The Transformational Trainer: Kolb: The Experiential Learning Cycle

The Transformational Trainer: Kolb: The Experiential Learning Cycle: by Clara Davies Introduction Reflective practice is important to the development of lecturers as professionals as it enables us to lear...

Happy New Year 2010

Count down to New Year 2010? I rather sleep and read the newspaper the following day! Getting up to check to see if I'm in the correct year.

It's funny, there are a lot people who enjoy counting down. As for me, I rather not join the crowd. I would rather count down on other days. Playing with the snooze button as I count down to getting ready to work on time. There is a timing for everything... Some people count down to salary day to survive, I do that too.

Some people think that New Year should be a time for a big bang and celebration time and not a boring time at home. I think differently, I think spending a peaceful time at home is a great way to spend the new year. Thinking of new ways to improve and charged throughout the year.

Setting a dateline to improve yourself, then count down to improvement day. It is better that way than to go out with a bang and fall flat the next day. I'm excited to get charged up and move forward.

Life Strategy Game

The first step to success is to start somewhere or click the start button. In order to reach level 100, we would always need to start with level 0. There is a strategy to every game, even the game of life needs strategy.

My brother taught me how to play chess. He used to win every game that we played when I was 10 years old. I would think that it was alright to lose because my brother was 10 years older. It didn't matter whether I won or lost but I would always try to win. I never gave up playing and he never got bored playing with me.

Over the years, I would keep changing strategies whenever we played until one day, I actually won! I didn't believe that I had won and thought he was just giving me a chance to win. After that winning was every now and then.

The strategy was to improve in every game and I did improve.

As I grew older, I was into computer games. I played all kinds of online games. In order to get good at a game, we must spent time with it. To get to a higher level, persistence is the key and the will to never quit and continue.

Lo and behold! Another new level...

My game strategy for life:

1) BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND (PLAN)

Focus and feel the achievement of what you want. See the goal or vision in your head.

2) TAKE THE NECESSARY ACTION (ACTION)

Take any necessary action, just do something to get things started and moving

3) LEARN FROM MISTAKES & NEVER GIVE UP (LEARN)

Learn from all the action you have taken. Never ever give up trying or looking for new solutions.

4) CONSTANT AND NEVER-ENDING IMPROVEMENTS (IMPROVE)

Keep learning from your past actions, improving your steps and move forward to greater heights. Stick to the end results in mind and move towards your goal to achieve it.

Change! cHaNgE! ChAnGe! CHANGE!

Why are you so afraid of change? If someone has a better idea, why not follow? What are you shy about? If the idea is good, why not change towards it? What is this feeling of losing face? You’re the one to lose if you believe in this. There is no face to lose; there is only experience to gain. If you don’t change for the better then are you changing for the worst?
Why do you feel like an idiot? Why don’t feel like a champion, triumphant? Why don’t feel like you’re progressing? Why embarrassed to let people know that you’re changing? Why not show them that you’ve changed? Is it because you fear to lose face? Is it because you are afraid that your peers may laugh at you? Why not be proud that you’ve changed for the better? Why not feel great that you’ve progressed?
If you don’t dare to be different and remain the same, you’ll never progress in life. You’ve got to embrace the change and progress forward. Changes maybe challenging but if you don’t dare to change, you’ll never progress in life.
Take this time; take this vow that you’ll change for the better, one thing at a time and stand triumphant at the top knowing that you’ve taken the steps to change for the better to be a winner, one step at a time forward and not backward. Such is the power of change!

Too many things

Sometimes I get this feeling that there are too many things to do. I don't know which one to focus on. I feel like pulling my hairs with both hands on my head and go, "Arghhh!!!" Ever felt like this before? In the end, you find out that you've done nothing for the day.

Relax! Calm down! One thing at a time... Ask yourself, what is important? Do the most important thing first. Reminds me about the story of a professor who filled a jar with golf balls and he asked his class, "Is it full?" They went, "Yes". Then, he took some marbles out and filled in the gaps between the golf balls and asked his class again, "Is it full?" The class went, "Yes" again. Then, he took out sand and filled in the jar and asked the same question, they went "Yes, it's full!". Then, he took out coffee and filled the jar. The class laughed and they knew it was full this time. He asked, "If I had put in the sand first, will I have space for the golf balls?" The answer was, "No".

The moral of the story is if we focus on the minor things in life, we won't have time for the bigger things. So focus on what is important and not the minor problems that get to you. If we spent too much time on the minor details, we won't get to fill up our time to aim for the stars or the bigger picture.

In one of my favorite movies, "The Last Samurai", there was a fight scene. The hero was learning to fight and lost because he was thinking too much. The advisor told him, "too many minds, one mind" Yes, focus on the important things and voila, he started to show improvements and gave a better challenge to the opponent.

I think I should do the same, calm down my nerves, look at the important stuff and just do it. In my past experiences after a year, I guess I do eventually progress without noticing. My mentor once told me of a story of a man who carried a baby calf when he was young. Daily he carried that calf till it turned into an ox. When someone saw the man who carried an ox, they didn't believe it. It was years of weightlifting and as the man grew so did the weight. It did not happen overnight. It's just like weightlifting, start with smaller weights, add as your strength grows.

Lastly, when there are too many things and it seems overwhelming. Stop, calm down, relax! Focus on the important things that matter and if all else fails what matters most was done. The clock maybe ticking but if we blend in with the time, we synchronize with the events. Be one with the force and have peace accomplishing one thing at a time. I think that's what Yoda meant in Star Wars, "Be One with the Force!" Get things done, one day at a time, one thing at a time!

New day, new beginnings!

Every year, millions of people set New Year Resolutions and Goals. After a month or less, most people give up and find that it was an impossible task to start anew. This year my new year resolution was to have no resolution at all so I achieved my goal.

Instead I believe in having new moments with new determination anytime of the year. If you feel like starting something new, just start it. Be it an exercise goal, start walking by the lake or a romantic goal, call someone for a date. Be it to spend more quality time with your family, just taking them out for a meal. It can be a goal at work, to spend more time appreciating your colleagues at work or to hit a sales target. It can be anything related to health, love, work or other matters. Just start doing something. Nothing in this world is more powerful than action. All the talks in this world won't do a thing if it is just talks.

If your action fails so what? "Never, never ever give up!" Try something else. It is not the end of the world, you know. If I had never fell down as a child, I would never have learned how to walk. I fell, I cried, so what? I just got up again and started walking. I kept trying till I could learn how to run. If I thought I failed and never got up again. I think I would still be crawling to this day. Someone once said, "Failure is not failure, till you give up trying."

Keep trying new things out, someday you'll just move to the next stage. I learned from walking to running. Today's message to remind others and myself: Remember to start anew, take action and if you fail, keep trying, never ever give up hope! I just remembered a famous message from one of my favorite movies, Shawshank Redemption, "Get busy living or get busy dying!"