The purpose and premise of this blog is to pay forward the information and skills I acquire during multiple 7-day educational endeavors aimed at achieving competence across a wide range of independent studies, disciplines, and topics. In developing my Life Management System, I’ve successfully created a network of processes which will allow me to sanctify one of my highest values. That value being personal development and growth. The long and short of it…I simply want to learn!
“I want to learn…I will learn…I want to be smart…I will be smart,” Ms. Whitney would have each child in her daycare, no matter their age, recite this very powerful and simplistic saying several times every morning upon being dropped off by their respective parents. It wasn’t until having recently taken the time to journey back that I realized just how much this profound and deliberate daily ritual affected my life.
My experiences has taught me, since the days of Ms. Whitney, two things: that she was a highly intelligent woman and that she understood the power and importance of repetition and affirmations as it relates to one’s ability to consciously influence their subconscious mind. Of course, my four-year old mind had no consciousness of the principles being so gradually and subtly instilled in me at the time.
However, having more understanding of the unlimited power of this principle of self-suggestion, I am positive that provided with the resources and opportunity to locate any individual that had the esteemed privilege of being in Ms.Whitney’s daycare for any significant amount of time, I am sure of one thing…They would all possess an uncanny and unusual desire to learn and subsequently be learned.
If I were able to speak to Ms. Whitney today and ask her about her rationale for having all the children that entered her home to repeat that saying every morning, I have no doubt that she’d tell me a story of how she’d first come in contact with this truth, and how her life’s purpose, that which she had dedicated her very existence had somehow been centered around painting this powerful truth onto the blank canvas’ that was once every child that entered her home.
Ms. Whitney has gone on to be with the Father, but if she were here today I’d stop by to inform her that I now understand her reasoning, and I’d thank her for the silent miracle that she imparted into my life so long ago. Ms. Whitney’s affirmation has acted as an underlying philosophy or theme if you will, of my life and it continues to govern my daily actions today. I still embody this seemingly intrinsic, persistent, unexplained and unquenchable thirst for learning, which I now attribute to my unsung hero.
Thank you, Ms. Whitney for knowing your life’s purpose and for your obedience in fulfilling it. Unknowingly, my parents made a priceless investment in me by choosing your daycare so long ago. Ms. Whitney, it is because of you that I’ve never lost my hunger for knowledge, wisdom and truth. Yes ma’am…I still want to be smart, and I will be smart.
So…here’s the deal! There are 168 hours in a week; within that week I am committed to becoming competent in a particular discipline, acquiring some skill or area of interest to me. In Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, he speaks of human being’s careless nature to neglect countless opportunities to invest the time, discipline and focus to become an expert at any one thing. So while my objective is not to become an expert in my weekly endeavors, due to the lack of expertise in these areas, becoming competent will make me somewhat of an expert by comparison to what the average person knows about each subject matter.
My approach is to learn the components, governing principles, language, and contexts of the thing, which will provide the entire basis of understanding. I’ll focus on learned knowledge (i.e. books, pdf, and written material) and activity knowledge (i.e. application of the thing in context, real work on acquiring the skill). So let the learning begin!
