Subject: Lifescope TIPs & QUIPs [28] "Seven Learning Questions"

TIPs & QUIPs, the free occasional email of helpful hints and quotes (and
sometimes challenging suggestions) for getting the most from life.

In this issue:
     *** WiseWords
     *** This Issue's Theme
     *** Suggested Resources
     *** Thrive On! Recommended Site

*** WiseWords ***                                     [TOP]
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"What a strange machine man is! 
 You fill him with bread, wine, fish and radishes, 
 and out of him come sighs, laughter and dreams."
  --Nikos Kazantzakis

"Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire."
  --William Butler Yeats
 
"I am always ready to learn, but I do not always like being taught."
  --Winston Churchill

(For a collection of some of our favorite WiseWords, see our web page at
<http://www.lifescope.com/pages/WiseWords.html>.)


*** This issue's theme: SEVEN LEARNING QUESTIONS               [TOP]
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Here at Lifescope, one of our core beliefs is in the concept of
"lifelong learning." Gone are the days when guided education ended
with your formal schooling. Pressures of modern society aside, the
simple fact of our extended life expectancy means that we're more
likely to figure out that life isn't just about "fitting in." At that
point, our fears abate and our natural human curiousity awakens,
hungry as a bear emerging from his long winter's nap.

In the last 100 years, we have doubled the years spent in adulthood. What
we do with that added life, is dependent upon what we learn and how we 
use that knowledge. The first chunk of years we invest in building up our 
skills, our "how-tos." Only with time do we begin to learn the "why-tos."
So regardless of where you are currently in your life, the seven questions
about learning, below, will better prepare you for your path into your 
future -- and all the adventures which await you.
                                                        --Lee Lukehart
 
    
The following text is excerpted from "LifeLaunch: A Passionate Guide to 
the Rest of Your Life" by Frederic Hudson & Pamela Hudson.
[Authorized as Fair Use under Copyright Act of 1976, Section 107]
    
THE SEVEN ADULT LEARNING QUESTIONS

Before you launched your first adult life structure, you went to school
for years to get ready for the great adventure ahead -- your grown-up
years. You earned degrees, got work experience, learned how to manage
yourself in many settings, became an expert in something, and settled down
for the long haul. Now, there are at least seven questions to ask yourself
to define the new learning you need before designing your plan for the
next chapter of your life:

1. UNLEARNING. 
What do I have to unlearn if I'm going to master the future I truly want?
What patterns of thinking that served me well earlier in my life are now
in the way of what I really want to do and become?

    How do you discover what you need to unlearn ?
       * Ask yourself, "What am I resisting the most?
         What can I do to become proactive in that part of my life?"
       * Ask your friends what they think you need to unlearn.
       * Ask your boss what you need to unlearn.
       * Ask your spouse or intimate other what you need to unlearn.
       * Spend your time at a convention or trade show where the cutting
    edge of your knowledge base is thoroughly exposed, and ask yourself
    the question, "What do I need to unlearn, in order to break out of my
    set patterns so I can learn how to become, and not merely to hold on?"

2. NEW INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE. 
What new information and knowledge do I need in order to be at my best at
this time in my life? What information and knowledge can I legitimately
avoid in order to prevent information overload?

    In our kind of world you have to keep up in the areas of your special
    concerns, and to do that you have to filter out media, infobases, and
    the clamor of the world that have little to do with the path you are
    on. The secret to acquiring new information and knowledge is to know
    how to focus on those areas in which you want continuous information
    and cutting-edge expertise. The flip side is saying no to the endless
    intrusions upon your learning time, particularly by phone, television,
    and other media sources. If they don't inform the path you're on, or
    add meaning to your life, just say no.
    
    * Read, read, read. In our technical age, reading remains the number
    one highway into the further reaches of the mind. Make your reading
    schedule of newspapers, magazines, books of all sorts, professional
    journals, and computer-based materials the steady core of your
    learning agenda. If at all possible, join reading groups so you can
    discuss new ideas with others.
    
    * On-line network groups, like Internet, Women's Wire, Compuserve, and
    many others can dazzle you with what's going on in your own field, and
    stimulate you to get learning.
    
    * Intensive seminars and workshops. Not the one-day entertainment
    varieties, but the three to five day group learning formats that
    engage you profoundly in basic learning.
    
    * Episodic learning. Travel alone, climb a mountain, take an
    adventure, conduct a vision quest, or join an adult education class in
    some new and intriguing subject. Spend some time working and living in
    a third world country if you possibly can, to discover how people very
    different from you live and work. jolt your routines to discover ones
    that connect you better to the future.
    
    * Advanced certification and degree programs. Advanced learning
    programs for midlife and older adults exist throughout the land,
    providing thousands of adults every year a rite of passage from one
    LifeLaunch to another. Some of them involve only evenings or
    occasional weekends. Some use distance learning techniques such as
    computers, telephone meetings, and regional conferences so that
    students can remain at home and at work while engaged in serious
    study. These programs often provide not only intensive learning
    opportunities, but the discovery of friends, networking contacts, 
    and personal/professional renewal.
    
3. PERSONAL COMPETENCE. 
What life skills do I want and need to develop, to be alive and purposive 
in all that I do?

    Life skills refer to your general human abilities to sustain
    relationships, be an effective parent, manage conflict, travel, and
    feel at home in the world. Life skills are abilities like listening,
    speaking, writing, negotiating, and meditating. Today's world has many
    technocrats and executives who have outstanding behaviors in their
    specialized fields, but who haven't learned the basic human skills for
    managing the microsystems of their own lives. It's never too late to
    learn life skills, and to claim your personal competence.
    
    * Psychotherapy often performs the function of teaching personal
    life skills, and helps adults get anchored within their own true
    abilities and values.
    
