Joyful Jubilant Learning

We are the Digital World -- Rapid Fire Learning for April

Digital technology has had an enormous impact on my life.

The year the Hollandale Christian School (K-8) got their first computer remains etched in my mind. I remember how it made me feel to sit in front of that monitor--I was smitten.

At that tender age, I discovered a medium which would allow me to safely explore who I was and finally--about 20 years later--I began that journey.

Today, global connectivity is at an all time high and our definition of collaboration, ownership, community and  'how impersonal the web is' are constantly being redrawn. The sun doesn't set without someone reaching out to another human being through evolving channels to once again change the game.

These things have such a profound effect on my life I've struggled with how to share them with you. I struggle because I think many people miss the fact that we are everything we create. We are the digital machine. We learn and grow through our creations and go on to create more. There is no separation.

• The Youtube Video above is about Web 2.0 and how we are a part of it. We are the 'machine', we teach the machine and we learn from it.

I think this puts a great deal of the communities, interactivity and collaboration into an entirely new perspective. It's no longer about how authentic a conversation is--the question is, how will it change and redefine the future? OR will it at all?

I don't know about you but it excites me to think about the innovations we will see in all areas of the online conversation-space.

• Tod Machover and Dan Ellsey @ TED - Machover of MIT's Media Lab is devoted to extending musical expression for everyone (Guitar Hero came from his group). Ellsey plays his "My Eagle Song" in piece that underscores music's ability to heal, to communicate, and to inspire.

Dan has cerebral palsy and watching him play the music he composed himself, through his own expression via digital software absolutely floored me. Not only did this create a paradigm shift within me, it creates a way for individuals like Dan to explore themselves. I was moved to tears while watching his performance.

• Learning to Engage - Rosa's article is spot on, in regards to learning how to engage in online communities and answer the question "Why Bother?".

While many consider digital communities OR the web as a whole to be the seed of separation when it comes to close contact with other humans--I see it differently. Conversing with people via Telnet on text-based worlds gave an isolated individual (me) a safe means of opening up.

By learning to engage online, I found ways to engage my fellow man in the physical world.

• My beloved iPod - When we consider the theme Digital Learning, most of us will immediately think of the web and its expanding usefulness. While I'm quite fond of these things, digital learning can include the tools we use throughout our days away from the computer and/or web access.

A little over two years ago, I made a choice which would redefine my life--if I made the choice to stick with it. My iPod was a critical part of my motivation, inspiration and learning through upbeat music, seminars and audio books.

When I felt my mood sinking...
When I needed to relax and focus on what I wanted to draw into my life...
When I carved the learning necessary to grow and become a successful and happy person...

My iPod was there.

• Twitter : StumbleUpon : My Private Classroom - Three websites, all of them powerful.

The funny thing is I've been a member of Twitter and StumbleUpon for well over a year. But for whatever reason, I didn't get engaged right off the bat. Now Twitter and StumbleUpon are a big part of the marketing I do (Still getting the hang of Twitter but loving it :: Instant Messaging on Steroids!).

MPC is a community on Ning, created to give real marketing training to real people. It is a gathering of people from all walks of life, varied levels of expertise for the purpose of  helping each other excel, grow and become successful. My kind of MasterMind Group. :)

There has never been a better time to be alive. The means to share, collaborate, learn and grow are at our finger tips with the click of a button. Learning is in our blood. We all carve and need growth--whether we've come to recognize it or not.

As with anything else, the digital superhighway and toys we cherish are what we make them. We can use them to withdraw OR they can be a means for making the world a better place.

The question is, what digital tools do you use and are you engaging the community behind it? OR better yet, are you allowing them to teach you the lessons available so you might grow?

Do they make you better? If not, why bother?

[Update:] This article was prepared--all I had to do was hit publish, when a spot of digital learning came along. Yesterday, I faced a road block (sharing my voice online) and took part in a Voice Thread conversation. Now I'm in search of ways to use Voice Thread and/or other forms of audio and video on my blog. Another step taken and lesson learned. :)

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Tim Draayer discovered the joy of reclaiming one's destiny two years ago. Today he is an entrepreneur, networker and personal growth evangelist. He writes about all these things on his blog, Network Marketing Journey.

