Jeff Cobb’s Mission to Learn shares insights on the journey to live fully, well, and wisely. His May 31 newsletter highlights three ideas to impact change in your life. His excerpts connect directly to Blooms to Blossoms May Feature articles.
A couple of the feature articles include:
Self-Reflection 101
A Slight Change in Plans
Below are excerpts from Jeff’s Mission to Learn: Learning Forward.
A Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity to Go …
Albert Brooks makes the point in this article in The Atlantic that, as each of us approaches a post-pandemic life, “the weeks and months before you fully reenter the world should not be wasted. They are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come clean with yourself—to admit that all was not perfectly well before.”
Not everyone will see it that way, I imagine. I won’t be surprised to see a big push to get things back to just the way they were before COVID-19 hit. But for avid lifelong learners, it really is a unique sort of time.
You may not need or want to tear down to the studs and rebuild – as a young woman Brooks describes did – but there is a good chance you have ways in which you would like to reshape or grow significantly. The timing is good – and, of course, being truly available for learning is the key.
… From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be …
I recently had the pleasure of listening to How to Change, a new book by Katy Milkman, a behavioral scientist and professor at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. It’s one of the best books I’ve read on the topic, and I highly recommend it.
Leveraging “fresh starts” – not dissimilar to what Brooks suggests in the article linked to above – is one of the key approaches to successful change that Milkman highlights. Others include “temptation bundling” – making access to tempting, but not necessarily beneficial activities, dependent upon doing activities that support with your goals – and “commitment devices” – ways to make yourself “pay” if you don’t do what you have committed to do.
This interview with Milkman on The Behavioral Scientist blog covers some of the book’s key points and also links out to good supporting resources. If you prefer audio, this interview with Milkman on The Accidental Creative is well worth the listen.
…and From Who You Are to Who You Want to Be
I’ve written before about how important belief is to learning and change. If you don’t believe change is possible, if you can’t see yourself – even if only vaguely – in your future desired state, then learning and growing will be difficult, if not possible.
James Clear makes a similar point in his best-seller Atomic Habits. As Clear puts it, “The key to building lasting habits is focusing on creating a new identity first.” Too often we focus only only on outcomes and processes.
For example, you may think “I want to learn to play the guitar,”(outcome) so “I’m going to start taking guitar lessons every week” (process). These are important components of the desired change, but the critical third component – the one that will really drive the change – is to begin seeing yourself as “the type of person who practices guitar daily.”
That last statement is about your identity. It represents what you believe you can be.
Clear offers other examples as well as guidance on how to make the required shift in thinking in this excerpt from Atomic Habits.
Traveling your journey to live, as Cobb explains, “fully, well, and wisely” includes reflection, changing plans, and yes maybe some procrastination. It also includes a support system of friends. There is power in friendships…remembering that developing friendships includes how you can be a better friend.
More April Feature Articles include:
The Incredible Power of Friendship
The people with whom you surround yourself have an enormous impact on your life. In many ways, they shape it.
How to Be a Better Friend
The benefits of friendship, how to make friendships last, how to listen, and how to argue with your friends are explored. Learn why friendships matter, how to sustain them and the simple steps you can take to be a better friend. NOTE: See links at the end of each section for additional articles.
I encourage you to scroll through past issues of Mission to Learn
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