Thing 3: Being a Lifelong Learner

Of the seven and a half traits of a lifelong learner, I think the hardest for me will be to teach/mentor others. I am a hoarder and hoard everything from bits of colored paper, to books, to information. Add to this an assumption that other people are not be as interested in some things as I am and the likelihood of my voluntarily sharing technology techniques with others becomes even more reduced. I have more than once exasperated friends by stopping numerous times on a walk to photograph doorways or leaves or whatever strikes me as interesting, and that experience makes me wary of reaching out with ideas that I find fascinating.

The easiest of the seven and a half traits would be to accept responsibility for my own learning. I think that the confidence (4) and play (7.5) traits figure into this trait as well. Perhaps because I have often been curious about things that others do not seem to be all that interested in, I have often turned to books, workshops, or on line sources to learn. When a source has been hard to find, I have been known to just experiment with different techniques to see if I can solve the problem/reach the desired result on my own.

I suppose the only way to improve the likelihood of my teaching or mentoring others is for me to first demonstrate competency and comfort with the new technology. The next step would be to show enthusiasm for the technology openly thereby inviting queries from others which could lead to a teaching/ mentoring opportunity.