7 1/2 Habits

I listened to and looked at the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners, which the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County have put together. I loved the online learning presentation (although I found that I was reading the transcript of narration ahead of time, because the voice over was a bit slow).

I thought the concept of lifelong learning was pretty straight forward. After all, these are skills that we are trying to teach our students (especially in Law), so they stay apace of new developments.

As far as the habits are concerned, I think I will find most of these fairly easy to embrace; however being a confident learner and having time to play and explore will perhaps be a little more challenging for me.

Habit 1: I like the idea of being able to modify your goals along the journey to achieving them - flexibility and change are important in these instances.

Habit 2: I felt that this was obvious: the more you participate in the activity the more you will gain from it. Obviously, I've been the one to instigate my involvement in this program, so participating is what I intend to do!

Habit 3: What a great philosophy: Every obstacle is an opportunity to learn, therefore I think we should embrace the obstacles!

Habit 4: Being a confident learner is more of a challenge for me; not in terms of knowing what I want to learn, but in terms of recognising my progress as a I practice something new.

Habit 5: The learning toolbox is such a straight forward concept and we are so lucky at UQL to have so many options to support this. My preferred 'tools' are friends and experienced colleagues, books and the internet.

Habit 6: Embracing technology is I think what this program is all about; seeing how versatile and adaptable it can be and recognising how it can be utilised in our work environment.

Habit 7: Teaching and mentoring others is one of my favourites of these habits! I have learned in the past how beneficial it is to learn more through teaching others - it offers such an opportunity for growth.

Habit 7 1/2: Play time is perhaps a bit harder for me, mainly in terms of having the time to do so, when other pressing deadlines need to be met. I certainly have the curiosity, so maybe it's just about making time. I see how much my children learn through their day to day play, so I do understand it's value.

I have taken the first step, so I'm on the right track...