Joyful Jubilant Learning

Added to the JJL Calendar: Pangea Day 2008

In 2007 Blog Action Day affected many of us far more than we had anticipated it would.

I have a hunch that will happen in 2008 with Pangea Day, coming on May 10th.

I learned about Pangea Day via the TEDBlog's call for submissions, and my greatest wish of this moment is that I were a film-maker capable of producing a video that would do justice to the importance of the Managing with Aloha movement.

From the Pangea Day site:

We're looking for films that will make us laugh, cry, and gasp. They can be fiction, nonfiction, real life, animation, or your own unique mixture. But they should hold our attention for every second. And above all, they should tell a story that someone else on the other side of the world will be able to relate to.

As you plan your film, try to imagine millions of people in different countries gathered around in the flickering light, waiting in hushed silence for your tale to start. What story will you tell? What images will you show them?

Pangea Day will present a program  broadcast live to the world through the Internet, television, digital cinemas, and mobile phones --- I suspect it will be a fantastic example of the audio/visual web that Kevin Eikenberry brought our attentions to in this posting: Seven Online Tools for Web-Based Learning - What are yours?

Pangea Day came to be when visionary documentary filmmaker, TED Prize winner, and Pangea Day founder Jehane Noujaim spoke to an audience of “the world’s leading thinkers and doers” at the 2006 annual TED Conference, and unveiled her inspiring wish to change the world through the power of film.

My understanding is that 'pangea' is a Greek word for "all lands" and this effort is one intended to engender world peace via global community, and the straight-forward yet challenging assumption that we'd live together more harmoniously if we knew each other better.

Click in to www.pangeaday.org to watch the trailer and listen to Noujaim's TED presentation. I'm sure you'll then add Pangea Day to your calendar too, for it promises to be extraordinary.
~ Rosa Say, JJL Contributor, and author of Managing with Aloha Coaching.

From the JJL Archives: Learning from the Blog Action Day story by Joanna Young

It's A "Wonder"ful Time Of The Year

Every so often, I become very conscious of how easily I fall into the commercialism that surrounds the Christmas season. I love giving and receiving gifts as much as the next guy (perhaps even more so). I just don't want to lose sight of what's most important and what's most significant about the holiday season.

As I was reading through some of the posts that have already been written this month on Joyful Jubilant Learning, my eyes caught the left hand margin - The Seven Wonders of JJL.

I remember when we created that list. We were looking for a unique way to share our learning when the calendar struck 7-7-07. Each of those seven "L" words helped us organize our ideas and thoughts.

As I looked over the list, I thought, "They'd make a great Christmas list!"

So in your quest to find the most meaningful of gifts this year, I offer the following:

LISTEN — Listening is so much harder than talking. If you listen, REALLY listen to others, you are offering them a gift that will communicate just how much you value them. Give someone your attention.

LAUGH — Laughter is so much fun. It has a way of healing the soul. Learning to laugh at yourself lightens your spirit. Give someone a moment to laugh so hard it brings tears to their eyes.

LEARN — Learning expands your world. Help others become the people they are meant to be by not remaining the people that they are - grow their minds. Give someone a chance to grow in a new direction.

LINK — My network grows as when I connect to the network of another. My own experience and connections might be a tremendous resource for someone else. Give someone an opportunity he or she might not be able to get on their own.

LOVE — The holidays have a way of magnifying the level of intensity we feel in our relationships. Make sure the ones you love know it. Give your love away. It's much more effective when it's shared.

LIVE — I once heard it said that the life you live, just might be your very own. With that in mind, come alongside others and find ways for them to get the absolute most out of life. Give someone a way to appreciate the best gift that each of us have...TODAY.

LEAP — Sometimes, the hardest step in a new direction is the first one. You can be an en"courage"r in the life of someone else. You can help them believe in themselves and to believe in their dream. The most exiting changes in the right direction happen when one jumps in with both feet. Give someone the courage to jump.

