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 ::
Do you consider yourself an expert in your field?
If so, you’re not an expert! I’m sorry to say. 
Real experts don’t call themselves experts. Why? Because they still have a lot of things to learn. “The greatest experts in the world think they’re still stoopid, ” says The Trizle Team.
In this blog post, link below, they explain this in plain and simple way.
Do you still consider yourself an expert?
“Be. Sexy. Learn. Forever.”
ReferenceHow to Be An Expert, The Trizle blog
Want some good tips for better writing? I’ve got something just for you! Read on.
The Day You Became A Better Writer
I went from being a bad writer to a good writer after taking a one-day course in “business writing.” I couldn’t believe how simple it was. I’ll tell you the main tricks here so you don’t have to waste a day in class.
Business writing is about clarity and persuasion. The main technique is keeping things simple. Simple writing is persuasive. A good argument in five sentences will sway more people than a brilliant argument in a hundred sentences. Don’t fight it.
Simple means getting rid of extra words. Don’t write, “He was very happy” when you can write “He was happy.” You think the word “very” adds something. It doesn’t. Prune your sentences.
Humor writing is a lot like business writing. It needs to be simple. The main difference is in the choice of words. For humor, don’t say “drink” when you can say “swill.”
Your first sentence needs to grab the reader. Go back and read my first sentence to this post. I rewrote it a dozen times. It makes you curious. That’s the key.
Write short sentences. Avoid putting multiple thoughts in one sentence. Readers aren’t as smart as you’d think.
Learn how brains organize ideas. Readers comprehend “the boy hit the ball” quicker than “the ball was hit by the boy.” Both sentences mean the same, but it’s easier to imagine the object (the boy) before the action (the hitting). All brains work that way. (Notice I didn’t say, “That is the way all brains work”?)
That’s it. You just learned 80% of the rules of good writing. You’re welcome.
Reference
The Day You Became A Better Writer, The Dilbert Blog
Interesting… Is America behind?
American history is interesting. It has had many great leaders. Reading about Washington, Hamilton, Franklin, Lincoln, Wilson, just to name a few, is fascinating. This is really interesting to me, and I’m not a history buff at all.
My knowledge how America was founded is increasing. I learned a lot from this book. I have to admit that I did not learn a lot about US history in High School nor in College. (I don’t remember anything from those studies, in any case.) But by reading books like this, I am putting things into context and things are starting to make sense for me.
This book presents the events from when America was discovered all the way till the 1st World War. Not everything was interesting, as in any history book, but overall, this was a very good book. Interesting from start to finish… at times, I could not put it down.What were the most interesting parts? Independence movement, Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, and Woodrow Wilson.
Negatives? At times, it was not detailed enough. I have read a good deal about the independence movement and learned in detail about Hamilton, Franklin, Washington, and Adams. Not enough was said about them. Coverage about Hamilton was not sufficient, who I consider the most prolific founding father thus far.
Overall, a very good book; interesting 20 hours of listening.
There was an interesting observation in the S&P Outlook recently. Since 1945, in the period from November-April, the S&P 500 returned 7.19%; in the May-October period, just 1.6%. What do do? Sell in May, and Buy back in November!
I think this is true this year. I feel like we’re due for a correction. It might be a good time now, especially after the recent records.
They recommend doing the following.
For May-October overweigh- consumer staples- health care
For November – April overweigh- financials- industrials- materials- consumer discretionary- information technology
Now that’s an interesting observation…
Here’s a chart that breaks the returns by month, averaged since 1950.
Here’s a number of techniques that will help you to learn faster, study better, and begin absorbing information like a sponge.
I think this is an excellent set of tips on how you can continuously keep learning. Be a lifelong learner! Here’s a seven step formula.
1. Teach Someone Else.If there’s something you want to learn, try teaching it to someone else.2. Write an Article.By writing about it you will soon begin connecting new ideas with things you already know, creating an interlinking web of knowledge.
3. Start a Blog.
4. Treat Your Body Well.When you’re trying to increase your learning speed, you need to make sure you are feeding your brain – quite literally.
* Eat every few hours to keep your blood sugar levels up.* Exercise on a daily basis.* Try to relax a few minutes each day.* Sleep at least seven hours each night.* Stay hydrated with water.* Eat a light lunch. Heavy lunches tend to make people drowsy. Instead, recharge with a light lunch and a power walk.
5. Learn with All Five Senses.You haven’t learned anything until you have put it into practice in your own life. Engage in learning through touch, sight, sound, hearing, and smell.
6. Increase Your Motivation.If you create a reward system that you actually look forward to, you will be able to learn faster in anticipation of that reward.
7. Learn While You Sleep.
This is the best set of rules for self-leadership I have read. These are principles that will make you a better leader, a better person, and a better learner. Priceless. Lifelong learning.
1. Set goals for your life; not just for your job. What we think of as “meaning of life” goals affect your lifestyle outside of work too, and you get whole-life context, not just work-life, each feeding off the other.2. Practice discretion constantly, and lead with the example of how your own good behavior does get great results. Otherwise, why should anyone follow you when you lead?
3. Take initiative. Volunteer to be first. Be daring, bold, brave and fearless, willing to fall down, fail, and get up again for another round. Starting with vulnerability has this amazing way of making us stronger when all is done.
4. Be humble and give away the credit. Going before others is only part of leading; you have to go with them too. Therefore, they’ve got to want you around!
5. Learn to love ideas and experiments. Turn them into pilot programs that preface impulsive decisions. Everything was impossible until the first person did it.
6. Live in wonder. Wonder why, and prize “Why not?” as your favorite question. Be insatiably curious, and question everything.
7. There are some things you don’t take liberty with no matter how innovative you are when you lead. For instance, to have integrity means to tell the truth. To be ethical is to do the right thing. These are not fuzzy concepts.
8. Believe that beauty exists in everything and in everyone, and then go about finding it. You’ll be amazed how little you have to invent and much is waiting to be displayed.
9. Actively reject pessimism and be an optimist. Say you have zero tolerance for negativity and self-fulfilling prophecies of doubt, and mean it.
10. Champion change. As the saying goes, those who do what they’ve always done, will get what they’ve always gotten. The only things they do get more of are apathy, complacency, and boredom.
11. Be a lifelong learner, and be a fanatic about it. Surround yourself with mentors and people smarter than you. Seek to be continually inspired by something, learning what your triggers are.
12. Care for and about people. Compassion and empathy become you, and keep you ever-connected to your humanity. People will choose you to lead them.
I just finished listening to They Call Me Coach. Right at the beginning of the book, the coach spelled out the principles he followed, which were given to him by his father. I think those are lifelong principles that are good to follow. Never aging.
Good Principles To Live By
1. Be true to yourself.
2. Make each day your masterpiece.
3. Help others.
4. Drink deeply from good books, especially the bible.
5. Make friendship a fine art.
6. Build a shelter against a rainy day.
7. Pray for guidance, and give thanks for your blessing everyday.
ReferenceThey Call Me Coach, John Wooden
