Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Back to School: What Did You Learn Today?


Whether this month sees you back in school (high school or college or graduate school) or out on the job market, the fall season signals “back to school” thoughts conditioned by all those fall seasons of new school years.

And it is a good idea to connect the fall season with learning something new – something that isn’t required by your coursework or job work. Just something new that you’re interested in knowing more about.

This something new can be reading information to understand the weather conditions that create hurricanes (due to the nation’s focus on New Orleans this past weekend) or following online instructions for how to create mobiles out of wire hangars.

The point is not WHAT you learn as long as you learn something NEW, something that stretches your mind in a direction it hasn’t gone before. And this new something gives you a new conversation topic when you get together with other people. Suddenly you’re discussing the underpinnings of Category 5 hurricanes with the other weather fanatics. Or you’re pointing out to a new friend that there’s something very soothing about bending wire hangars into new shapes.

If you’re not sure now what new subject area you’d like to learn, keep your eyes open as you go about your regular routines. See if something new doesn’t pop out at you from the most unlikely place after you’ve told your mind to be on the look-out for just such an opportunity.


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