5 Things I've Learned About "Managing My Time" in February

1. This month I learned something that has reverberated through my core like an earthquake:

"The mindset that ENABLES you to succeed, is not the same mindset
that allows you to REMAIN SUCCESSFUL and have a balanced life."

2. This month I learned that my paradigm of time was based on an old model. In my previous time model, my business was project to project and didn't involve any time spent on marketing and administration because it was 100% referral and projects lasted from 6 month to 2 years and I simply billed monthly.  I didn't own a home, and I wasn't married. I could "afford the time" to say YES to most things that interested me.  I had a mindset of "there is plenty of time" This month, when I missed a client deadline by 3 weeks, and showed up for an appointment an hour early, I became extremely conscious that something very deep inside me had to change.

3. Even though I knew this, it really LANDED for me this month:  I realized that no planner or other time management tool will work for me unless my paradigm of time is based in reality - there are only 24 hours in a day, and I've got a LOT of that time already on AUTO BILL PAY.  12-14 of those hours are spent in sleep and life maintenance. Another 5-8 are ALREADY spend on time WITH or FOR current clients.  That leaves me 2-4 hours for everything else.

4. Managing time is not really about "managing". It's not about scheduling (a word I really dislike.) That is a way too vague and meaningless way to look at time for me.  For me, I'm seeing that viewing my time as something very valuable that I invest is more useful.  So, lets suppose my time is worth $2 per minute. If I spend 20 minutes answering an email, I just spent $40. Was that a good investment?   Would I pay $40 for a loaf of bread? Investing my time is about constantly making YES or NO decisions on how to "spend" the valuable time I have available.  Everything I say YES to is something else I have to say NO to. 

The more successful you become, the balance of YES to NO has to shift.  In the beginning. you say YES to every opportunity.  To remain successful, it's all about the art of staying focused and figuring out what to say NO to even if they are great opportunities.  It's also about figuring out how to make sure there is time for your values of learning, sharing and generosity - which I personally believe are good investments of time if they remain in appropriate balance with  all your other values.  (This is why I'm still saying YES to Joyful Jubilant Learning and the awesome people who make up this amazingly generous and talented group, even though I can't give as much time as I would like to the project.)

Spending time is very similar to deciding how to spend money.  If you don't have your eye on your "available balance" in each of your "accounts" it is VERY easy to overspend and become "overdrawn" on your Time accounts or have to steal from another account.  My decision making criteria on what to do with the VERY FINITE amount of time I have must be based on what I currently need and value, as well as on how much time is available in each account. 

5. I learned that I can't make my time decisions based primarily on what other people need and want from me.  FEARING I will disappoint people and lose out on opportunities actually MANIFESTS more disappointment and fewer opportunities. To make effective time decisions, I need a model that works like a sort of Quickbooks.  I need a Chart of TIME ACCOUNTS.  Each Account must have a Monthly SPENDING LIMIT.  I need to know what my "TIME BALANCE" is at all times in order to make more effective decisions. 

If anyone knows of a model or tool that helps you know your balance at all times, I'd LOVE to hear about.  (I've already tried Covey, David Allen, Julie Morgenstern, and others - but I need more robust Time Account Balancing tools that can handle over 20 time accounts.)  Otherwise, I'm on a mission to INVENT IT!!!  : ) 

p.s.  Get my free ebook "100 Surefire Ways to Organize Your Busy Life!"

 Ariane Benefit, M.S.Ed, is a Life Coach and Organizing Expert, specializing in how to manage ADD, overcome chronic disorganization, and design a lifestyle and home environment that supports you in getting the results you really want.

Ariane is the author of the "The Neat & Simple Guide to Organizing Your Office" the popular organizing blog, Neat & Simple Living.

Rapid, Rapid Fire

No the headline isn't a typo, I made a conscious effort to make my learning uber-rapid this month - and what better than an experiment with a compressed form to make it so?  (Thanks to Michele Martin at the Bamboo Project Blog for the inspiration and fellow JJLers for the encouragement.)

Rapid fire 1

Writing leaps and bounds,
tempting me to try new forms,
teased by syllables.

Rapid fire 2

Less is more they say
forces you to clear your mind,
learning in haiku

Rapid fire 3

One line quotes from Al,
simple words of genius,
speak direct to me.

Rapid fire 4

Books are two way streets.
It's okay to mark them up,
Learning more that way.

Rapid 5

Die happy today.
Running through my mind all month.
Words can wake you up.

