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Life is a Series of Learning Projects
(3 minute read)
Have you ever looked at your life as a series of learning projects?
There can be no change without learning and conversely, there can be no learning without change.
Whether learning to walk, break a habit, ride a bike, change homes, start school, change jobs, switch careers, manage stress, declutter, deal with conflict, become a parent, face grief and loss, deal with illness of an aging parent or your child’s anxiety, start a business, learn a new language, advance your EQ (emotional intelligence), follow your dreams or simply change your mind—change and learning is ongoing.
Learning means change and change means learning.
COVID-19 is forcing us to embark on a steep learning curve. The pandemic brings a myriad of complex uncertainties that are impacting our health, jobs, and social lives.
For many it’s certainly the most complex learning project they’ve ever faced. Many are weathering the storm quite differently.
While enrolled in graduate studies, Developing Human Resources in the Department of Adult Education at the University of Toronto, I learned more about self-directed growth
and personal change
through Dr. Allen Tough (1936–2012). Tough’s research illuminated adults' successful efforts to learn and change and his work has inspired more than 90 major studies in eleven countries in this area.
“At any one time, we have 7 or 8 different learning projects going on.”—Dr. Allen Tough
A learning project can take minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years.
In his book, Intentional Changes, Allen Tough groups change into 4 common areas:
- job career and training
- human relationships, emotions, and self-perceptions
- enjoyable activities
- residence location
Do you have 7 or 8 different learning projects going?
Now write down answers to the following questions:
- How many learning projects are you juggling now? Focus on what new learning you've been undertaking since the pandemic disrupted your daily life.
- What new skills are you learning?
- What do you want to learn about next?
- What resources are you seeking to support your learning process?
Remember, life is a series of learning projects. Your biggest learning project is YOU.
Photo by Brooke Lark
Is your cellphone getting in your way? If so, you're not alone! More and more we're accessing them 24/7. To manifest positive growth in your life, I'm reminding you that it's important to step away from the phone and the screen. Take a break. That's what this week's video is about.
“Every problem is an opportunity in disguise.” —John Adams Are you able to be in a situation that’s challenging or frustrating, step back from it and think—What is the opportunity for me here? Or perhaps you may say to yourself, I’m feeling uncomfortable now. I’m not pleased. What is it I’m not seeing or learning? When situations present abrupt, unexpected and unplanned changes, it’s important to stop, seek to pay closer attention to what you may not be seeing. What is the big picture here? What am I missing? Today, because of COVID-19 countless unintended changes have catapulted into our personal, physical, economic, and social lives. Many are confronting very difficult, adjustments and downright chaos that also comes from dealing with conflicting emotions and energy levels as a result of these changes inflicted upon us. As I’ve mentioned before, there can be no change without learning and there can be no learning without change. How does one tap into a positive mindset when negative things happen? How do we find the silver lining? How do we get the larger picture and perspective? Even at the best of times many of us battle a negative mindset throughout our lives. This overly cautious, pessimistic outlook, to a degree, is there to protect us. However, this overly wary, cautious mindset can certainly get out of hand and overtake our entire worldview. This negative mindset becomes pervasive and destructive. How do we look at the situations we are in during COVID-19 and pull out the positives? What are the opportunities for us to learn? Is there a different way of looking at life? We assume that the patterns of life will stay the same simply because that’s all we’ve known. Being forced out of our comfort zone isn’t easy. However, life is always changing. Society is always changing. The earth is always changing. The universe is always changing. I suggest it could be helpful to write down the problems and adjustments that you’re facing right now. Beside each problem, add these 3 questions: What is the opportunity for me here? What am I to learn from this? What could I do differently? What are my choices? Photo by Suganth
Is it possible that Mother Nature (Mother Earth/Gaia) has a message for you? It's as if our world has stopped so we can get off the merry-go-round and take stock of our lives.
Shelley reminds us that there are messages and messengers around us all the time and it's important to take note of our surroundings and the insights that are coming to us.
