Learning is such fun. It’s profitable. And it changes us.
I made new Painter brushes in class, and then painted with them. 
But only if we apply it.
Four of us rode together, returning home from a weekend motivational conference. We broke the trip in half by stopping for lunch.
I had picked up on an idea early in the weekend and was excited to try it once I got home. And so I asked the others, friends and business associates of mine, ‘What will you all do differently this week because of the weekend?’
‘Read, read, read,’ said one.
‘Contacts,’ said another.
The third bit into her Quizno sub and said nothing.
Hmmm… We had just spent five hours in the car, discussing the impact of the many speakers we’d heard. Everyone had thoughts to share. Opinions, that is, but apparently no ideas to implement.
If we learn and don’t apply, what have we learned?
‘Oh, but we learned so much! And it’s all so exciting!’ All three agreed.
However, I thought, nothing they learned had translated to making a difference in daily activity. So did they really learn it?
Collage I did of Lys Sketching and Journaling... Planning her Tomorrow
I have led workshops and spoken for business folk over the years. My topics centered around self-growth: self-knowledge, esteem, image, value, relationships, attitude, passion and pursuit.
But that day at lunch, I wondered how much difference any of it had made?
If we don’t occasionally change something we do, or modify it somehow, or add to what we’re already doing, how do we grow?
My three friends each had dreams of a fuller life, and could talk endlessly about them…
…Yet they saw nothing in the status quo to tweak.
Is life different, or better, or are we more accomplished and profitable just because we know more?
There’s a saying that translates more or less like this:
If I do today what I’ve always done, tomorrow I will have what I’ve always had.
Must we make drastic changes?
True, technology changes overnight and new concepts greet us with our morning coffee. And while it’s an exciting time to live, I don’t think we need to change drastically.
I’m talking about tweaking our daily routines to allow us to apply an insightful bit of learning. It’s refining our chosen paths to become who we want to be.
It’s called growth.
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What do you think?
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Do you attend conferences or classes, online and on-site?
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Do you take away an idea you can implement? So you discuss them with others?
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Will working with that idea change you somehow? Help you grow?
Thanks so much for coming. Have a fresh cup of coffee and ponder with us a bit… Enjoy your day.
Barb
P.S. Some sites that teach and inspire me to grow:
I take classes to improve my life. Here are some: DigitalArtAcademy — Painting Classes and webinars; Creative Techs, — Live Painting Classes; LVSonline — Blogging and Twitter and CSS classes. And I read so many blogs that teach me to do better what I love doing.
Annually, Liz Strauss and Terry Starbucker conduct a Successful and Outstanding Bloggers conference — SOBCon — to educate (and inspire) business people, as individuals and as team players, to connect and care and change and grow. Notice the fourth bullet point!
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
Very good and informative, Barb.
Ann
Thanks so much Ann!
Hi Barb.
Yes, I have attended conferences in the past and I have to admit that in most cases I come away with the experience of being there. I don’t, in most cases do anything differently, but I think about things differently. I agree that tweaking our daily routines makes a huge difference. Drastic changes have a habit of happening on their own… overnight.
PS. I love the new artwork you’ve put into your rotating image box.
Davina´s last blog ..Just Glowing, That’s All
Hi Davina. I’m glad you like my coffee mug! I’m learning Thesis, bit by bit.
I’ll find some more of my doodles to put in there. For this post, I simply learned how to establish just one image that stays with the post.
You’ve made such a good point about coming away from a conference “thinking about things differently.” I’m learning a whole lot from the comments here… and changing how I think about things some.
Thanks for your wise input…
What I get from inspiring motivational events is the FEELING and additional thinking and thought patterns. I don’t think of it as much about DOING. Maybe I should, but I still never consider it wasted time. I always feel enriched.
Learning has been one my favorite things all my life. However, at my age learning comes much harder. My spouse and I are trying to learn Bridge and it takes a lot longer than Chemistry or Calculus did 50 years ago.
Hi Carol.
