Joyful Jubilant Learning

A Word a Day Keeps Your Mind at Play

As the final, (and one day late) post in the theme on digital learning tools I share a simple yet powerful one.

One of the most powerful tools in our learning toolbox is vocabulary.  Having a broader, deeper and bigger vocabulary correlates with intelligence, communication effectiveness, thinking prowess and success.  When we know more words we are able to think in more nuanced ways.  When we have a broader vocabulary we can share ideas more specifically and effectively.

I'm not suggesting we expand our vocabulary in order to impress people or "throw some words around", but rather that when we expand our vocabulary (and any reader of Rosa's work should understand this quickly) we enable new ways to think and interact with the world around us.

So, I've quickly given you the case for an expanded vocabulary, and there are a variety of ways to make that expansion happen.  Readers Digest has famously given readers a way to Increase Your Word Power for many years.  There are in numerous books on vocabulary building in any bookstore (often including some in the very discounted remainder area).

But this post is about digital tools you are thinking - so let me share the two I use.

A Word a Day.  Each day more than 600,000 people receive an email from Wordsmith.org.  That text email shares a word of the day (big surprise), history, usages and an example in a sentence.  Often the words for a week will follow some kind of theme.    This week's theme is words derived from the names of mythical creatures.   Today's word?I've been a reader for many years (I'm guessing far beyond ten) and I love the service.  I don't remember every word and some of the words are a bit academic and obscure - and while they are all interesting, they don't all lend themselves to frequent usage.  This is why I also read,

sphinx (sfingks) noun - A mysterious, inscrutable person.

Another word from this week?

argus (AHR-guhs) noun - An alert and observant person; a watchful guardian.

Will I believe I can use these words in conversation or written communication in the coming days?  Absolutely!

Daily PowerWord.  Produced by Success.bz these words tend to be a bit more practical at times.   A recent example?

Credible (KRED-uh-buhl) adj. - believable

Which leads to my next point.  Sometimes you will know the word (with either service). This is actually great!  How many times during a day do you read an email that reinforces your intelligence?

Seriously, there will be days when you know the word you receive from one of these services (or another of their like-minded brethren), and that is one reason I subscribe to two different services.

Reading the words each day is valuable, taking these tools, like many we've learned about this month, and applying them to our lives is another thing.  These services do a great job of leading you to the trough of greater vocabulary - it is our opportunity then to drink of those words, use them and make them a part of our vocabulary and our lives.
~ Kevin Eikenberry

Kevin Eikenberry is an author, speaker, trainer, consultant and the Chief Potential Officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group - a learning consulting company.  He is also the author of Remarkable Leadership - Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One SKill at a Time. You can read his blogs here and here.

More from Kevin here at JJL.

You can get published on Joyful Jubilant Learning too! ~~~ May Details here

The Art of Learning

This book has been sitting on my reading stack for sometime.  Every time I would pick it it up I would say to myself "I'll read this next."  For whatever reason that hadn't happened.  Then when pressed a few weeks ago to commit to my review for March in on JJL, it seemed perfect - a book I wanted to read on a topic completely in line with the focus of this blog - learning.

If you are like me, you enjoy reading a great life story - whether written as a biography or autobiographically, I find life stories compelling and instructive.  When the story is about someone who has achieved at world class levels, it often makes the story more interesting.

That is the case with this book, The Art of Learning, A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence.  The author, Josh Waitzkin is an International Chess Master - he began winning National and World Championships before he was ten.  His father wrote a book about him, that became a movie - Searching for Bobby Fisher. these facts seem to set up a very interesting book.

But that is only the start.  Waitzkin has also become world class in Tai Chi, winning multiple U.S. and World Championships in this discipline as well.  While the author is truly world class in two different areas, he feels his real expertise is as a learner and in this book he helps us as readers on our "Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence"  (the subtitle of the book).

Weaving introspection and powerful examples from the worlds of martial arts and chess and relating all of that to creating more effective personal learning made this book hard for me to put down.  It is well written and full of moments of insight.

I found myself reflecting on another favorite book of mine; Mastery, by George Leonard - another book that explores learning from the context of martial arts.  While these two books do discuss some similar ideas, I see them as more complementary than overlapping.

I don't feel lead to share pithy quotes or lists of lessons learned from this book - not because they don't exist, but because I believe this is a book that will effect each interested reader in a different way and I don't want to be an inadvertent guide to the wrong lessons for you.

I know that next week when I facilitate training sessions and coach co-facilitators I will be more effective because of the lessons from this book.  I know that I will be a better parent, boss and individual learner in the coming days as well for having read this fine book.

If you love reading and love learning, as I assume you must if you read this blog, I urge you to put this book on your reading list.  Just don't make it sit as long as it did on my stack.  Read it when you have some time and are ready to explore your own learning journey.  This book will make your journey more exciting and enlightened.
~ Kevin Eikenberry

Kevin Eikenberry is an author, speaker, trainer, consultant and the Chief Potential Officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group - a learning consulting company.  He is also the author of Remarkable Leadership - Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One SKill at a Time. You can read his blogs here and here.

Book Learning

I start with some trepidation, writing my first piece as a regular contributor in this wonderful space. I've been pondering my contribution for several days (to those who know, yes, I postponed my writing date earlier in the week - so I should have had plenty of time to ponder).  I purposely didn't read the posts here until yesterday, as I wanted to have my concept locked in my mind before I caught up on the thoughts and ideas that have been shared so far.

The posts have been wonderful - in fact I had planned on writing something similar to what Tim wrote (though I'm quite sure not as well).  If you haven't read that post, do yourself a favor now.

