Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Life-long Learning

Tags

Computers, Curiosity, e-books, Laptops, Life-long Learning, online courses, Programming, smart phones, smart watches, tablets, video tutorials

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Learning.

Most of us “learned” to dislike it because of school. We had to take subjects we didn’t like or maybe we weren’t that great at it. Whatever the reason, take a moment to think about those classes you took that you liked. There must have been a few you enjoyed right? That’s where you start.

The reason I bring this up is that I don’t want any of my friends, family, or my customers/readers to become complacent. The world is moving faster and faster. New technologies are coming to market more quickly. Do not be left behind.

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”  – Henry Ford

Each of us can learn new things. Start with the things you enjoyed in school. Maybe you liked shop class. Read books about carpentry, masonry, and metalwork. Maybe you enjoyed writing. Learn about writing. Maybe you always liked Astronomy. Learn about Astronomy.

I think you’ll find that learning brings a sense of accomplishment, joy, and builds confidence. Once you catch the “learning bug”, you may tackle some topics you didn’t like, but want to try again. Go for it! There are so many places to learn, whether it be an online course, a video tutorial, or a book.

 

Set a goal to learn something new each day or complete so many courses in a year. Take a variety of subjects so you can build new skills and knowledge. This variety will build on your current knowledge and help you find new solutions to problems you didn’t know existed. Simply by opening your mind and working through different topic areas.

With a Father who is suffering from Dementia, I am learning and working my brain with the hope I do not fall victim to the same thing my Dad has. It is tough to watch one of the smartest guys I knew, forget how to turn on a television or log on to a computer because he can’t remember how.

I’m also motivated to learn new things because I never want to be obsolete. In this information age, people are falling by the wayside because they can’t keep up. They can’t use a smart phone, smart watch, or tablet. They can barely use a computer. In a few short years, these people will not be able to do what most of us can do today with little effort.

Get out there and learn about your phone, your computer, your tablet. Go get yourself a smart watch and play with it. Get comfortable reading articles online, books in e-readers, sharing what you find on social media. Get a bank account app and use it. Learn all there is to know about the apps on your technical gear. Find new apps to play with and use, even if you don’t keep it or find the app to be a waste of time. The new apps will help you learn more.

Have you ever taken an online course? There are some that are free and they are really good. Have you ever read a digital book? Downloaded a digital book from your local library? Get on Coursera, Udemy, Study.com, or Skill Share. Take a course, complete it, do the exercises. Download a book to your Amazon Kindle App. Get yourself a music app and download the music. Get on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video or Vudu.com and stream a movie or television show. Show your parents and grandparents how to use this stuff. They are the generation that is falling behind currently and it is hurting them.

 

Before I came home, my parents did not know what Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Vudu was? They didn’t know what Spotify or Apple Music was. My Mom had a flip phone. My Mom and Dad still have a landline and don’t use it anymore. They pay 50 dollars a month for a phone that takes messages from robocalls. You see what I’m talking about? Don’t let your friends and relatives fall to the wayside. Take the time to show them how to use this stuff and keep them up-to-date.

To those of us that are caught up and know how to use these things—GREAT! Think about 20-30 years from now when your are older. Will you still be in the loop or will you fall to the wayside using the technologies you are comfortable with now, that, will be outdated.

 

Take the time each day to learn something new. Take the time to teach someone else that may not know what you know. Don’t be complacent. Continue to grow, to learn, to improve. It makes life exciting and worth living. I hope all of you are having a great week!

 

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Dark Night of Soul – Finding Your Passion

Tags

Dark Night of Soul, Enjoying Life, Opposites, Passions, Persistence, Programming, Seneca, Writing

“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.” ― Seneca

I was reading something today about the “Dark night of Soul”. The dark night of soul is a time of despair. It is a time of emptiness, isolation, and depression. It is a time in our lives when we see no way out of our troubles. All of us experience this. Some never escape. Others come out of these times stronger. What a dark beginning to a blog posting right?

Without the dark times in our lives, we would not know what the good times are. We need opposites in our lives. Without the negative and positive aspects of life, our existence would be boring. When we experience a dark time in our lives, we appreciate the good times we experience even more. The fluctuation between good days and bad days keeps us on our toes. When we realize that both the good and bad times are necessary for our growth, we realize we can be grateful for both. During the bad times, we develop new coping skills. During the good times, we develop appreciation and gratitude.

Today, I am thankful for my new followers. My goal this year is to reach 1000 followers for Daily Ramblings. I hope that my content will attract new followers and keep them returning day after day. It is a tough order. There are so many other things for people to do. Blogging makes all of us better writers and more cognizant of what the readership wants to read about.

My book writing took a turn for the worse a week ago. I finished my rough draft in January and doubted my content. I did not know what to do next. Then I ran across another write on Facebook and got advice. They pointed me to a few writing tools. I purchased these tools and worked on my 2nd draft. I am grateful for this author’s advice. That advice and her words of encouragement got me back on track.

Writing a book is no easy task. It requires habitual attention and a process that helps the author move from one step of the writing to the next. Since this is my first book, there will be more situations like this. I will get stuck, I will find a solution, and then get moving again.