I have to chuckle over the ‘learning Bridge’ comment. I learned it in college, on the floor of the sorority suite when studies were done. The rules and strategies took forever to make sense to me. It finally clicked though, enough for me to enjoy the game until, a few years later we all joined a ‘serious’ band of Bridge players — out for the points, not for the fun and snacks. Haha…
I like your point of coming away from a motivational event inspired, with additional thinking and thought patterns. You’ve certainly just added to mine! Thanks…
It reminds me of the joke … how many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? … Only one … but the light bulb has to want to change.
I’m a fan of applied learning and I try to regularly test out new ways and innovate in my processes.
J.D. Meier´s last blog ..How To Use a Coach Effectively
Hi J.D. Thanks for your input — love the joke.
Your blog post ‘How to Use A Coach Effectively’ expands on this idea from another perspective. Your writing always makes me think…
I know this feeling – I went to a seminar and while attending it I was enthusiastic. Then, some days after the event, I still had the impression that it was helpful, but only an impression. I had to take the time then to think: in what sense? what did I learn for my daily practice? what problems do I have and in which way are they solved by the new knowledge I acquired? This is plenty of work, but if I don’t take the time and answer all these questions, the seminar is not worth the money I spent on it (and the time).
Ulla Hennig´s last blog ..Some of my Books
Hi Ulla. That’s my process pretty much. As I leave, I think about what difference it made to me, without going back over my notes. What was the thing that stood out and doesn’t leave me alone? Usually there will be at least one aHa! or the seed of an idea at least.
But the gals above have made good points too. Because, the function did make a difference with them in their thinking. I guess in the long run, such changes would affect their ‘doing’ on another day.
Thank you for coming by!
You are so right Barb! Just going and listening isn’t enough, we have to do.
I’m finding sometimes folks don’t have enough foundational information to move forward with suggestions, ie “We want our artists to have websites,” from a gallery owner. Deep sighs all around me as the admit later they either do not know how to do it themselves or can’t afford to have it done.
There’s so much available right now its hard to take the time to make the baby steps that lead to the marathon. Very inspirational blog, thanks for sharing.
Hi Suzanne.
I guess you and I are coming from a technical perspective on this question. Certainly in your experience above, it’s technical, applicable knowledge we want to take home. Having read your blog post about this issue, the other artists at the function were thrown a curve with the ‘going online’ suggestion. I have such artist friends. They show and sell their work locally, but the online presence eludes them.
But it’s also interesting what YOU took home from the conference — from others sitting with you, if not the speaker himself. You found a seed of an idea for expanding your own business to include teaching artists how to use their computers intuitively for professional purposes. Excellent!!!
Thanks for sharing…
Barb, Every contact we make in some way interacts with our own thoughts, and as we reflect (or don’t) that “chance” bumping into a new idea or challenge brings an energy to our own views. Sometimes it can seem overwhelming, at first, because those ideas can produce feelings of unworthiness or of “being left behind” in a whirlwind of competive reality that is constantly upon us. I have observed that adults need time, time to percolate, to experiment or to reject, and everyone percolates at a different temperature and in a different time. You, Barb, are an analyst at heart. You see a strand of truth, and immediately apply it to a possibility you know exists in your own work or life. Others need to float a while, awash in new experiences, reassured that there is no threat, only opportunity. Nothing is failure. Only learning. We cannot escape learning, but we have to remember that it must attach itself to something that already exists within us. You are lucky, because you are very aware of what exist within you. Your friends may have learned something, too, but are not realizing it yet because they may have not yet found something within them that the new learning can adhere to, if it is meant to stick and be applied. The trip produced interesting observations of the spirit. Congratulations, my very alive friend.
Hi Sally. I love talking to you!
No wonder you are such a successful educator as well as artist and author. You understand people, and that there are unique learning processes for all of us. Doesn’t mean any one of those processes is more valid than another — just that they all differ. And you accept them all.
Thank you for reminding me. And for expanding my mind — again.
We are creatures of habit and most of us resist change I think, even when we see the need or want for it.
I have had times where my vision of what could be made huge changes in my life. Not so much lately though, I think I lack the vision part. Then again, I don’t think I ever got that so much from external sources.
