Secrets of success in 8 words, 3 minutes

I took these notes from the TED lecture given by Richard St. John at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/70



Boy this is an inspiring video to watch. I've never seen it summed up so succinctly
I have to say that when I look back I can say that each success that I've had owes a lot to the things Richard talks about. He put's it so clearly and precisely I just had to note it for reference here.

8 secrets of success:

1. Passion: Do it for love not money
2. Work: Nothing comes easy but I have a lot of fun. Work a frolics
3. Focus: Focus on one thing
4. Persist: Through failure, CRAP:
   
• (C)riticism
• (R)ejection
• (A)ssholes
• (P)ressure
5. Ideas: Have a great idea
6. Good: Be good at it
7. Push: Physically, mentally, address fears. It's not always easy.
8. Serve: Make it a privelege e.g. It was a privilege to be a doctor

Adopt these habits:

• Listen
• Observe
• Be Curious
• Ask questions
• Solve problems
• Make Connections
  

The original version of this article is on my first blog.

Can somebody please support self directed learning!!!

I'm a self directed learner. I'm not one for the whole course or module mentality. Mainly because, now that I work, I just don't have the time or the patience to commit to such a slow process of learning. Particularly when you only get the grade at the end. You have to devote months of your life to the possibility that you'll get a fair grade when they decide to test you.

To me I just feel the formal education approach available to adults right now is high risk,for little reward. At least as a self directed learner I can easily adjust to all the life events that occur in between. It doesn't really get in the way. I just pick up later where I've left off.

I think there are many people who see things the way I do. They love to learn but they can't find anyone targeting their need. So we just do it in our amateur way. In self directed learning, a market with great potential I expand on this idea. Just to contribute to the debate really. I feel the most common type of learning is self directed. Formal is  much rarer. It's only because formal education is the dominant form in our early years when we know no better that we think it's the only kind. It isn't.

Funding education: A novel approach

funding is one of those key things that underpin learning and teaching. In funding education, a novel approach I explain how you could use the latest payment approaches to fund new learning tools.

Rather than apply for big grants and go through the related bureaucracy. In this age of empowerment you could just deliver a tool and provide cheap simple options to pay for it and let users decide if they really want it. Let users decide what they really want and let tool providers figure out how to add value to learning and justify it to end users.

This leaves learning providers with more detailed and relevant information about what is actually working and what people really want. So it actually makes their decisions easier because they have more practical information to go on.

Everybody wins.

Welcome to learning in the 21st century

So what's this blog about?

I'm into learning. Every time I want to get some thing done I need to figure out how to get it done, I need to learn something, and I need to find good teachers.

I did physical education for A level and degree, I coach and basically like teaching because it's a form of helping people. When I worked on a helpdesk it turned out to be a distance teaching environment because I had to teach people how their tech works so they can get their job done. i had to remove barriers and stuff.

Learning and teaching haven't essentially changed. But the tools on offer have improved in leaps and bounds. So I'm finding I'm not the only person figuring out how these tools can help me get more done particularly by making learning and teaching easier and more fun.

So this blog is about my journey and how I'm getting where I want to go through learning stuff.