The Lifelong Learner
:: Do what you can, with what you have, where you are -Roosevelt ::
The Lifelong Learner
:: Do what you can, with what you have, where you are -Roosevelt ::
I like college towns. There is something about them that interests me. It must be the young people — plenty of them — looking to learn. Or it must be the “education” smell. I’m not sure. I just like college towns.
State College is the home of Penn State. It has a nice, lively downtown adjacent to the college. It is filled with young people. Beatiful girls. 
It feels rich. It feels safe. It’s very clean.
What more can you ask?
My college experience was different. I went to NJIT. It’s a technical school. We had 80% of guys (or even more). Not too many nice girls. College guys like to have fun. We tried. After visiting Penn State, I wished I had gone there. It would have been a lot of fun.
All students seemed to be proud of Penn State. You can feel it. It’s great.
We went to Providence, RH, home of Brown university, last year. It has a different feeling. It seems smaller. It also seems that people study a lot more at Brown. Really, everybody was studying there. At Penn, it seemed that people were just enjoying themselves.
In any case, State College is a nice place. Worth visiting for a day or two. Plenty of food choices, a lot of hotels. You can walk around the university — it’s huuuuge. Well worth a second visit for my wife and I.
I discovered something new yesterday (wow, I’m learning a lot lately). I’m mostly discovering things I don’t know but probably should know. That may not be so funny, but that’s how it is: I don’t know a lot of things, sometimes even the most basic. But that’s why I learn and want to continue to learn for the rest of my life: lifelong learner?
What did I discover yesterday? Russian literature. Neven knew it was great — considered the best by many. Mainly, I discovered Tolstoy, Checkov, and Dostoevsky. Sound familiar? When I asked my wife, she said that of course she knows them. She does not remember any works by them, only that she had to read them and that she thinks that their literary works are tough to read. Well, that’s not what I discovered about them. Brenda Ueland, the author of If You Want to Write, book I’m currently reading, said that those were her favorite authors, mostly because they spoke the truth and wrote simple.
(If I’m on the topic of writing, that books is a gem. I’m learning that I should be writing from the heart. I should write of what I think, the way I see things, not the way I should see them. I am going to try to do that.)
So I got interested in the great Russian authors. I just ordered two books from them that contain a lot of their best short stories: Great Short Works of Leo Tolstoy and The Best Short Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky (I want to read Notes from Underground right away). I’ll see if I fall in love with them as well. Judging by my enthusiasm level, which is high, I think I will.
I’m into history lately. And that’s only since I started listening to audio books. American revolution, the independence movement. Those were very interesting times. America was founded by several outstanding individuals: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington. Those are the ones that I came across. It’s fascinating to hear these stories. And you know what? I’m bad in history. I don’t know a lot of stuff. I’m learning a lot.
David McCullough is an interesting author, historian. If you ever get to read/listen his books, do so. You will be fascinated. Ever since I listened to his book on John Adams I’m in love with him. He knows how to capture your attention. On my must listen are his works: “The Johnstown Flood,” “The Path Between the Seas,” “The Great Bridge,” “Truman,” and “Mornings on Horseback.” Those are all excellent I hear.
I’m also into listening to biographies. I learn a lot from them. I like John Adams, Benjamin Franklin. They were very special people. They were constant learners, book lovers. They accomplished a lot in their lives.
I’m going to listen to more history, more biographies. Fascinating stuff.
One of the best ways to constantly learn is… to read books. OK, you might agree. But read what? Good question. That’s not so easy to answer. You have to read what you like. You have to pick the books that interest you. If you pick a book that does not interest you, put it aside, read another one. If you force yourself into reading a book, then reading will not be fun for you. If you make reading fun, then you will read a lot more. And thus learn a lot more.
I love to read. I read constantly and I’m actually looking forward to my commute because I can listen to books. It’s a great way to gain more knowledge. Plus, most of the audio books I get for free (NetLibrary.com or LearnOutLoud.com).
But the question is: what should I read? First thing, start anywhere. Don’t worry about the next book. Why? Because inside that book you will most likely have recommendations for other books. Put them into a wishlist (I have several at Amazon). Then when the time comes, pick something from the list.
Another good way is to feed off from other people’s recommendations. I recently discovered Top Ten Books from Guy Kawasaki (well-known blogger, writer). Some books were on my wishlist. So what did I do? I ordered several of them. I know that I want to read them (since I already had them on my wishlist), plus he had good recommendations. I ordered Influence, Uncommon Genius, and If You Want to Write. Several others I added to my wishlist.
I try to read the best books. So before I read/buy any book I go to Amazon and check its reviews. I only read the highest rated.
ReferenceMy Ten Favorite Books, Guy Kawasaki
After some thinking, I’m going to change my web strategy.
I realized, after reading some good books lately, that I am a Lifelong Learner and that’s what I want to be remembered as. I also realized that my blogs need more focus, more to-the-point. Plus, I feel like a change is needed.
Thus, the first change, I’m going to rename this blog to “Lifelong Learner.” I’m going to concentrate on the “things I learn” and things I want to learn. It’s going to be a learning blog. For that, I’m going to borrow and feed from entries from My Learning Log, which I started writing to everyday before I go to sleep (5-10 mins).