Do you remember what you got last year for Christmas? I'm struggling to do it even as I write this.

If you give gifts that flow from the spirit of the list above, you'll be giving something memorable and meaningful. They'll be gifts that last.
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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.

Special Birthday Greetings

In case you were not aware, today is a special day. Phil Gerbyshak and I share this day as our birthday. How cool is it that two folks, meeting and connecting through the wonderful world of the web, share the same birthday!

He is off making it great as usual. Add to his day with a birthday greeting!

I am off to get in a good run (during which I'll do some leaping),

then cover some family activities (during which I hope to do some laughing),

and then I should be back online later today to provide some updates (during which I'll do some learning).

Make it a great day!

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Steve Sherlock writes his 2 cent views on life from Franklin, MA. He explores the "good experience", "life long learning" and life in general, after handling the "before you blog" list his wonderful wife Dolores  provides him. Together they are enjoying the empty nest while their daughters are away at college. He has also resumed running and he podcasts tips and coaching advice at Passionate Runner.

Teach us your Wild and Wacky Traditions!

As the winter holidays draw near, I invariably find I begin to think about tradition, both old and time-honored, and new ones not yet thought of which may lie in wait for us to celebrate them. Traditions are like family-spun yarns that get knitted together into the most fabulous multi-colored bulky cables; be they for scarves, shawls or sweaters, it’s the cable knit that matters most for the warmth.

Cable sweaters also hide a lot of mischievousness...

I saw these two tradition lists in a magazine called Family Fun as I sat in an office waiting room before an appointment; they were culled from the mag’s readership:

Your top Thanksgiving traditions:

1. Cook a beloved family recipe for the feast
2. Make a gratitude list to display and save
3. Call faraway relatives
4. Add leaf rubbings, handprints or notes to a keepsake tablecloth
5. Play a family touch football game
6. Start decorating for Christmas the day after

Your top Christmas traditions:

1. Set aside a day just for cookie baking, and for decorating a gingerbread house
2. Plan a get-in-the-spirit activity or outing for each day of Advent
3. Buy and hang an ornament for each child that commemorates a special interest or event in the year
4. Drive around and look at the holiday lights
5. Leave snacks for Santa (and often for the reindeer too)
6. Get new pajamas (or lingerie!) on Christmas eve

Now those things are nice, they really are, but am I the only one who thought these lists were pretty blah and way too normal?

Come on JJLers – weigh in and tell us about the weird and wacky traditions you have in your family! If given the choice, and a magic wand that could zap me into your house, why would I choose you and your family if I were looking for the most Joyful-Wacky! and Jubilant-Wild! holiday traditions for my 2007 photo album?

If you have a long story and want to post instead of comment, email me and I’ll publish it for you!

[Flickr photos by Leo Reynolds.]

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Post author Rosa Say writes for Managing with Aloha Coaching, Value your Month, Value your Life. Visit her there, pick up a feed for your reader, and let her know what you think.

Are you brave (or wild, wacky and weird)? Take her up on this challenge!

Generous Coaching for us in eBooks, and Learning By Example

Two of our JJL authors are offering new eBooks on their own sites, absolutely free!

Karen Wallace has launched a new online magazine called The Calm Space, “a virtual magazine that’s like a day-spa for your senses!” and she writes...

In celebration of our first issue of The Calm Space, I am thrilled to be able to offer you a once-only chance to get a copy of my book, How to find the Pause Button for your life… with my compliments!

This book offers you six lessons on reducing the stress, and reconnecting with what makes you happy.

Visit The Calm Space and look for the Pause Button link to download your complimentary copy today.

[Or you can click on the image to the right for the direct route to the download page.]

At Confident Writing, Joanna Young has been presenting a monthly theme in her work shared with us as a writing coach. She turned her September discussion on authentic writing into a 14-page e-book: It's called The Courage to Hear Yourself Sing: 5 takes on authentic writing.

