Learning How to Learn

I never did complete the course "learning how to learn", but they have consistently, and persistently send me info.
It's not all stuff I care about, but some is.

Our top book this month is Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives, by Tim Harford. We love this book, which speaks to the extraordinary power of serendipity and seeming sloppiness. One of our favorite writers, Adam Grant, summed Messy up this way: “Utterly fascinating. Tim Harford shows that if you want to be creative and resilient, you need a little more disorder in your world.” Adam’s own terrific complementary book is Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World.

Barb at DevLearn

Barb will be at one of her favorite conferences—DevLearn, in Las Vegas, on November 14-16th. Unlike many more academically-focused conferences, DevLearn is eminently practical and has marvelous sessions and pre-conference workshops. Along with giving her own talk (check out the 45 second video), Barb will be taking the pre-conference workshops on the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite and on Mastering the Visualization of Storyboarding for eLearning. We must always keep learning, after all!

Help in discovering “Super-learners” Scott Young is an intrepid “Marco Polo of Learning.” (We featured him in the bonus interview at the end of week 2 of Learning How to Learn). Scott is looking for superlearners—people who have completed, interesting, aggressive self-education projects in the past. If you fall into this category, please email Scott at personal@scotthyoung.com.

Books and More Books

Always open to recommendations.  I've read most of the books on this list, but the "Celestine Prophecy"?  That's a new one.  And Ayn Rand?? Please...

How to talk and think about your project

This is from Seth Godin's blog.  I love these types of lists that make you think, and I've found they take much more time than what we want to allot to them.

How to talk about your project

Not in a marketing sense, but strategically, to yourself, your partners, your coaches, your investors:
What is it for? When someone hires your product or service, what are they hiring it to do?
Who (or what) are you trying to change by doing this work? From what to what?
How will you know if it's working?
What does it remind me of? Are there parallels, similar projects, things like this that have come before?
What's the difficult part?
How much of your time and focus are you spending on the difficult part?
What part that isn't under your control has to happen for this to work? (Do you need to be lucky?)
How much (time and money) is it going to take to find out if you've got a shot at this working out?
What assets do you already own that you'll be able to leverage?
What assets do you need to acquire?
After the project launches, what new assets will you now own?
From which people will you need help? Do they have a track record of helping people like you?
Is it worth it?
Successful project organizers are delighted to engage in a conversation about all of these questions. If you're hiding from them, it's time to find out why.

Ways to manage stress

There are a few in this list that were new to me.  I wasn't aware that coffee actually might help stress(?!)  Another reason to like my favorite vice.
I also like the reminder to see tasks and projects as a game.

Habits for 2016

Good tips

design inspiration from Houzz

http://www.nanettewong.com/portfolio_page/houzz-tour-taylor-hoff/
The basic tidiness and functionality really appeal.

Motivation and Persistence 50 ways

http://blog.hubspot.com/sales/motivational-quotes-sales-drive-2015

1) "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." - Thomas Edison
2) "Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later." - Og Mandino
3) "Become the person who would attract the results you seek.” - Jim Cathcart
4) "Don't watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going." - Sam Levenson
5) "Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear." - George Addair
6) "The secret of getting ahead is getting started." - Mark Twain
7) "Quality performance starts with a positive attitude." - Jeffrey Gitomer
8) "Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you." - Thomas Jefferson
9) "Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible." - Tony Robbins
10) "The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." - Thomas Paine
11) "We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way." - George S. Patton
12) "Motivation will almost always beat mere talent." - Norman Ralph Augustine
13) "Change before you have to." - Jack Welch
14) “Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives.” - Daniel Pink
15) "I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse." - Florence Nightengale
16) "Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude." - Zig Ziglar
17) "Well done is better than well said." - Benjamin Franklin
18) "You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take." - Wayne Gretzky
19) "I got lucky because I never gave up the search. Are you quitting too soon? Or are you willing to pursue luck with a vengeance?" - Jill Konrath

20) "There is always room at the top." - Daniel Webster

21) "It ain't over 'til it's over." - Yogi Berra
22) “It’s not about having the right opportunities. It’s about handling the opportunities right.” - Mark Hunter
23) "A goal is a dream with a deadline." - Napolean Hill
24) "Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is." - Vince Lombardi
25) "Big shots are only little shots who keep shooting." - Christopher Morley
26) "If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat! Just get on." - Sheryl Sandberg
27) "Outstanding people have one thing in common: An absolute sense of mission." - Zig Ziglar
28) "You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." - Henry Ford
29) "Trying is winning in the moment." - Dan Waldschmidt
30) "Fall down seven times and stand up eight." - Proverb
31) “If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?” - Joe Namath
32) "Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." - William James
33) "You just can't beat the person who never gives up." - Babe Ruth
34) "Lean in, speak out, have a voice in your organization, and never use the word 'sorry.'" - Trish Bertuzzi
35) "Whatever you are, be a good one." - Abraham Lincoln
36) “The road to Easy Street goes through the sewer.” - John Madden
37) “Fortune favors the bold.” - Virgil
38) “Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It is courage that counts.” - Winston Churchill
39) "Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great." - John D. Rockefeller
40) "High expectations are the key to everything." - Sam Walton
41) "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." - Eleanor Roosevelt
42) "Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." - John R. Wooden
43) "There is little success where there is little laughter." - Andrew Carnegie
44) "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." - Albert Einstein
45) "What we dwell on is who we become." - Oprah Winfrey
46) "It is not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results." - Warren Buffett
47) "Nothing is impossible; the word itself says 'I'm possible!'" - Audrey Hepburn
48) "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower." - Steve Jobs
49) "The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus." - Bruce Lee
50) "Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice." - Wayne Dyer