Lifelong Learning: Truly An Art Form

Lifelong Learning: Truly An Art Form

“Yes, I’m done with school,” said a young bridegroom to me when I asked him about his educational status and future.

My response was spontaneous and swift: “Well, now the education really begins because learning is a lifelong process.”

No matter where you are, you need to learn something from the experience!

I’m sure he wasn’t ready for me to say that. He was marrying a beautiful young woman who was finishing her baccalaureate degree, had a pretty good job as a chef, and figured his life couldn’t get any better. But I had to plant the seed because metaphorically I am an educational farmer and entrepreneur, one who sees the wide-open stretches of fertile minds of people, young and old, employed and unemployed, and figures everyone should be doing something to enhance his or her capacity to learn and enhance their capabilities and skill sets.

Many years ago as I was driving home after the wedding, I couldn’t help but think about the 81-year-old GED graduate who haltingly crawled out of her wheelchair, grabbed her walker, and shuffled cautiously across the stage at a Lewis-Clark State College General Educational Development (GED) graduation to receive her GED certificate. Tears swelled up in my eyes as I watched her walk back to her wheelchair and sit back down. The crowd gave her a standing ovation.

I also thought about the 78-year-old GED graduate at Eastern Idaho Technical College (EITC) some years ago who said, “I am getting my GED because I know I will be a good example to my grandchildren.” Donned in traditional cap and gown, she, too, received a standing ovation as she walked across the stage and waved to her family.

Often our experiences are reflected in what we learn
from what you are doing!

Often, I also think about the  many “more mature adults” who participate in so many educational and cultural activities around the world but especially in their own communities. They attend plays, participate in arts classes, learn how to play pickle ball, and attend lectures about history and a plethora of other topics. Their education may have ended several decades ago, but their learning has never stopped. Instead, they seek opportunities to learn because, as one of them commented, “I love to learn. It stimulates my mind.”

I simply marvel at people who love to learn, no matter what age they are. Simultaneously, I often wondered how we could instill this progressive, albeit simple, philosophy in young people in grade school or junior or senior high school—and others who continuously wonder what they are going to do with their lives. These young people’s repetitious phrase is diametrically opposed to the senior citizens’: “I can’t wait to get out of school. I’m so burned out.”

When I hear this phrase, I want to literally scream: “Don’t say that! Don’t quit the process now! Your foundation has already been laid. Courage, and on to the victory.” After I calm down, I find solace in the fact that they will go on. I have watched them do this. Many of them just need to experience the jolt of menial labor or no job at all to open their eyes to learning and the prospects of an enhanced life and maybe earning some real money along the way.

Over the years, I often used the Jaime Escalante’s phrase, “Free, free, free, knowledge; bring you own containers.” Life is all about that phrase. Knowledge oozes out of every corner and crack of our lives and in places we do not expect. Often it just seeps by us or hangs from luscious baskets within our reach, but, unfortunately, we do not take advantage of the proliferation of knowledge. Or we fail to pack around our own containers, our buckets. Or worse, just the bottoms of our buckets are covered, and we say, “I’ve got all the knowledge I want or need.”

Our learning may be challenging and cause us great consternation,
but in the end, it is glorious to behold!

Sometimes our buckets are like the old wire baskets I used to pick potatoes (a.k.a. “spuds”) in Eastern Idaho. They did not fill up by themselves. In order to pick a sack full of hardy Russets, my partner—most of the time my brother—and I had to bend over our baskets and reach for the potatoes. After dumping our full baskets in the gunny sack, we set the sack in the furrow between us and began again. Then, the truck would come by and take the sack to the spud cellar where they stored them until they were ready to sell.

Our gathering of knowledge parallels spud picking. It takes a bit of effort to fill our buckets. We may have to bend our backs, stretch our minds, work midst wind and snowstorms, tauntings of others, and maybe even make a few sacrifices. But in the end, it’s all worth it. Like spuds in the cellar, knowledge stores easily in our minds until we need to use it. But we also need to couple it with everyday experiences so we can make the appropriate connections.

Learning is an investment, one that yields high benefits and interest. Because of the many ongoing and dynamic changes in the world and the workplace, you may need to withdraw these resources at any given time.

Invest now and often and keep your mind and bank account growing.

Sometimes, you have to just cling on and wait for the high tide!