Joanna writes,

This is my first attempt at writing in this medium so I'd be grateful - as ever - for any comments and feedback.  If it's a format that works - who knows?  You might just see me doing some more in the future :-)

We hope so Joanna!

Like you, our contributing authors are lifelong learners, and while we are grateful to both Karen and Joanna for sharing these e-books with us, we are most proud of the example they set as learners who take risks, trying new things in immediate application of their learning. They have taken that additional, very crucial step, where learnING becomes learnED. They have taken a Leap!

Thank you Karen and Joanna, and Ho‘omaika‘i ana ~ congratulations on your work, both beautifully done expressions of your Ho‘ohana.
~ Rosa Say for Joyful Jubilant Learning

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Read more about the learning journeys Karen and Joanna take, by clicking to their author indexes here on JJL:

• Karen Wallace
• Joanna Young

Making A Difference: A 5-Point Plan of Action

As of this weekend, our JJL September 2007 Forum draws to a close.

Or does it?

In September, we set our sights on these questions:

How has your learning already made a difference, or how do you know it will? What is the difference you are learning to make, and what are you doing to make it happen?

We received a variety of answers, and I have a challenge for you. Think of getting started with this as your JJL Weekend Project:

You have read much on what others think about making a difference. Others have shared their stories of learning, and their tales of doing. Now...
What will be the story you start to write for YOUR life today?

In one word, my challenge to you is HO‘OHANA. Weave in whatever inspirations you gained here over the last month into a plan of action whereby you can work with purpose, working directly on the difference you hope to make.

Most of my learning (and perhaps I’m not alone in this!) has not been from books, nor courses, but from Life itself.  Events that paint a picture.  Failures that teach me what not to do next time.  Successes that teach what works.  Conversations that  help me ‘join the dots’ and nurture new ideas. —Pete Aldin, the Great Circle Coach, in Anxiety Writes the Script

To the left, you will see that the Make A Difference compilation page link will remain parked under our Recurring Features heading. Here is a possible 5-Point Plan of JJL Action for you.

1. Choose a post or combination of them which truly resonated with you. In your heart, mind, and soul you know they called out to you because you can do what was spoken of or dreamed of: You know you can make it real. You know it will make a difference for you to make a personal resolution and follow through. If it makes a difference for others too, all the better, but you know you need to start with you first, and as Greg had said, BE the change.

2. Get specific: With that post as your catalyst, write a vision for where you will be with your intention-turned-action a year from now. What will be your best possible outcome? Articulate what it will look like, sound like, and feel like for you. Eventually I hope you will toot sweetly, but for now, tell yourself.

3. Plan concrete actions: Brainstorm a list of possible actions you can take to arrive at your vision step by step, action by action. Then, give yourself a time table and pattern to follow with diligence, perhaps weekly (maximum effect) monthly (also good in theming – like Joanna does with her writing ingredients, and as I do with values) or quarterly (can be best when you enroll a team in your plan, but individually you are better off with weekly or monthly patterns).

4. Now go back to the post which inspired you, and Enroll us in your goals. Jump into the conversation there and get the author to mentor you. We keep our comments open here, and no matter how far these posts drop into the archives, the author who had penned that post gets an immediate email notification when any comment is made.

Connect with them. Subscribe to the RSS feeds or email alerts on their own blogs, for chances are you will find strong connections there to whatever they may have written about here. Notice that I purposely coached you in 1.,2., and 3. to do your own draft first: that prep is important if you are to raise the level of conversation with your chosen mentor, and not simply agree with them – this is your plan, not theirs. They are here to help support and coach you.

5. Now Do it. Work your plan, and Make your difference. Keep your plan ever present in mind so you can be alert to possible High Quality Interactions that connect with it. Then next September, when our forum rolls around again, grab our invitation to post and take the next step – share your lessons learned, and you will inspire; you be the next mentor. You’ll be ready to make bigger differences in waves that enlarge your circle of influence, becoming the pebble that creates the ripples in the pond.