Do different formats help you to learn?  Comments, odes, sonnets or haikus welcome in response!

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The author Joanna Young is a writing coach who lives and works in Edinburgh.

You can read more of her work at the Confident Writing blog.

This month she's been focusing taking leaps and bounds with our writing - so it was inevitable there'd be some kind of spillover here!

Your February Learning Triggers

As part of this month’s Rapid Fire Learning with Karen, I thought it would be fun to check our FeedBurner item stats over the first 24 days of February, and see which 5 emerged as the most popular postings in their combination of views and click-throughs. We are a site about the joy of learning, and so what if we assumed that these were the top learning triggers for all of you during February?

Retro counter. [photo credit]

These were the posts that rose to the top of our traffic counts during the month:

1. Learning Perspective: Use It Or Lose It by Tim Draayer, author of  Network Marketing Journey
      
2. How to Read an Unfinished Book by Tim Milburn, author of  Studentlinc
      
3. Lessons of Shadows and Light by Steve Sherlock, author of Steve's 2 Cents
    
4. 5 Joyful January Learnings by Ariane Benefit, author of Neat & Simple Living
      
5. More Power to the Point by Dwayne Melancon, author of Genuine Curiosity
   

Are you part of those stats? What was your RFL from each or any of those postings?

Pretty cool to see Ariane’s RFL still in there from January…it seems our monthly RFL habit itself is a good way to share and trigger even more for each other. [Have you read the 25 Reasons to Adopt Rapid Fire Learning?]

Authors, perhaps you'd like to chip into the comments and give us just a sentence or two on the core message you had hoped to convey for those of us who'd like to take another look at what you had written?

Any other thoughts or reactions?
~ Rosa Say for Joyful Jubilant Learning

Postscript: This was our theme for February, though our contributors are welcomed to write on whatever other learning triggers their writing muses for us:

JJL in February, 2008: What do we learn by reading books?

You can write for us too! Guest Author guidelines can be found in our JJL FAQ.

Costs, U-turns, Clarity

Looking back over the short month of February I have come to better understand:

• Faithful service is costly. It seems like this month the importance of both words "faithful" and "service" have challenged me. Leadership requires faithfulness and service; collectively, it requires faithful service which can be challenging in so many ways. The foundation of quality leadership is humility.
• Whatever unrested my soul was allowed to do it by the decisions I made. My decisions lead to the unrest; this truth is difficult to accept for it is my nature to say, "You caused this..." But, no, it is my reaction and attitude that lead to the decisions that can lead to the anxiety. Once again, it's me...not them.
• Always do the next right thing...sometimes, that means turning around. Have you noticed that U-turns are not allowed on the very roads that need them? I have found myself needing to turn around a little this month. I am so glad the U-turns were legal!
• Everything matters...everything. The smallest act, word, gesture...it all matters!
• Clarity...clarity...clarity. In Buckingham's book One Thing You Need To Know, he mentions that anxiety in an organization can be caused by a lack of clarity by its leader. With this truth, I have been increasingly aware that I, a diplomat by nature, tend to drift toward complication, away from clarity. I have also taken steps to become a person of greater clarity, which has been refreshing in many ways.

The Joy of Discovery - Rapid Fire Learning for February

Rapid Fire Learning: "Rapid fire recall, stream of consciousness, trusting that what needs to come out and get chronicled IS in fact my learning."

I have deliberately NOT planned what I am to write about my learning this month, taking Rosa's words (above) and trusting that what needs to come out, will.

February has been a big month, activity-wise. Lots going on. For February feels like the first month of the year to me. January gets filled with summer holidays... those long lazy days of doing not much. Come February, the children go back to school, work resumes and life speeds right back up to a breathtaking velocity.

My top 5 learnings this month, off the top of my head...

1.    Baking is therapeutic. I re-found my love of getting into the kitchen and baking up a storm (lost years ago in the rush of raising a family and working). Add the benefit of spending time with my daughter as she learns to cook alongside me and the learning is doubled! (The family are all for it - they love the fruits of love that come out of the kitchen:)

 2.   The stuff we own isn't necessarily stuff we need or use. We packed our entire house (except the kitchen) into boxes in early December as a prelude to new flooring. Since then we've finished painting about 1/2 the house. The boxes are still in the shed, unopened. We have needed something in them exactly twice (sticky-tape on Christmas Eve, and my son's birth certificate as he enrolled in university). I'm still discovering the lessons in this...