 

Finding focus and clarity in your life.

Finding focus and clarity in your life

Introduction 

Have you been at a loss lately to find your focus and clarity in your life? During these times of both challenges and marvels, we tend to wonder where our focus is and whether there is any clarity in our lives. What cannot happen is that we give up and fade off into oblivion in our lives, just getting up or even not getting up in the morning and mopping around the house, always wishing things would change but doing nothing about it.

The following seven principles/suggestions are (almost) surefire ways of finding focus and clarity. The (almost) comes in if you read them, force a big yawn, and do nothing about your focus or clarity. If you want to do something to help, read on. Even if you have an inkling you want to do better, read it twice.

Always look holistically at everything (Focus on the big picture!) 

The challenge emerges when we do not look and focus on the big picture—your future. Yes, there are lots of details in anything that we do. The rub comes when we focus only on the details and get lost in the minutia. It is like climbing into one of those deep pits full of little balls, red and blue, trying to find just the few blue ones and submerge ourselves into the balls. All else fades into darkness, and we cannot tell the blue ones from the red ones. The safe bet is to lift up your heads and scan the entire area. Seeing holistically will always keep your mind and eyes open to the realm of possibilities. It’s ultimately like standing on a high mountain on clear day and seeing forever in any direction. Ah, the beauty of a holistic view! Make sure your future is always in your sights.

Accept that you can succeed 

One of the key ingredients in the acceptance thing is understanding that you can overcome challenges. Sure, there will always be a boatload of challenges that seem to dock in your path, some by your own choices, others because some people place them there, and still a few others that just seem to appear out of nowhere and try to sabotage you. You just need to accept those challenges and know that with patience and diligence, you will succeed. The marvelous thought that should come to you is that you can succeed because you choose to succeed.

Determine what you really to do 

Some of us spend too much time weighing a zillion things we can do or must do. While it is important to spend time thinking about things, at some point you have to determine what you really want to do or what needs to be done. I know a person who says I need to do this, but the moment she begins to walk to get that thing done, she gets distracted by some other thing that needs to be completed. Consequently, nothing gets done, and then she complains that she did not finish what she started to do. So, sit down, place all of the things you need to do and want to do, write them down, and then prioritize through planning.

Plow forward with all effort 

Once you determine what you want to do, just begin doing it by plowing forward with all effort. I have discovered that once you climb out of your shell or lethargy and just begin, you will find that it is exhilarating to be out and about doing what you have determined to do. There is something invigorating about accomplishing what you have determined to do. Just keep moving forward, no matter what. At times, you may not be able to go as fast, but continue to plow forward.

Take advantage of the tools around you 

Knowing that you can succeed is enhanced by utilizing the tools that surround you. So, what are those tools? Most of the time we cannot really do things by ourselves—even brushing our teeth. We do need a toothbrush, toothpaste, and usually a mirror. Succeeding is attending that class that will help us, or some reading material off the web or checked out from the library, or that free seminar offered by one of our colleagues or someone in the same business group—a snippet here, a bit of information there. Don’t be shy about using it to help you become even more focused and clear about you and your goals and aspirations. Just gather the tools up as you go. Don’t forget, though, to share your tools with others.

Be positive and stick to it 

Of course, when the challenges do come—and they will come, usually in bunches—you will need to be positive and stay positive. Now, this means a bit of pragmatism and reality need to align. The pragmatic person sees things in a realistic way because they know that things happen. That’s just the way it is. When you align pragmatism with positivity, you gain a sense of stick-to-it-ness. You truly understand that things will happen, and your positivity will propel you forward beyond that negativity. Period.

Utilize mentors—i.e. Let appropriate people help you 

One of the important things to stay focused is find a mentor or two who can help you stay on track. There really are lots of people who want to help you. True mentors will help people. I am not saying that you have to call them every single day to “check in.” Most mentors are there when you need them. They are not a crutch for you. Rather, they help boost you forward, giving you wings and motivation to go and do. Then, when someone asks you for help, please reciprocate. You will feel both ennobled and enabled.

Conclusion 

Focusing on what you need to do and doing it will always bring clarity to your tasks. Often, the clarity is so transparent you may think it is a newly cleaned window that allows you to see farther than you have ever seen. If the dimness ever re-emerges, quickly take the effective, more focused and holistic view of things and the lucidity will engulf you.