If I was a life long learner

Our collaborative effort is complete. If you are not familiar with the original song you can view it via YouTube.

And with our sincere apologies to the Barenaked Ladies here is the JJL version:

If I was a life long learner (If I was a life long learner)
I'd write on my blog (I'd write on my blog)
If I was a life long learner (If I was a life long learner)
I'd buy a real new computer (maybe a nice Apple or an HP)
If I was a life long learner (If I was a life long learner)
I'd learn to use del.icio.us (a big fancy link-sharing machine )
If I was a life long learner, I'd link to you

If I was a life long learner
I'd join a group of joyful learners
If I was a life long learner
You could help, it wouldn't be that hard
If I was a life long learner
Maybe we could collaborate on a song
Wouldn't that be wonderful!

If I was a life long learner (If I was a life long learner)
I'd send you an email (but not a spam email, that's cruel)
If I was a life long learner (If I was a life long learner)
I'd invite you to the group (like LinkedIn or FaceBook)
If I was a life long learner (If I was a life long learner)
I'd record a podcast (maybe a video someday)
If I was a life long learner I'd link to you

If I was a life long learner
We wouldn't have to walk to the library
If I was a life long learner
We'd ask the group a question something we didn't know
If I was a life long learner We wouldn't have to go without knowing

If I was a life long learner (If I was a life long learner)
I'd live without watching TV (especially a reality show, that's cruel)
If I was a life long learner (If I was a life long learner)
I'd leap to help someone in need (like a good Samaritan)
If I was a life long learner (If I was a life long learner)
I'd laugh with you at good jokes (maybe tell one myself)
If I was a life long learner I'd love to link to you.

Toot Sweetly: Create Your Distinction

How has your learning already made a difference, or how do you know it will? What is the difference you are learning to make, and what are you doing to make it happen?

I have sat with these questions for a couple of weeks now, ever since our JJL contributing authors came up with them in our forum brainstorm. There really wasn’t any way for me to answer them in my turn with the essay writing without making them personal. I hope you decide to make them personal too, even if in your own self-reckoning.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The name of chapter 13 in Managing with Aloha is Ho‘ohanohano; it is the value of dignity and respect. Hanohano is dignity as a noun; when you put ho‘o in front of it, a prefix of causation, it means to make it happen, in essence, turning noun into verb – a very deliberate and active verb; to ho‘ohanohano is to dignify. The tagline of the chapter is Conduct yourself with distinction, for I believe we have to gain our own dignity if we are to give it to others in the best possible way.

Ho‘ohanohano is my fervent wish for you, as the gift our month-long Make A Difference bombardment to your psyche will result in. I am hoping that you will add ‘I will conduct myself with distinction’ to your personal language of intention, a self-talk that serves you well from this day forward.

In other words, dignify you. Create that ‘distinction’ you will conduct yourself with. Before you get overly generous about making a difference for someone else, I hope you get selfish, and make a difference for you first.

I am not being totally altruistic. The stronger you are, the better you are in living your life with the rest of us, and the bigger a difference you’ll eventually be able to make.

My Learning

Here is the biggest impression people have made on me in my thirty plus years of being a manager and coach: We human beings sell ourselves short. Very, very short. We are far better than we think we are, and we are capable of way more than we ever demonstrate. We barely skim the halfway mark of our different capacities.

We are very good at articulating why this happens. We are horrible at doing something about it.

Of all the values I teach, the toughest one for people is ha‘aha‘a, the value of humility. People don’t really get it. What most people consider ‘being humble’ to be, is actually a cop-out of being uninvolved, where they are less engaged in the guise of not stepping on someone’s toes, being shy and hesitant, and not tooting their own horn when their music would actually sound wonderfully melodic and sweet if they did. Folks, you need to toot away!

Your tooting will likely start some very cool conversations.