3.   I need to remember to trust the universe. I was a little anxious about what book I would review for A Love Affair with Books next month here at JJL, as all my books are packed in those boxes in our shed. Until I started reading a book I had picked up on a whim earlier this month. As I started reading I realised I had no need to fret, the right book HAD presented itself, after all...

4.   I am looking with fresh eyes on the mess and chaos that surrounds me. Why? The book I have been reading, and chosen to review is A Perfect Mess: The hidden benefits of disorder.

5.   I learned that it is OK to mark up a book. In fact, it is necessary to deepen the learning, and to make that learning accessible when you want to go back to it (without reading the whole book again). I am testing this learning using the tips from Tim Milburn in his post How to Read an Unfinished Book; and Rosa and Dave in the comments on that post - how rich was this conversation??

Now that I've shown you mine, why not share yours?

We'd love you to explore your own learning for February in a rapid-fire way - jot your 5 in a comment, or send us a trackback to your own post. We're really curious about what you're learning...

Then join me in the final 5 days of February as I aim to turn some of the actions from my learning into lifelong habits and powerful mindsets.

All of the top-achievers I know are life-long learners... Looking for new skills, insights, and ideas. If they're not learning, they're not growing... not moving toward excellence.

~Denis Waitley

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Learn with us! Visit here for 25 Compelling Reasons to Adopt Rapid Fire Learning. Then join in as we revel in the power of learning and sharing as a group... we're really looking forward to your visit.

Karen Wallace lives to learn and learns to live. You can find more of her writings at The Calm Space - an online magazine that's like a virtual day-spa for the senses.

From the MWA Coach: 25 Reasons to Adopt Rapid Fire Learning

Rapid Fire Learning is always a fascinating exercise for me. I love that we have this feature for Joyful Jubilant Learning, and even if the day should come it is discontinued here, RFL-ing will remain packed in my bag.

When I first sit to write my RFLs, I truly go for the intention of the exercise: Rapid fire recall, stream of consciousness, trusting that what needs to come out and get chronicled IS in fact my learning. If I have to go back and re-read blog postings, make sense of my morning pages, and skim my weekly reviews I couldn't have learned what I thought - goodness, not if I can't even remember it!

However I freely admit to you that my rapid fire recall at that first sitting can get edited quite a bit before I do share it with the rest of you. The writer in me grabs hold of what the self-talker let spill out, and necessarily so; often my stream of consciousness sounds like pure gibberish, for after all, I know what I mean.

I also have a way of writing too much (she writes as she starts a fourth paragraph...) so while I may not have learned it yet, RFL does help me to keep learning to edit.

So why am I sharing all of this? If you are not yet participating in our Rapid Fire Learning, I urge you to do so. It is such a valuable learning exercise.

This month, I am bending the rules of the exercise a bit with my participation. As we head further down Jubilation Way, I am hoping these reasons will convince you to pack Rapid Fire Learning in your bag too. You'll be surprised how it doesn't take much space at all, yet makes such a huge difference for you.

25 Reasons to Adopt Rapid Fire Learning

1. You learn to trust in the wisdom of your recall. There is some magic that happens there, and you tap into it. It gets easier and easier with each new month. You wonder at the all of who you are - gosh, who knew?

2. You learn how much of a learner you truly are. It dawns on you that the seemingly-constant goal you have had to be a "lifelong learner" is something you have already achieved.

New threads of learning

I guess most of you know by now that I love words and writing.  But that's not the whole of my 'thing', my purpose, which is about coaching and inspiring others to realize the power of their words.

And that means I'm constantly looking for - and experimenting with - ways that I can connect with people that aren't just based on the 'conventional' written word.  My five bits of learning this month are a mixture of things I've learned, things I'm still working out, and things I definitely want to keep in my bag for the year ahead.

Podcasting - I've been doing a regular podcast for the last few months.  It's 5 writing tips in less than 5 minutes, once a week.  I've learned that my mind likes the creative challenge of finding a topic or a frame for the week (last week's was inspired by the haggis!) but I still need to learn how to make more of the time and effort that I put into these, and how to promote them through the podcasting world (is there an equivalent of the blogosphere - the podosphere?).  Any tips and suggestions on how to do this gratefully received...