I am grateful for my persistence. I am grateful for my curiosity. I am grateful for my stubbornness. I am grateful for my desire to write. Like many things in my life, I fell into writing because of my love of writing earlier as a child. I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed this work until I picked it up again in retirement.

I have always wanted to do something for the sheer enjoyment of doing it. Writing is like that for me. Writing allows me to express myself. Writing allows me to clarify my thinking. Writing allows me to empty my mind and organize these thoughts into something cogent. I worked on my book a few days ago and thought about the process an artist goes through when they create a drawing. They sketch something out and then flesh out their drawing into a final product. Writers do the same thing. We start with a rough draft, dumping everything in our minds onto paper. We then flesh out our writing into a final draft. I enjoy these moments of clarity when things come together like this.

Programming is another passion I have recently rediscovered. I dabbled with programming in my college years. It exposed me to some web development, database development, other technical topics. Recently, I got an inner nudge to pick it up again. I found a website called www.codecademy.com. Codecademy offers various development paths to people who want to learn how to code. I did not know this site existed until I asked around. One of my developer friends recommended it and I have been on this site ever since.

Do you have a passion for something you have put aside? I encourage you to pick it up again. Writing and programming are my passions. It is a joy I experience every day. I am grateful for my writing and my ability to learn technical topics like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Writing and programming fulfill me. I hope you find where your passions lie and can pursue them too.

I hope all of you are having a terrific Thursday! Thank you to all new followers. I hope you find my content enjoyable and you return often.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Funny Friday

Tags

Albert Einstein, failing, Falling, goofs, Improving, Learning, Mistakes, Programming

“Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.” ­Albert Einstein

Only Albert could give us something to ponder while being funny. This brought up a point about the importance of giving yourself a break. You are human. You will make mistakes. You will goof up. You will fall.

Will your mistake end the world? Will your goof destroy your progress? No. You can fix mistakes and goofs. Just realize that making mistakes and goofs are all part of the learning process. Learn from your mistakes. Learn what didn’t work. Learn why it didn’t work.

After re-wiring my brain toward coding again, I realized how silly some mistakes are. Software development languages are quite unforgiving when you screw up syntax. They are also maddening when you think they should do something, and they do something else. Between syntax and logic errors, logic errors are the worst. But, like every other developer before me, there are little hacks to learn, little “tricks of the trade” that allow you to avoid plenty of errors or have a process for finding logic and syntax errors.

The same thing that a software engineer uses can be used in real life when looking at your other projects. Look at the big task, break it down into little tasks, and execute each little task. This is what a computer programmer does because a computer can only work through little tasks to accomplish bigger ones. You must build the code, so your computer knows the variables it will have access to, the functions it will execute, and told when to execute a function or line of code. All these little tasks build up to an end goal, like allowing a person to play a game, do a calculation, or learn if they had enough sleep last week.

We do the same thing when we are looking to accomplish something. We look at the goal. We visualize what the end-state of that goal’s accomplishment looks like. Then we begin breaking the goal down into actionable steps.

I’ve really enjoyed getting back into programming. I haven’t done it seriously since 2005, but it is all beginning to come back quickly. I like the way software engineering requires us to think about what we want to accomplish. Only then can we build code to help us fulfill our desired end.

When you make a mistake and get down on yourself, take some time to contemplate the bigger picture. Each mistake you make helps you move forward—you find out what NOT to do. Learn from these mistakes. They’ll make you stronger—better. I hope all of my readers in the US had a terrific Thanksgiving!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Ted Talk Tuesday

Tags

Elizabeth Gilbert, Exercise, Programming, Ted Talk, What Drives You?, Writing, Your Home

Today’s Ted Talk is provided by a writer. A writer who has seen the peak of success and the pit of defeat. She discusses a really important point about her craft. It is not about making money or being successful. It is not about the failure of a book. It is about doing what you love, a thing she calls “home”.

“Home” is the one thing that you love more than yourself. When it comes to writing, I have found so many quotes and stories discussing the same thing. Stephen King, Lee Childs, and James Patterson all offer the same advice in their books, articles, and interviews. When you look at any person who does well at what they are doing and works hard at it, you know there’s love. You couldn’t put in the time these people put into their work if they didn’t absolutely love what they do.

I challenge each of you in my reading audience to take a few moments and reflect. Where is your “home”? I obviously love to write. I do it every day for this blog. Am I the best? Far from it. I love it. I have also recently discovered my passion for programming. You see I started a course on Codecademy on a whim. Programming is on my bucket list. I really enjoy it. I love watching the magic of code. How anyone can make that computer do what they want. It really is magical to me.

Think about the things you do for the sake of doing it. My Mother gardens. My Father loves to work with wood. My brother likes Guitar Playing and technology (he does it for a living). My Wife has a passion for bodybuilding and teaching. My friend has a passion for playing vintage video games.

Each of us has that one thing we could do 24-hours a day without pay. We truly love doing this one thing or maybe a few things more than we love ourselves. This thing is what God put us on Earth to do. It is the one thing you can do that truly wakes you up in the morning.

I hope you enjoy this video. It really sparked something inside me when I watched it. I hope it does the same for you.

Until next time…

Dave