Aaron’s Story

Aaron lives in Europe. He is a manager intent on bringing Managing with Aloha to his workplace, and we conduct his coaching via weekly Skype calls and the homework he does on my program between each call. When we first started, Aaron was a bit surprised to learn that I wasn’t initially interested in his workplace; I just wanted to know about him, and what he wanted to create, or be known for.

“Create? What do you mean? Create at work?”

“Maybe, but not necessarily. Create with your work, wherever you do it. Think about ‘work’ as anything you set out to do.” 

“Oh, I get it. Never thought about work like that before. I do work all over the place. All the time. Ask me more questions.”

“Well, what do you want to invent? What do you want to be known for, so that one day, people will come looking for you to get it, or learn about it? What tangible creation do you want to plug your strengths into? If Managing with Aloha turns out to be your ‘how’ you do it, what will be the ‘it’ you are applying it to?”

Learn Koa, the Hawaiian Value of Courage

It is September 1, 2007: Welcome to Joyful Jubilant Learning's Forum 2007.

Dean Boyer has kicked things off wonderfully for us, with his article called Difference Maker #1: Courageous Heart.

In his comment for Dean this morning, Tim Milburn writes, “Dean - Thanks for launching the month with the PERFECT topic: COURAGE. Courage is what we need to face our fears and accomplish our dreams. I've read that article in Fast Company, it's one of their best!”

I was poised to write my own comment in agreement, and I ended up clicking away, back into my Talking Story archives, for back in late 2004 when this issue of Fast Company was published it did a number of things for me; it made a difference.

The issue was called Why Guts Matter.

I had read the issue late, putting the magazine aside when it first arrived in my mailbox, for it was two months before my book, Managing with Aloha would be released, and I had a ton of other concerns on my mind. Once I did read it, both Senator John McCain’s article and a stirring Letter from the Editor by John Byrne seemed to leap off the page, taunting me, daring me to take this book I had just written and launch it into the business it begged to be. That September issue became my ho‘ohana theme on Talking Story for the entire month of November: Koa, the Hawaiian value of courage.

I was coaching myself. Was I going to make it? Byrne had written,

“Why courage, and why now? Because, as McCain argues, courage is the essential virtue, the one that allows all the others. It is at the core of what great leadership is all about.”

I had considered myself a manager all my life. Now, could I possibly be a leader? A whole year before, I had taken the leap of faith, and named my company Say Leadership Coaching, not Say Management Coaching, and I knew I had to be more courageous if I was going to live up to that billing.

How wonderful if this forum can be the same crucible for you.

This morning, Dean’s start and Tim’s comment have triggered this flashback for me, and I have replaced those telling events of November 2004 with the initiative of our JJL Forum 2007 NOW. Let’s take the final words of John Byrne’s editorial and rewrite them slightly with OUR intentions here:

That is why we explore this provocative and timely topic [we are calling MAKE A DIFFERENCE]. We hope this [forum] will inspire you to act courageously against your own fears. For as McCain so wisely notes, "You must be afraid to have courage. . . . Courage is not the absence of fear, but the capacity of action despite our fears."

Back in 2004, you can bet I was afraid, not knowing how everything would turn out. I had left a great job to start my own business without a single customer. I had to wear this brave face when I was shaking with uncertainty inside, wondering if people could hear my bones rattling.

The Hawaiian value of Koa is more than bravery and fearlessness. It is also resolution, conviction, and emotional strength. When we manage with aloha, Koa is a value we constantly must draw from if we are to lead with nerve and daring in times when our world largely cautions us to tread lightly. When our own voices of self-doubt caution us to tread lightly.

To make a difference for someone else, we must make a difference for ourselves first.

We must wear leadership when our bones rattle with inner fears.

Make a Difference in the World? Sure! Why not?

We are excited!

