Lack of validation for things 1 through 4

This is a bit annoying. I would have preferred to be able to validate these as well. Why complain excessively? This is my attempt to validate the 1 through 4 process, one way or another. You never know who might be watching.

Blog registration

I'm glad I got this detail out of the way. At last.

7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners

1. Begin with the end in mind. (This is easier to read than to actually do. I prefer the following: "Life always comes to me with ease, joy and success." Yes, it's wishful thinking but it has an unexplainable charm that works on your attitude more than anything else I've encountered.


2. Accept responsibility for your own learning. (Yes, why blame anyone else. Why not go further still, and not blame yourself either. There's no benefit in putting yourself down ever.)


3. View problems as challenges. (The word "challenge" has become synonymous with "problem" since it's been suggested to substitute one for the other. Recently, when needing to deal with challenges, I've substituted the word "project" which gives me the impression it will take creativity and individuality. So far, this word has not been tainted by association with either "problem" or "challenge." I choose to keep the word "project" forever fresh and untainted of any unpleasant associations.)


4. Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner. ("Don't say it or think it unless you want it to be true." [http://www.plcmc.org/public/learning/player.html] These are the very words, or very similar ones, that I'm using these days to create my own reality.)


5. Create your own learning toolbox. (Right now my tools are: books, technology and web pages, especially blogs. I would add compact disks, dvds and meetings I attend from time to time, mostly of a spiritual nature though I did attend one Law of Attraction meeting at the Religious Science building in Ft Lauderale. I actually have too many books, compact disks and dvds and it's time to eliminate some of the information clutter in my life. My most cherished goal is to simplify my life and not to add to the clutter.)


6. Use technology to your advantage. (I have more gadgets and information-retrieval devices than I will ever find time or desire to use to even a small degree of their potential. I have no desire to own an iPod because that would surely make me an iPerson and based on the other iPersons I've encountered, I can tell you I'd rather not share in their delirious techno-ecstasy. I'm somewhere between the spectrum inhabited by both Anarcho-Primitivists or Neo-Luddites. [Okay, I'll admit I got carried away there. If anything, I'm a self-directed individual. Nothing more. Nothing less.] I sometimes wish that all I had at my disposal were a notebook and a pen that never runs out of ink.)


7. Teach/mentor others. (Yes, I suppose that's true. However, I know what it feels like to be patronized by someone who feels they possess superior knowledge that they want to impart to me because somehow they feel I'm lacking--from their point of view--in something that they couldn't live without. I would not want someone to think I was trying to do to them, what others--ostensibly benign--have tried to do to me.)

7.5 Play. (To be a child again, but with financial clout, would be, perhaps, an ideal existence. Play--well, why not? Be curious--to a reasonable degree. Read--that's all I do. I'd like to learn directly from life's experiences as opposed to vicariously from other people's years of study and discipline.)

Put it in writing:

My goal is to learn some new technology or newfangled thing so esoteric that the only way to verify that I achieved my goal would be conceptually since no nuts-and-bolts approach could accurately document my encounter with this nameless program, or idea, or Thing. Of course, it it gets too theoretical, it might be practical to re-invent the wheel, 21st century style. Or it might be better to choose something more down-to-earth.

Obstacle: time, and the very techno-mystical nature of my goal itself.

Tool box: A new (conceptual) search engine, time to brain storm as to what this elusive Thing is that I'm looking for, and a flash drive to lock it in once I find it.

Resources for help: I think what I'm after can only be found by serendipity, and lacking that, intentional innovation.

Path to goal: This is already sounding more Aristotelian than is probably practical for the time and resources available to me. Maybe it's time to go back into the cave and contemplate the enigmatic shadows on the wall. [Yes, that was Plato's concept, but to use the adjective "Platonic" tends to conjure up other associations. So Aristotelian is the better word, as far as the intended effect.] Perhaps that will bring me back to something more feasible.

Check-in: I'm already starting to reassess and check-in. Reassess weekly, or sooner if time allows. Perhaps I'll simply try to find a useful search engine no one ever thought of finding. Perhaps one that has been long discarded and has more use than was previously thought. In the 90s I use to hunt for rare search engines all the time. That was years before Google made its appearance. I doubt I have the lists I use to keep of all the esoteric search engines I used to chance upon on a daily basis.

Sign it!: Raul A. Batista

(Please take note that I do not have time to spell check or proof everything I've written. When time allows, perfectionist that I am, I will correct any typos and imperfect modes of expression. Thank you for your understanding.) Follow-up. I've gone over it once and have done a Blogger spell checker. The grammar will have to depend on me and, of course, I'll have to go over it again to spot any more discrepancies. I just may never finish revising this post. This may turn out to me my most meaningful contrubution to my self-motivated learning in the long-run.

Now or never

Always assumed I could do this from home. I'd need broadband and I'm not sure I want the extra expense. So I'm doing this catch as catch can.