I'll wait for you.  :)

I grew up in a farming community, in a family that believed in education; while neither of my parents went to college, they were both learners and readers - there were always books in the house and Dad also served on the local School Board for 8 years.  I often heard, both in our house and in the community at large, the phrase "book learning"  This phrase typically was generally derisive - the degree being variable based on the person being mentioned.  The insinuation was that the person was intelligent in knowledge, but perhaps not so wise in application; or that "book learning" didn't always translate to common sense or success. 

It is in that spirit that I come to write here, now, about "What do I learn from books?"

My short answer is anything and nothing.

The knowledge both in facts and ideas that I (we) can learn from books is amazing!  We can learn about country cooking, country music, countries of the world.  We can learn about art, science, and history.  We can learning about leadership, life guarding and learning itself.  In this regard we can say that we can learn most anything from a book.  But not quite.

A life built on facts and ideas alone can lead to the insight shared in my home community about "book learning."  In order for our lives to be rich and full, we must go beyond the book, because the book isn't the full answer.   After all how valuable is an idea that is not implemented?

I've heard people say that a book changed their life.  I believe this is impossible.  The book can be the impetus, a turning point, or an aha moment.  The facts or ideas you glean from a book may change your life, but only when you apply those facts and ideas in your life and world.

So, stated another way, we can learn nothing from books.

In real life, it is skills, behaviors and actions that make a difference.  You can learn the procedure or technique in a book, but you can't do the magic trick, master your garden, or master a leadership skill until you do it.  And books can't do this step for you.

Books are an important part of our development, enjoyment and satisfaction, but in the end it is the action that we take - the chapters that we write to finish the book, that make the difference.

Back home, people trusted and believed in the educated person more when they saw more actions than words.  When when they saw that combination facts and actions they recognized a successful person (however you want to define that).

"Book learning" is great, but it is just the start.

When we put the book down and put the facts and ideas to work, expect miracles.

Please Welcome Kevin Eikenberry to Joyful Jubilant Learning!

Kevin's name may sound familiar to you:

Most recently, remarkable business leader Kevin Eikenberry was Benjamin Bach's guest here at Joyful Jubilant Learning, featured in our JJL interview series we call Jubilant Learners Speak Up!

You may remember this snippet:

Benjamin: What would the world look like if we were all Remarkable Leaders?

Kevin: The world would be a better place.  People would be using the skills they have been given, they would be continually learning and the results we would actualize would be, well, remarkable.  Remarkable leaders make a difference in the world, when everyone is doing that… the world will be an even more amazing place than it is today.

Today, I am thrilled to announce that Kevin has decided to join us here at Joyful Jubilant Learning as a monthly contributor, honoring us as one of the choices he has made, with how he personally will make that difference in the world he so passionately speaks about.

Kevin is an author, speaker, trainer, and consultant dedicated to revealing our learning potential. He is a savvy businessman in his own right, and founder of the Kevin Eikenberry Group, a learning consulting company, where he walks his talk of remarkable leadership as Chief Potential Officer - how's that for a title to both live up to and challenge lifelong learners with!

Kevin has joined us as we travel along Jubilation Way during 2008, exploring monthly themes as we do so. His first article for us is called "Packing Right" for January: Click in, read about what Kevin will be packing in his bag for the year to come as he joins us, and share your aloha in a comment there for him.

By the way: Our timing is perfect with learning more about Kevin, and how a true "learning consultancy" works. Earlier this week Kevin announced a "Remarkable Opportunity" for everyone who has his new book, Remarkable Leadership, or is thinking about picking it up. He is offering some fantastic resources you will want to take a look at.

And of course, keep reading Kevin's articles right here on Joyful Jubilant Learning!

Packing Right

Though I travel often, I’m not always the most economical packer. I do fine with the clothes, but I always seem to have a couple of extra books (that don’t get opened on the trip), and extra training materials that I take “just-in-case.”

So as I pondered what to pack for the next year, I thought carefully – I decided not to worry about being too economical – while I could have fit more in this bag, everything here I plan to use every day. Here’s what’s in my bag.

Gratitude. I practice being grateful and appreciative every day. I find when I am grateful and appreciative, not only do good things come my way and I enjoy each day more, but that same grateful spirit makes me more open to learning.

Reflection. To be a more effective learner we must be more reflective. Let me be more direct – I know I learn better and more effectively when I practice reflection more often. I’m packing this for myself, all of those I coach, consult and train, and for everyone who reads what I write this year.

Personal Leadership. Yes, I wrote a book on leadership and so it seems logical this would be something important to me. Forget that fact for a second. The bottom line is that we all lead and that as we become better leaders we become better human beings. How do we become better? Practice and experience; in other words, learning. Packing my personal leadership skills is practical for me in almost every role I play in life. Why wouldn’t I want to pack this?

A Remarkable Expectancy. I expect great things; from my relationships, from my business, from my clients, of my family, of myself. When we have higher expectations we tend to live up to them – and as we stretch to reach these expectations, we need to be in a learning mindset.

My new Kindle. I love this tool and it is definitely part of my learning journey this year. Plus it may help me with “real” packing – keeping the unopened books at home, and multiple books in a small package.

As I look back over this packing list, (reflecting even as I type) I know that these things will make for a remarkable learning year for me. I hope you consider one or more of these items for your packing list as well.

Kevin Eikenberry is an author, speaker, trainer, consultant and the Chief Potential Officer of the Kevin Eikenberry Group - a learning consulting company.  He is also the author of Remarkable Leadership - Unleashing Your Leadership Potential One SKill at a Time. You can read his blogs here and here.