October 1st will be our first birthday here at Joyful Jubilant Learning, and we are gearing up for the big day with our 3rd annual September Learning Forum. If the math seems off, here is a quick history: the forum was hosted by my first blog Talking Story for the first two years, and it proved so successful for our learning community there, that JJL was created as our new year-long home.

So we started thinking, now that we are JJLers all the year through, what will the theme of our September forum be?

We wanted to “go big” as April would say, and with collaborative learning as our core community value, that thought itself gets us pretty energized. In a brainstorm done by all of our contributing authors, a mantra of “Let’s make a difference” emerged early, loud and clear.

JJL has become quite a global community in our first year, and we are eager to see how learners everywhere are dreaming about, and committing to make a difference for themselves, for their families, in their work’s passions, as they volunteer in their neighborhoods, and as they plan to impact our world.

The world?

Well sure, why not?

When I look back over our first year, and all that has been written and talked about here at Joyful Jubilant Learning, it is crystal clear to me that people are much more powerful than they give themselves credit for being. We human beings are capable of so much. There will be sharing expressed here on what someone has learned, and there will always – yes, always, be a glimpse of how what first seems to be one person’s experience has actually made a larger impact of some kind – or can. Learning, reach, and growth are unmistakably connected; there is a pervasive ripple effect that happens inside out, where the “inside” is a tapping in of someone’s yet-unfelt, still to be released possibility.

One of my favorite mantras to live by is this one:

Everything is – and was – impossible until the first person does it.
Can’t is not can’t, it’s won’t – so when will I?

At one time, people only reached across the globe with handwritten, posted letters, and now we do so with instantaneous clicks. At one time, people thought we would never actually see the surface of the moon, and now we can walk on it. These are but two; there are so many more examples of the impossible becoming the new normal – what will be yours?

Learning IS the catalyst, and today is yet another day I am counting my blessings that I can do so here in your inspiring company. I am so looking forward to JJL Forum 2007, and I hope you decide to write an essay and participate! Let’s make a difference.
~ Rosa Say

Rapid Fire Learning - Booster!

Can you believe we are already through the first half of our "award winning" month? If you are like me, you have encountered the fierceness of the battle to "unlearn". In fact, habits can be so ingrained in us that what we acknowledge and commit to unlearn exits our minds as soon as we enter our day. If this describes you, as it does me, let me encourage each other not to give up!

Between now and the end of the month, select at least one thing to unlearn and then focus on it. Put reminders around you with "trigger words".

During the Rapid Fire Learning process starting August 26th, be prepared to courageously share the five things you have learned this month and the one area you are "unlearning". I know your journey will help us with ours! Regardless of the size of step we take, it will be worth it!

~ Dean Boyer

Unlearning mediocrity

It is easy to "just get by." Ask me how I know. For much of the previous two decades, I knew what it took to fly under the radar, stay out of trouble and do just enough.

• Mediocrity - The quality or state of being mediocre.
• Mediocre - of moderate or low quality, value, ability, or performance; Ordinary, so-so

That about covers it.

I always knew I had more potential. Why did I live that way? Why do I still have to fight to keep from going back there? Phil asked me a very similar question. My answer - fear. "Of success or failure?" he asked. Both.

This unlearning of mediocrity is the reason I said "Yes!" to JJL. I have found the first and best step to overcoming this fear - don't look at it as success or failure, just learn and trust the process.

My goals as defined through the 7 Wonders of Jubilant Learning

• Listen to those around me.  They have so much to offer and they do so freely.
• Laugh at myself. There are few things that should be taken so seriously.
• Learn everyday. Or relearn. Or unlearn.
• Link into community. Singularly we are wonderful - collectively we are masterful.
• Love the life I am in while striving for the life I want.
• Live to give back.
• Leap even if I am afraid.

That's the opposite of mediocrity.

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Post author April Groves is the author of Making Life Work For You providing information on community, success, and life management in real estate sales, and My Beautiful Chaos, a personal weblog which celebrates her family and friends, and her spirit of play.