Habit 1: Begin with the end in mind
I think this one is not always necessary for learning. As others have mentioned, sometimes learning just happens while you’re mentally (and maybe physically) wandering and exploring. I’ve had a number of experiences where I became aware of something new, and a short time later had occasion to use that unexpected knowledge to solve a problem. I think of this as “serendipitous” learning.
Habit 2: Accept responsibility for your own learning
I think this one comes with maturity. I know my own (college-aged) kids seem to feel it is the teacher’s responsibility to open up their heads and pour the knowledge in, almost refuse to ask questions if they are unclear about anything, and apparently find it impossible to learn anything from a teacher they don’t particularly like! Funny thing is that I was the same way at their age!
Habit 3: View problems as challenges
This one is tough. I tend to initially view problems in everyday life as annoyances. Which is rather funny, because I also get a feeling of satisfaction when I have successfully solved a problem! And as an adult learner I have to admit that I usually find my homework to be fun!
Habit 4: Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner
I believe I’m smart enough to learn almost anything I decide to. But I am selective about what I learn. I feel that just because I could learn something doesn’t mean I should learn it. No one can know everything, so unless a particular subject has sparked my curiosity, I will usually leave it for someone else to learn. It might be that future circumstances will cause me to become curious about it, and then I will learn it.
Habit 5: Create your own learning toolbox
· I learn best by reading and/or doing. So I am fortunate to be the kind of person who can read and follow directions. And even if the directions are not particularly clear, I can usually “interpolate” what the author meant :oD
· My biggest challenge is to learn by hearing/listening. Even though in the moment I feel as if I understand what is being said, things that are presented to me in this way tend to “go in one ear and out the other”. And yet after all this time, I still have not developed the skill nor the habit of taking good notes. I wonder how/why that is? Nowadays I usually try to remember a key word or two, and look it up online, so I can read about it!
Habit 6: Use technology to your advantage
Since my job is involved with technology, new technologies are available all around me. Yet I tend not to embrace them right away. I’m more of a “wait and see” kind of person than a “try it out” kind of person. By the time I get around to using a certain technology, it’s usually because I have seen other people use it and it seems like something useful to me. However, once I decide to use a new technology, I have no fear of nor problem learning it.
Habit 7: Teach/mentor others
If you had asked me as a young person if I wanted to be a teacher, I would have told you “NO WAY!!!”. So I find it interesting that pretty much my entire professional life has been spent training people and helping them learn to do something. I don’t think I would make a good classroom teacher. My personality isn’t dynamic enough to keep them awake and focused. But individually or in very small groups, I enjoy helping people develop new skills and I think I do it pretty well, too.
Habit 7 ½: Play
I’m sure there was a time when this was not true, but play comes hard for me. I almost always feel that there are more important uses of my time than “playing around”. I can handle “goofing off”, which has a kind of “mindless yet finite” connotation to it for me. That is, I can goof off for, say, half an hour and then I have to get back to work. But “playing” implies to me a certain “open-endedness yet purposefulness” that I tend to feel guilty indulging in. In addition, I have always had a difficult time thinking up my own challenges in order to learn to use new tools or technologies. So I usually do better in a structured class setting than “just playing around”. That is why something like “23 Things” is so great for me - it gives me challenges to use for my own learning. And the fact that it is related to my job allows me to indulge in some “play” with minimal guilt.
