Life-long Learning is NOW

Hi Friends

Each day for 7 days I are looking at a new habit and would encourage you to follow each for a next month so that they become regular habits from then onwards. In 7 weeks we will have 7 new daily habits that may completely change our lives in a positive way, making us better at work, socially and at home. Each habit is simple and within the limits of everybody.

Today’s habit is learn something new every day. It might be something small or a new course that will be life changing. It’s up to you.

Life is a learning experience. We used to talk about a job for life but that is changed and re-training is a theme today. Many people are changing their job every few years because they are on short term contracts, short term projects, they are made redundant or are looking for promotion. And for these people it’s usually essential to be on a learning roller-coaster. But that roller-coaster isn’t a steady ride and that’s what I want to tell you about here. Another group of people need to undertake annual training to keep their professional status.

And that’s what you should be doing to keep your place in life.

In fact we talk about learning for life. Do you feel you know everything you need to know? Everything to get along? That you don’t need to bother with any more learning?

Maybe there’s a physical skill you want to learn like photography or painting, gardening or driving. Perhaps you feel inadequate in a life skill like being able to talk in public, feel confident, be able to manage others, or be a better team member.

So why not sit down and list out 5 things you’d like to learn about and why. Now put them into an order and think about the subject at the top of the list. Now what can you do to learn about this?

Maybe you should get a book from the library or buy a book. They say that only 2 books in every 100 that is bought are actually read. Some of the rest are started but some aren’t even opened. That is very sad. They also say that if you spend just one hour a day reading about anything, then you will become an expert in 12 weeks. By expert we mean that you know much more than the average person. 

You might learn by looking up the information on the internet and either finding articles or videos. This is a common way to learn and there are free and paid curses that will help too. A course is so much better than random videos or articles because they are structures and complete.

You might join a local night school or day classes. If you are particularly enthusiastic you might even sign up on an Open University home study degree course. Wouldn’t it be exciting to tell your family and friends that you’ve just been awarded a degree.

Learning something new will keep your mind active, make you a more interesting person for others, and widen your knowledge. It might give you skills that will have other advantages. If you learn skills like decorating, car mechanics, gardening or plumbing then you could save yourself money at home, or even turn it into a send income or teach others. Just remember we can all learn, all the time and we will benefit. If you learn one small thing every day you can only benefit.

Remember if you are unwilling to learn, no one can help you, but if you are determined to learn, no one can stop you. Make today the first day of a new learning plan.

And make this your new habit that you will use every day from now.

Good luck with your new habit. Please try and learn something every day.

Actions Speak louder . . .

Hi Guys

Taking Action is the seed for everything. For without action there is no future.

 Take a look at this very short video I made in January, last month. Not raining for a change but was it windy. But I had to do it. If you put off actions because of circumstances you'll never get anything done.

So coughing liked an old man (ok no jokes please!) I set off for the beach. Wrapped up warm I was still cold as the wind shook me. I felt that although the wind was spoiling the true sound, it was important to carry on. And in fact I think the wind adds a new dimension, and you can hear me clearly.
We all need to dream but then we must turn that seed of a dream into reality. Just think about seeds for one moment. I used to grow vegetables in my garden and greenhouse and kept back some seeds each year. Now most seeds are better bought because they are cultivated by the seed suppliers to be genetically good to succeed. Sometimes you take your own seeds from your produce and they turn out to be bad and either don't grow at all or are disfigured. In the end the only seeds I kept were from my runner beans and the originals had been given to me by an elderly neighbor who, in turn, had been given them by her neighbor many years previously. And every year they grew consistently good. Every year they gave a bumper crop of delicious beans. So many in fact that we gave many away to friends and neighbors and still had enough for our daily needs plus sufficient to freeze and give us many more meals. By the way there are two points here. First, be kind and generous to friends and neighbours, secondly without me taking action every year we would not have had delicious beans freshly grown. I used to pick them, top and tail them and then straight into a pan of boiling water. Minutes later drained, butter added and onto the plate. 

I read last week that over half of the population spend more than an hour a day think about their future and dreaming about what they want. And many of these dreams can be turned into reality by just taking the first step. OK! So its going to be a struggle to be an astronaut if you haven't had a reasonable education including (probably science) and a university degree. You can't fly without wings. But . . you could start looking for your dream job. You could take a course in something you are interested in, you could take driving lessons, take a second job and start saving for that new house or holiday or car. 

If you really want it you can do it. Remember! There's no gain without pain. Most times it is uncomfortable starting to work towards your dream. But try to forget that pain and just do it.

And when you start leave a comment here. I really want to know what you are doing.

Watch your Manners. Learn with us - here

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Hi Guys

My new course "Manners maketh Man & Woman" is now completed and available. As a special introduction to this and my other courses I am offering it free for 2 days only. This offer will finish on Thursday 4th February at midnight GMT.
 

To get immediate free enrollment copy and paste this link http://tinyurl.com/zzweqzn   Please share this link whilst it lasts.

All my courses include lifelong access so that you get all future updates and additional content. All these courses are being continually updated: for example I have just added 5 new videos to "The Complete Guide for Overseas Students in the UK" covering how to get a part-time job during studying and full-time job when graduated, plus new videos on English manners. 