Pictures - thanks to Steve Sherlock for telling us about a fantastic site for finding flickr images with a Creative Commons licence.  Have a look at the site, type in a word - something you're writing about maybe - and see what comes up.  How could you use that image to give your words greater impact?

Twitter - it's still words, but not writing in the formal or conventional sense... 140 characters at a time, sometimes disconnected and disjointed, sometimes rapid fire, sometimes happy, sometimes sad, sometimes providing just the link, the thought, the idea that you need to spark some learning.  There are some other JJLers there I know and I'm interested in the possibilities... how do you think we could use it to help build this community or stimulate our own learning?

Talking - nothing like the spoken word of course, and I've been enjoying talking to a few more blogging friends by phone and Skype this month.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed I'll be able to meet some JJLers in person in Chicago in May, and I know that will take my learning to the next level again.

VoiceThread - I discovered VoiceThread via a 'tweet' from a Scottish blogger I've just 'met' and co-incidentally, on the same day, a post by Michele Martin at the Bamboo Project blog (she was also looking at the limitations of traditional reading and writing). 

I'm enclosing a first introductory voice thread from me, plus a link to a video from VoiceThread that tells you how it works.  I'm really looking forward to learning and discovering more.  Are any of you using it already? 

What I like about it that is that it blends visual and auditory - much more likely to hold my attention than a podcast or voice recording on its own, and it's interactive, with the opportunity to add different messages and voices, so the picture becomes the base for a multi-layered story...

I haven't quite worked out how the commenting thing works yet - but if you're a member (or are willing to sign up... ) the idea is you can leave a voice recorded or typed message.  Can you see ways that we could use this to develop JJL collaborative projects...?

Thanks Ariane for the prompt to share my learning, and to all of you, as always, for inspiring and encouraging me to be a joyful jubilant learner.

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This article is part Rapid Fire Learning and part contribution to our January theme at Joyful Jubilant Learning:  Packing our bags for 2008

The author Joanna Young is a writing coach who lives and works in Edinburgh.

You can read more of her work at the Confident Writing blog. This month she's focusing there on writing with impact.

Rapid Fire Learning with Seth Godin

Last week, I had the chance to speak with Seth Godin about his new book Meatball Sundae.  If you didn't read the interview when we posted it, check it out now!

In addition to the cogent advice, Seth shared 5 things he has learnt so far in 2008:

1. Things are good, don't wait.

2. Helping others first isn't a platitude, it's a valid strategy.

3. The web doesn't care about you, not one bit.

4. It still comes down to who you really are, and what you do when you think no one is watching.

5. Everything is easy when the wind is at your back.

What have YOU learnt so far this year ?  Let us know in the comments!

Benjamin Bach is a speaker, writer and wealth building Real Estate agent in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario Canada - home of the Blackberry.

You can find his blog at http://www.Kitchener-Waterloo-Real-Estate-Investments.com

 

5 Lessons from Max

On December 26th, a beautiful one year old Chow/Husky dog found himself in the humane shelter. For five days, he waited for someone to pick him up. In a cage with two other dogs, he found himself imprisoned with a doubtful future. A couple of days later, my wife and I adopted Max and brought him home. What a wonderful companion for us! He is fully trained, smart and has learned to walk properly on a leash, sit, stay and lie down.

Not only has he learned new things, I have been taught by him. Here are my 5 lessons Max is teaching me:

1. Routine is good. My wife and I tend to be routine people, especially during the workweek. Max thrives with routine and disciplined structure. He also enjoys letting it loose on our quarter acre!

2. Enjoy simple things. One of his favorite toys is a sock ball that my wife made for him. He enjoys throwing it around and sleeping with it. He loves the nightly routine of being brushed!

3. Obedience leads to blessings. Doing the right things lead to rewards; we all know this but sometimes we forget that all we need to do, at every moment, is the next right thing.

4. Exploration and getting to know others are fun. Exploring his new yard and neighborhood has given him such joy. He loves "approved" people, the next door dog and every bush in our yard. He even enjoyed meeting the vet and his staff who all thought he was "magnificent".

5. Be who you are. Max is Max and enjoys it. He is no other dog and appears to be proud of it. He is a Designer Original!

I'm sure there will be more stories from Max in coming days...like this morning's squirrel challenge...