Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Jumping From Rock to Rock, or the 7.5 habits of highly effective jumpers

The Verde River.

What does this have to do with the 7 1/2 habits of highly effective learners? Bear with me for a second.

Have you ever played in a stream or a river? Especially one with really cold water running along? Often in the beginning, you might be playing alongside the river... making little boats, eating a picnic lunch, taking photos of each other. Trying very hard to stay dry. I used to do that as a kid... we'd pile into the station wagon and drive to the Verde River for the day.

Then, something on the other side catches your eye, and you feel an urge to get over there. So you find some large, flat rocks lined up across the water, perhaps spaced wide apart, but you figure you can jump from one to the other to get across. You make it most of the way across, but that last rock, it's pretty far from the one your standing on. You make a giant leap!!! but oh, you end up on your rear in the water, soaked up to your chest.

You're all wet, but that's okay. And you figure that since you're wet anyway, you'll find another method to get to that desired destination. You simply walk across, learning in a very simple manner that there's more than one way to get across that puppy!

How does all of this tie into the 7 1/2 habits of highly effective learners? To take those habits out of direct context, I love to learn. I love to take chances. I fall on my rear once in awhile (I'm especially good at that one!), but I get back up and keep plodding away!!!

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