Anita
Sliloh´s last blog ..Mindfulness
Hi Anita.
I so agree we are creatures of habit. I think the trick is to tease ourselves into believing we have a habit we want to have, anf then practice it until it’s real. I’ve read somewhere it only takes 30 days to establish a new habit. The key is the want to part.
I have a lovely friend who has wanted to do many artistic things for the past 30 or so years. And she’d be good at all of them — she’s quite talented. She hasn’t done any of them yet. But, she says, some day — after……. such and such is done…
And I have to admit I’m guilty of same. For some things I’d like to do, ‘some day’ always gets filled with something else. Haha!
I’m just exploring this point about learning changes us, and folks here have challenged my thinking some.
Thanks for your input, my friend.
Barb, I love your painting of the flowers!
I’ve attended only one motivational class many years ago because my sister had free tickets. It was enjoyable, but I don’t think it changed my life…or I didn’t change my life. As the years go by, it seems most of my life changes have been imposed on me…so I cope with knees that have given up the ghost and doctors’ visits and infusions for leukemia/lymphoma…but I revel in caring for my grandkids on a regular basis.
Still, I think the day will come when I will be able to take more control and do all the things I tell myself I want to do. Or realistically, I’ll do some of those things. Maybe it’s a case of “there’s a time for every purpose under heaven”!
Terro´s last blog ..Holy Moses!!!
Thanks for loving my flowers, Terro! It was just a doodle with new brushes I learned how to make, and I had so much fun with it. Turns out my doodles are often far better than my planned-out paintings. Haha.
My main point was to have been, learning changes us as we apply whatever it is we’ve learned. Not just conferences, though that was my example. I read your blog and find you are well-read, highly intelligent, and have a good dose of common sense. So I rather imagine we’re talking around the issue here…
Thanks so much for visiting! We share the love of grandkids.
Hi Barbara .. how right you are – we leave the conference brimming with ideas – personal to our situation, but as we get home the minutae of our daily lives’ routine kicks in and making those changes just simply gets left behind. We weren’t prepared when we left – that when we get back we may need to make changes we hadn’t thought about .. I guess it’s the pre conference ‘be prepared’ – be ready for change when you get back and then do it!
Love the orchids and your jug – wonderful talent .. thanks for sharing with us .. Hilary
Hilary´s last blog ..Alpha, Treacle, Beta, Dogger, Snow – what do they mean to you?
Hi Hilary. I love your response! Yes, you are absolutely right — when we get back, those things left undone call to us and sometimes put us right back into our habits.
I’ll remember the ‘get prepared ahead of time’ suggestion. Know that when I come back, I’ll need to have prepared a block of time to think, restructure, and implement. If indeed that’s called for.
The same holds true when I read a book on a topic I want to learn more about. Something must get shelved so I can practice what I’m learning. (That’s how I can sometimes get discombobulated — but it’s such a good point!)
Thank you!
wow this is timely Barbara, and I love your pictures today….I often go to conferences and feel refreshed but don’t feel like they were worthwhile unless they helped me put something new into action. It does not have to be drastic at all…I just did a metaphor workshop with Davina and I am still finding that my thinking is changing….I have a clearer visual image of an outcome I want for one…but here is a simple thing that the game changed in my thinking….I put the word HAPPY infront of every item on my to do list….such as Happily take Blood Pressure reading. Happy to call and confirm my appt. Just that simple change has brought a new energy to my body….
I am attempting to figure out each “take away” from everything I am doing….such as how happy my hands felt to be kneading the last loaf of bread….I am sighing a whole lot more – not so angry about the pain and fatigue..
Great post – thank you for sharing and lucky you to have an out of house experience
Patricia´s last blog ..Book Review and Cookbook Giveaway: The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone
Hi Patricia.
I appreciate your comments here more than you know. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. We have dreams and goals to achieve those dreams — no matter what they are, or how big they are. They are just something we feel called to do, or want to do, or need to do.
New habits for achieving them can be minute! But with such big impact. Your ‘happy’ talk is awesome.
Considering your take away from whatever you’re doing is also awesome.
