem – we didn’t have more than $25 between the two of us. After explaining our financial quandary the mechanic suggested we go the Western Union office up the street and get our parents to wire some money. But first, he suggested “go across the street and get yourself some coffee and breakfast – they know you are coming and they will take good care of you”.

The owners of this diner were even nicer than the person at the garage – they already knew of our plight and made our coffee and doughnuts “on the house”. All the patrons were as friendly as could be, expressing good wishes and confidence that their local mechanic was up to the task.

By the time we had gone to Western Union (of course, the lady there was quite helpful and got us the money quickly) and come back to the garage, I was feeling like this was some kind of dream – and we were going to wake up any minute now and find out we were still in the ditch. The mechanic greeted us upon our return with the further good news that he was already finished with the work (and it was only noon!), and we could be on our way home.

We got back on the freeway still in disbelief as to what had occurred over the course of that morning, but thanking our lucky stars that we were going to make it home in time for Thanksgiving. When I did get home the holiday took on a special added significance for me, not only because I felt lucky I just made it there in one piece, but because of what I had learned about the kindness of strangers in the little town of Litchfield.

Yes, I’ve come to believe strongly in the “incredible potential of the human spirit” (it is the core of my Belief Statement on my blog), and a lot of that belief came about as a result of this wonderful Thanksgiving miracle. Now every Thanksgiving I remember those fine folks in Litchfield, as well as all the other caring people in the world who extend their hearts and hands to those in need. Thank you Litchfield for this valuable life lesson!

___________________________________________________________

Terry Starbucker is an operations executive for a service company who lives in Connecticut, loves business trips to the Rocky Mountain west,  and posts his musings and observations about "the optimistic side of the daily grind" in Ramblings from a Glass Half Full.

Holiday Learning? Let Me Get My List!

I notice that people find it so surprising!

It's such a deeply ingrained part of me now, that I find it puzzling that anyone else finds it surprising! But, obviously, it doesn’t match what people believe they know about me.

What? You're a little confused?

Well, in some ways, so am I.

I don't remember when I started to say with such a depth of feeling, "Oh God, I HATE Christmas"

Why are people surprised? Because the “me” that people usually see is the passionate, enthusiastic, people-focused, family-oriented, Christian, traditionalist!

So how did that “me” and my Christmas Attitude become so incongruent?

I'm really not sure.

But it was in comparing notes with my dear friend Karen Wallace that we realized that our combined experiences, and opposing perspectives, might be able to help others who had the guilty secret of Christmas not being the pleasure it's supposed to be. So we created SOXS.

Traditionally, the holidays are meant to be a joyful time. But there's often a price both financially, and in stress by the bucket-loads. And it's usually women who pay it.

So, having co-written SOXS and worked hard to promote it, it's now November 20 and I have to walk my talk.

It's time to leave the Bah-Humbug attitude behind and face my negativity and self-imposed "shoulds" about how I'm going to manage Christmas this year.

There are also two strong motivating, but polar-opposite, factors in the need to limit my stress as I move towards Christmas.

The first is that my body has gone on strike.