Life Long Learning...it's a must!

I really enjoyed reading the 7 1/2 habits this past week! I feel like in general I am a goal-oriented person. I always have a to-do list and love to get things checked off so I love reading things like this....but then on the other hand, I don't feel like this is necessarily one of my strengths. I always get re-motivated to set and achieve goals, but I think that sometimes I get too carried away and put too much on my plate at one time so then the opposite happens--I achieve less of my goals. So anyways, it was really good and refreshing to view this slideshow.

Right now, at my school, we are involved in the Leader in Me program by Steven R. Covey. As a faculty, we read and discussed the book together and are now trying to incorporate these goals into our school curriculum and everyday lingo. I saw a lot of parallels between that book and the 7 1/2 habits. I am trying to get better at implementing those in my own life and there are a few that I am better at than others.

I feel like I have accepted responsibility to be a lifelong learning. I have always enjoyed school. I love learning new things. I imagine that whether or not I am officially taking classes, I will ALWAYS be learning new things about a variety of things! I think that I have confidence in myself as an effective learner. I have always done well in school and that has helped boost my confidence as a learner as well as motivate me to continue to do my best. I am continually learning how to use technology to my own advantage, and I am really excited about some of the things we are going to be learning how to do this semester. I don't feel afraid to try new things with technology, but I can get really frustrated if things aren't working how they should with technology. Right now, I feel like I am teaching and mentoring others (in school!) but outside of the school setting, I don't think that I am very good at sharing what I know with other people. It is something I really need to work and it is selfish of me, but I am never the first one to jump in and share what I know...a lot of times it depends on how much I know/like the person!.....Yeah selfish and I know it is something that I need to work on.

Some of the habits that I don't feel quite as good at are beginning with the end in mind. I think sometimes I just jump right in without thinking how things are going to really turn out. BUT I have found that if I talk about something I want to do with someone (i.e. my husband) it helps put things in better perspective, and I have a better idea of what I want to achieve and how I should go about doing it. I also think that I need to work on getting more tools in my toolbox so that when I am stuck or struggling I have something I can use to help get me out of the rut. Lastly, I think the hardest thing for me is to view my problems as challenges. It can be hard to keep a positive attitude about bad things that are happening but it is something that will make me a better person if I can maintain that attitude!

Oh, I almost forgot the last habit....PLAY! I like to play, and again, my husband is really good at helping me realize that it is important to relax and enjoy what is going on because it is easy to get caught up in what is going on and be stressed and be miserable so it is important to play!

The last thing...I really liked the learning contract. I really like having an outline to follow. It makes it easy to just plug in what you want to do and then go with it. Outlines help me so much because they give me guidance and direction that I know I need but for some reason can't seem to organize like that on my own! That is a great resource to have, thanks!!