    * Churches, adult education, and other community organizations have
    learning programs, trips, and training for learning basic life skills.
    
    * Some adults discover these skills through shortterm commitments
    in volunteer service roles in the community, or working with the Peace
    Corps or any of the many worldwide service organizations.

4. TECHNICAL SKILLS. 
What technical skills do I need to improve at this time in my life --
perhaps specialized skills in accounting, management, or other
professional abilities -- for increasing my practitioning proficiencies at
this time in my life?

    * Ask your boss and work friends for ways to pursue professional
    skills in your career field.
    
    * Take advantage of the ongoing training and credentialing programs
    of the professional organizations in your specialized area.
    
    * join a network group working on critical issues in your field.
    
    * Create weekly or monthly meetings of "experts" like yourself from
    various companies in your geographic area, to provide each other with
    updates and learning challenges.

5. VALUES AND LEADERSHIP ROLES. 
What do I need to learn to keep my life aligned to my values and leadership
roles?

    Sooner or later, you become a leader -- of yourself, and perhaps much
    more. You engage your values through acts of inspiration, persuasion,
    and example. Leadership does not have to be full-time or all
    consuming; it needs to be fulfilling and meaningful. True leadership
    grows out of your own integrity and concerns, not polls or desired
    rewards. Most midlife and elder adults want to become a positive
    influence within the culture around themthrough children and
    grandchildren, organizations they believe in, and the political
    process itself.
    
    Leadership begins when you lead your own human agenda in a purposive
    way. Leadership is anchored in your deep, dependable qualities, not in
    memorized affirmations or roles. Start with personal leadership, and
    you will soon find all kinds of ways to exert influence beyond
    yourself-apprentice, intern, volunteer, join a leadership training
    course.

6. LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS.
Where are the learning environments and resources that I need at this 
time in my life?

    Since the whole global village is your campus, scope out your best
    learning centers and formats-seminars, mentors, conferences, books,
    study groups, certification programs, advanced degrees, travel, and
    get yourself connected.
    
    Don't think of learning as something you have to purchase from some
    teacher or educational service. Learning is what you need to acquire
    because you are ready. There is a Chinese saying that when the pupil
    is ready, the teacher will appear. The same is true for learning
    environments: When you're ready to learn, the learning opportunities
    will appear.
    
    Be responsible for identifying the best format for the kind of
    learning you are seeking. There is no paucity of adult learning
    opportunities near and far. Seek out the ones that serve your needs,
    and commit to the learning you want.

7. TEACHERS AND MENTORS. 
Who are my teachers and mentors, at this time in my life?

    Adults do not want to sit at the feet of mere knowledge experts; they
    want to learn from masters -- persons who have applied knowledge to
    themselves and their professions, people who have unconscious
    competence integrated into their behavior.
    
    That is why so many conventional college professors do not appeal to
    midlife adults as appropriate teachers. They are often experts in a
    cognitive field, not masters of how that field connects to life around
    them. Adult students want to apply knowledge and to gain mastery
    beyond knowledge.
    
    The new adult teacher is a mentor, Mensch, or master-someone who lives
    and breathes "viscerally" what the learner wants to learn. There are
    such experts available around the world today. You have to find them
    and hire them, and create your own "learning system." You may not find
    them at conventional learning institutions, although they are there,
    too.

In your time management system, write in all your learning commitments for
the next year, so you treat learning as being as important as all the
other things you spend time doing. If you make learning your primary
personal commitment, you will find the future a creative and promising
place. You will also find yourself more awake and eager to move ahead into
your next LifeLaunch.


*** Suggested Resources ***                                       [TOP]
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LIFELAUNCH: A PASSIONATE GUIDE TO THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
by Frederic Hudson & Pamela Hudson.
A LifeLaunch is the beginning of a new chapter of your life. Each
LifeLaunch requires fresh vision, new plans, and inner courage as you
shift gears from yesterday's commitments to tomorrow's possibilities.
Society used to tailor our transitions for us, and guide us down
established paths of adult life. No more. Today you must design your own
path, and take charge of all your LifeLaunches no matter what your age or
situation. This book steps you through this process of defining your path.

   (softcover book, 146pp) 
      SRP$19.95 -- (see links below for special prices)
 
Buy this item now from Lifescope's secure online store.
You can also buy this title directly from Amazon.com.


*** To order RISK-FREE: visit our secure online store, and place an order 
*** with your credit card, or call 800-WIN-LIFE (800-946-5433, 24 hrs).
*** Your satisfaction is absolutely assured with our RISK-FREE Guarantee!


*** Thrive On! Recommended Site ***                              [TOP]
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The Hudson Institue <http://www.hudsoninstitute.com/>
"Who do adults turn to for help and advice when they want new direction,
passion, and purpose in their lives, career, and organizations? We're
talking about adults who are functioning just fine in their daily lives,
often performing and producing at incredible "workaholic" rates, but these
same high powered professionals are tired, bored, and empty. Maybe out of
work, burned out, or at the end of a relationship. Or just wanting to
"begin a new chapter."

"Everything we do at the Hudson Institute speaks to these people, who
hunger for a new vision, hope, and vital directions for living and working
in an increasingly uncertain world. Assuming "white water" is a permanent
feature of life all over the globe, we promote and facilitate imaginative
futures for persons and organizations who have stopped leaning into the
wind."


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The contents herein are solely the opinions of Lifescope editors, and should 
not be considered as a form of therapy nor advice. There is no guarantee of 
validity or accuracy. Lifescope therefore assumes no responsibility for injury
and specifically disclaims any warranty, express or implied, of fitness or 
merchantability for a particular purpose. Besides, actual mileage may vary.

Copyright © 1998-2007 by Lifescope Inc. 
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