There is a huge market for online courses and I am very pleased to hear from you if you would like to create a course to go on my site. I can give you all the help you need to produce this and you'll not necessarily have to appear

yourself. There are alternatives such as Powerpoint presentations, animation, using an actor (through a low cost agency) and more. I can show you how to set up a home studio in a small space such as a bedroom or living room, enhance the audio, edit video and much more. Interested? Leave a comment or e-mail me personally at ask@mikeleahy.comask@mikeleahy.com

Not only will you be sharing information and helping others but you'll make some spare cash too. This is a great opportunity. You probably have a skill or knowledge that you haven't thought about. Maybe you are a keen gardener, cook, keep fish, have a second language, have coding knowledge, photographer, are a good dresser or can do brilliant make-up. Maybe you want to create a religious course, meditation, losing weight or keeping fit. One course I saw was a man training in his living room. He started making video when he started his workouts. It was remarkable how he did turn from a weak frame to muscular and because the course followed his progress it was seen as genuine and sold well.

And you don't have to be a genius. So long as you know more than the average person about your subject then you can create a course. I'm happy to work on joint ventures too, so if you have the knowledge we can work together if you wish.

Many people say that they can find everything fee online, and yes you can. But courses are better because everything is together and there is a 30 day full money back guarantee on all courses on my site so you can depend on the tutor as being reliable and good. Courses are usually inclusive, by which I mean that you have everything in one place. 

It doesn't have to be a paid course. Some people like to just share their interest and run free courses. That's fine with me. The Learning Centre is a general resource that is growing.  

So to recap
Enrol in my manners course for free CLICK HERE 
If you want to create your own course contact me.



Have a great life. Watch this space. Please follow me.

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Be a learner
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Life Skills that enhance Life

Hi Everyone

Seems to me there are two types of life skills and both are valuable in our future success.

The first set of life skills are defined by Ellen Galinsky, based on the ideas of the French psychologist Jean Piaget, who is generally recognized as the father of developmental psychology charting how children grow mentally from babies through being toddlers to school.

These skills are Focus and Self-Control, Perspective Taking, Communicating,Making Connections, Critical Thinking,Taking on Challenges and finally Self-Directed, Engaged Learning.

These are all skills that we should learn as children to help us succeed in life. So, for example we should learn focus and self-control so that we can concentrate on what we are doing and not be distracted.

Unfortunately we are now in an age where this self control and focus is diminishing in many cases and you can see this with that device we all carry now - the mobile phone. Have you noticed how so many people are distracted by their phones during conversation and at meal-time for example. And this now covers all ages and intelligence levels. Go to a restaurant and watch the diners. Usually conversation has died and it's not unusual for everyone at a table to be texting, reading messages or talking on their phones. And this of course not only demonstrates the lack of focus and self control but shows a lack of common good manners to the others they are dining with.

Likewise YouTube clam that most people will switch from any video they are watching after about a minute, and anything longer than 3 minutes had better be absolutely riveting to retain any interest. 

So by learning how to focus and how to have self-control, and then being able to put this into practice can put you head and shoulders above the rest. But this not only works for whatever we are doing at the moment but also achieving what we want in the future. For how can you succeed if you have a goal but can't focus long enough to take the steps necessary to achieve it?

The last skill in this list is self-directed self-learning skills that will enable us to undertake work, to carry out practical jobs in our social environment and to be increase our interlect through creative skills, all of which we can learn. And in general get a direction to our future.

So it is recognised that we live in an ever changing world where there is no job for life, where our social lives are continually evolving. And this has changed dramatically just in the last 30 years or so. When I left school everyone said get a job in a bank, as a teacher, in local government and you've got a job for life with a good pension. And many of my peers did just that. And now they've retired with their pension and, in many cases their lives continue to be a regular routine that hasn't changed through the years. I read that over 85% of the population are unhappy at work so for many its been a lifetime of over 80,000 hours of unhappiness or at the very least boredom and unfulfillment. Many have taken up hobbies that have become absorbing and filled the void from being unhappy at work but not all.

Now we live in a different world. A world with more opportunities, A world where you can achieve anything that is physically possible. I'm not saying that you can do anything. It's highly unlikely you'll become a premier league footballer if you have a physical disability that prevents this: its unlikely you'll be able to fly without wings. But there is nothing to stop you becoming a millionaire, a university professor, a top artist or writer. You just need the life skills to achieve this. focus and self control to start with and the knowledge to carry out your ambition. If you want to be an artist then you need to learn to draw and paint. Looking back at the greats is inspirational. We look at all the artists of old and most had an apprenticeship where they nay have worked with a master artist for years learning how to paint hands or eyes, clouds or water. And only when they mastered these skills did they move on to create works themselves. 

Now this is becoming simple. We don't need vast shelves of  encyclodepeas because its all on the internet. You can find anything online. I believe that books are invaluable and I've quite a library including how-to books and classics; and I read frequently but this is just one resource. I still like the feel of books and settling down to read is relaxing and can help me switch off from general life for a while. But there are so many more resources online for an immediate answer.

So you can learn anything for free. But to learn about a specific subject such as photography or gardening, cake-making or a new language then I highly recommend

enrolling in a paid course. There are courses on every subject under the sun and the benefits are that you will be taught by a professional in a planned learning schedule. All the information will be together so you wont waste time on searching it out, and the information should be accurate so you won't have to decide what is correct or otherwise. And finally you'll be able to ask questions and set up a dialogue should you wish. 

Learn a new skill today. Find a course that covers something you want to learn or do and feel the satisfaction when you finish.

Here are my courses. Click on the image to go to the website