The second change: I’m renaming all of my blogs. I’m going to rename my second, software blog, to “Pragmatic Craftsman.” I think that’s who I am, or at least that’s what I want to be (come). More than anything I want to keep learning, keep getting better. I want to be a learning, pragmatic professional. Maybe I should call it “Learning Craftsman.” Maybe, but that’s too much “learning,” . I registered PragmaticCraftsman.com and that’s the direction I want to go. I’m renaming my investing blog to “Programmer’s Investing Notebook,” and my polish blog (have to practice it so I don’t forget ) to “Polska z Ameryki,” which means “Poland from America.”
Third change is a structural one. One the main page, I’m going to aggregate all of my blogs and show excerpts from the top entries. I think that will enable you to take a “peek” at my other entries and see whether you’re interested in reading it in more detail.
Quite a few changes. More than anything, I feel that’s what I want to do.
I am starting a learning log. In this log, I will enter my thoughts on what I’m learning, what I want to learn: anything that is learning related.
The bottom line is that I want to become a lifelong learner. I want to learn something new everyday. I want to continue on that path until I die. Why? Because that’s what I like to do. I like to learn new things, read new books.
But how did I come about doing this? I am currently reading “The Lifelong Learner” book. In that book, the author suggests creating a learning log and entering stuff into it daily.
I will spend 5 to 10 minutes every day and enter my thoughts into this log. I will create a separate blog on my website and enter all of my entries there. I will read my entries every couple of months. For now, I’m not going to make it public, but I think eventually I will.
As several people said, great thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries all had a learning log. I will have mine as well.
I’m hoping that this will help me. It will help me develop new skills, have a more focused purpose of life. This will help me in almost all of the facets of my life.
I admire leaders that speak the truth, speak from the heart, and that are open (candor). If you are like that, you will earn credidibility. But why do you need credibility?
“Credibility is a leader’s currency. With it he or she solvent; without it he or she is bankrupt.” That’s a quote from the latest Leadership Wired newsletter. In it, John Maxwell offers four keys to establishing leadership crediblity
1) Speak the truth.Be honest and upfront. Transparency breeds legitimacy—make it a priority to be open with financial statements, policies, and decision-making rationale.
2) Don’t hide bad news.
3) Never over-promise.Do not make promises you cannot keep. Why do you think politicians have such a poor reputation? It’s very simple. They promise the world and seldom deliver.
4) Do what you say you will do.Follow up and follow through.
Simple and to the point. I really like that. Most of all, if you want to be a leader, be an authentic leader.
ReferenceCredible Communication, Leadership Wired Newsletter, April 2005 — read my previus recommendation
We all want to be happy, right? What makes you happy? Do you know? I personally can’t tell you right away. Well, if I don’t know what makes me happy, how can I be happy? Actually, I’m usually happy. Usually. If I could figure out how to be happy all the time… that would be great. That’s why I think the tips below are good for me. They also help me identify some of the things that make me happy.
Here are 9 tips that can help you lead to happiness:
The list is taken from the article, below. Read a more detailed version on the website.
Reference9 Tips in Life that Lead to Happiness, lifehack.org
If you have a website, make sure you don’t commit these usability mistakes. These come from Jakob Nielsen, the expert in the field.
I don’t think I commit any of these:1. No Author Biographies2. No Author Photo3. Nondescript Posting Titles4. Links Don’t Say Where They Go6. The Calendar is the Only Navigation9. Forgetting That You Write for Your Future Boss10. Having a Domain Name Owned by a Weblog Service
I still have to work on the following:5. Classic Hits are Buried7. Irregular Publishing Frequency8. Mixing Topics
ReferenceWeblog Usability: The Top Ten Design Mistakes, Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, October 17, 2005
RelatedTop Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005, Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, October 3, 2005
If you liked the above article, you will find more valuable info from Jakob at his Alertbox Columns
I want to be an expert (in everything I engage in ). I’m sure you do too.
Do you like to do things that are not fun for you to do? (Re-read that.) If so, you’ll become an expert one day. (I’m sure you are aware of this, and you’re doing this consciously.) Most of the people like to do things that they’re already good at. If you’d like to become an expert, however, it is essential for you to practice the things that are a pain for you; it is essential that you suck for a while; and on and on; this will never stop.
Kathy Sierra, in her post, How to be an expert, goes into details about this. She does an excellent job. I believe in what she’s saying. The following is the key paragraph in the post:
Most of us want to practice the things we’re already good at, and avoid the things we suck at. We stay average or intermediate amateurs forever.Yet the research says that if we were willing to put in more hours, and to use those hours to practice the things that aren’t so fun, we could become good. Great. Potentially brilliant. We need a rage to master.
As for me, I think I’m going in that direction. The hardest thing to do, I think, is to figure out where you want to go, and what are some of the things that you need to improve. As I look back, I’m asking myself: Am I better in this than I was a year ago? Where am I now, what do I need to do to get better? This is a step by step process, inch by inch. I think I’m getting better and I’m happy with the overall process.
ReferenceHow to be an expert, Kathy Sierra, Creating Passionate Users blog
