Aloha Ho‘ohana Community and learners one and all!
If you are newly joining us, Rapid Fire Learning is another way we “take 5” here at Talking Story: It happens on the last weekend of the month. Jump right in, or dip your toes first by catching up with a fuller explanation of what it’s all about here:
Rapid Fire Learning Returns to Talking Story.
I’ll go first, and I invite you to join in. Use the comments here, or send me a trackback from your own site. Tumble something, or tweet yours one-by-one in the Twitter 140 if you like!
My RFLs for ‘Apelila ~ April, 2010:
These are top-of-mind for me:
- I’ve been self-coaching myself to batch work within my weekly calendar planning and it is working wonderfully, but it’s also surprising me. The learning within this has been that work can redefine itself constantly: My calendar labels for the work I target will capture my intentions, but debriefing is invaluable in seeing what the work itself morphed into.
- I am pushing myself toward the learning of more editing skills, for what I have learned is that I can’t just tell myself to edit better, I need to learn a more precise technique with doing so religiously.
- Must give some appreciation to Smashwords, the platform I chose to use for the publishing of my new ebook, for there is a wealth of publishing information to be learned there — and I have! I’m thoroughly enjoying the study mixed in with the work I’m doing related to it.
- I’m learning to give in to the simple act of having faith, allowing it to curb my impatience. I’m talking specifically about that faith you must have that the seeds you plant will bloom eventually — but not if they rotted from over-watering!
- I’m learning to let go of some pretty big things by practicing what I preach in “Don’t Add, Replace” as a work processes strategy. My ebook for instance, was a letting go of a one-on-one coaching program, reshaping it so I could move on.
My Ho‘ohana Take 5: This is what I have given my ‘Ike loa focus to in April:
You can do your Take 5 in Learning with ‘Ike loa (the Hawaiian value of knowledge seeking) however you wish: No Rules, keep it useful for YOU.
Or you can share in my approach! These are my top 5 take-aways particular to 5 of the Talking Story conversations we have had in recent weeks. Did you gain different impressions here? I would love to hear about them!
- From: Managing with Aloha now on Kindle!
This happened on the 1st of April, and it became pretty amazing the way it set off the entire month within a theme of learning all I could about the most up-to-date trends in e-publishing. (As an aside, I think “usability” programmers have very little empathy for their true customers.) 
From: Revamping your Business Model? Enjoy the Study
If you feel you’re not coming up with enough new ideas on your own, this is the sure-fire way to get them in buckets.- From: Creating Jobs? Let’s start with the Job Maker
This one talks about how our intention moves us in certain directions; even here on Talking Story. (For me of course, Talking Story is very significant, a true driver, and I’m glad that it is!) - From: Initiative, Humility and the Local Way
I’ve always felt that humility is one of the most misunderstood values, and that we’d benefit from it most if stopping to challenge our own definitions. My challenge-to-self in this post was connecting it to initiative. - From: Manager’s Skill: Separate Signal from Noise
We can talk about some lofty, ambitious things here, and a post like this one will always bubble up to the surface as one of my favorites because it grounds me back in helping you with day-to-day basics.
Your turn! RFL-ing and Taking 5 is way easier than you think
This month-end weekend posting will always look like a long one, appearing to be very ambitious, but it really isn’t —it’s a recap of my keepers, and so it actually gets written very quickly. Once you get into your own RFL/ Take 5 habit you will begin to experience that too. As with most learning, you’ll be slower in the beginning, but you pick up speed!
So jump in. What have you learned during this month of April?
We learn so much from each other when we share it!
We Ho‘ohana together, Kākou,
Rosa
Rosa, thanks for this month’s RFL! Your #5 truly strikes a chord, and I have a feeling that in May it make my Top 5…but for now here’s my RFL list:
1) I’m learning to “go big” for myself, to go that extra mile and put myself on the priority list. It’s easy to show up for others but I have learned that doing it for yourself requires a shift in perspective.
2) It is possible to be too patient. There is a balance between faith and works. Sometimes the works are in standing still, fighting against the urge to jump ahead and make things happen before their time and at other times, your miracle requires your participation.
3) Rules are sometimes like the Universal Life Insurance Weight Chart. Rules about blogging, marketing, running a business are not one-sized fits all. Many are good but you have to know what fits you. What’s on that chart may not define your healthy weight.
4) I’m learning to carve out time for more engagement. Phone conversations, in person meetings and even video chats do take more time but it’s worth it to go beyond the drive by interactions to fortify a relationship.
5) My Gran is an inspiration. My grandmother turned 91 this month and she is still a voracious learner who reads 20 books a month, takes sign language classes and tai-chi.
.-= Karen Swim ´s last blog ..Social Media: Will the Free World Begin Charging Admission? =-.
Thank you for coming by and sharing your RFLs Karen – and yay for your going big! I can see how they all seem to be connected to that one… sort of like a different approach to that digging deeper technique of asking the 5 Whys.
Thank you Rosa and yes they are all connected. One of the things I love about RFL is looking back and seeing the patterns that may not have been apparent during the learning. Mahalo for leading!
.-= Karen Swim ´s last blog ..Social Media: Will the Free World Begin Charging Admission? =-.
Here are my fives:
1. April was the month where I learned a lot creating things at Zazzle. Actually it was a learning by doing process, and it was – and still is – fun.
2. April was also a month of learning how to use facebook and how to use twitter. I learned that I had to use each of them in a different way in order to make them productive for me.
3. April was the month of learning Photoshop Elements 8 (still learning)
4. In April I re-discovered the use of pen and paper (I drafted those 5 points here on a piece of paper, sitting at my breakfast table)
5. In April I began to put up what-I-got-done lists. This began with writing down my promotion activities for zazzle in order to compare statistics with activities. I noticed that I had a much better feeling writing down what I had done than what I had to do – it gave me energy. So I continued with writing down what-I-got-done regarding cleaning my flat. Still feeling energized that way!
.-= Ulla Hennig ´s last blog ..Judy Collins sings “Barbara Allan” =-.
A wonderful month of “learning by doing” for you Ulla! Writing out our lists can be a different experience for sure; paper isn’t for filing anymore in our digital world, but it remains the killer app for tactile visual learning. Thank you for sharing your month with us.