A change in attitude or thinking causes a change in doing…
P.S. I’m delighted to learn that Davina does metaphor workshops. Metaphor is where I live.
Hi Barbara
“If we learn and don’t apply, what have we learned?”
Guess in blogging most of us are learning and applying all the time.
We learn the technical bits – Wordpress and the like, we learn how to write good posts, we learn how to be polite when thanking someone for leaving a comment, we learn how to become involved in the blogosphere and perhaps most important… we learn how to enjoy the whole experience.
And having learnt all that, we apply it like crazy!
Keith Davis´s last blog ..A helping hand…
Hi Keith — you’ve wrapped it up very well! Good points for a talk at a blogging conference.
Thank you.
Hi Barb – It’s a great topic to explore. Sometimes I want to apply what I learn, and I’m lucky because I often get a chance to do so in my work with clients. Other times, though, I just go to conferences and workshops and the like in order to engage with others who share my interests. Like you, I’ve also presented a lot of workshops and speeches, and after a few years came away thinking that what most people really want is to be entertained and moved in some way. That might translate into action, but perhaps not. And I’m okay with that, because I’ve learned that human beings often need to hear something over and over before they finally get to the point of taking actions, even small ones.
Patty – Why Not Start Now?´s last blog ..Meaning Mondays: The Big Rabbit Edition
Hi Patty.
Wow — yes, you are absolutely right. I am beginning to see, as you all stretch my thinking, that I have missed something. What I take away from an event is peculiar to me — just let everyone else take what they need as well. I’m learning what some of those things are.
Perhaps I’m not wrong — just limited in my view. I’ll change that.
Thanks so much.
Hi Barb,
) I haven’t had time to read the piece yet but I just had to take a minute to say what beautiful, beautiful artwork! I’ll be back.
I recognised your name from other blogs I visit and just popped over to ‘meet’ you after the lovely comment you left at my place. (So many lovely blogs and so little time.
Hi Janice… I’m delighted you popped over! I do understand the time-thing. Thanks for commenting on my paintings.
Everything is created twice, first in the mind, then in reality. The problem for most of us it that we are stuck with the first. We’ve learned many things, we pop some ideas but they only stay on our minds. Only by making some actions can we complete its creation. Sadly, few does.
Well-said, Walter. And as some others have shown me, the actions can be changes in attitude, an expanding of thought and insight, both of which will ultimately change what we do and how we do it. Thank you!
Barb -
Thanks for bringing out a fundamental truth. Learning isn’t purely the act of finding and taking in information. Information only becomes useful once it is applied. It takes experimentation and practice to make a change and be better. As a coach, I spend my life trying out ideas and sticking with them to see how they impact my life. I love finding the learning in a different way of approaching something. When things work, I encourage my clients to try them too. This always means a concerted effort at trying something over a period of time, reviewing the change, analyzing, correcting and then working out what next. Living this way is an adventure and a joy. Keep spreading the word!
Phil
Phil – Less Ordinary Living´s last blog ..How to Start
Hi Barb,
This was very thought provoking. At the end of each year I find myself becoming very introspective, it usually ends up bringing me down and making me wonder how it is I have managed to waste so many years. I finally figured out that I had spent the last few years trying to learn to much – not to much but about to many different things. I was just spreading myself to thin and not getting anywhere. So this year I have made some very definite plans and I am implementing what I learn. I have focus. Thanks for keeping me on track! Kc
Grandma Kc´s last blog ..Last Plane Out
Hello Barb:
I’ve just been introduced to your blog, as we are taking an LVS online class together. As many of the comments have been geared towards, I feel the problem is, that were all in a warm bed. There are very few people who are willing to take the chance or leap to challenge themselves into doing new things. I have also been to motivational seminars and like most, you leave feeling wonderful, happy, in awe. The challenge is to react on those feelings and change in your daily life, what you came out of the seminar with. Some of it is fear, fear of failure, even if it is just to yourself. What if I do this and it doesn’t work, or I don’t feel better, or no one notices? Getting back to being in a warm bed…..people are comfortable with whom they have become, it works for them so why change it.
Look forward to chatting in class with you.
Katie