Lifelong Learning - steps 2-4

So I finally got around to watching The 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners

I've been trying to watch it at work, but the whole sound aspect wasn't compatible with my desk shift, so I had to wait until I had a free moment at home.

I've been thinking about the concept of "lifelong learning" a lot lately, mainly because I'm about to graduate from my MSLIS program and people keep asking me if I'm excited about being "done with" school. Actually, I'm not. While there are certain things about my current school/work situation that I would of course change (endless commutes, schedule juggling), I love the process of learning new things and feeling progressively more useful and relevant over the course of time. I don't think that school is always the most appropriate way to learn something, but in this case it is one very important half of my journey toward official librarianship - the other half being practical experience, of course.

I've been lucky to have strong role models that are coincidentally lifelong learners. My mother has had a long and varied career, with experience as a sculptor, registered nurse and deacon. Now, at the age of 51, she is about to return to school for her masters - studying the relationship between healing, spirituality and the arts. My mom is amazing, and we always have the most interesting conversations about the books that we are reading, our lives and our relationship to the world around us. She has always encouraged me in my own explorations, and influenced me to believe that "what you do" encompasses far more than just your job.

Keeping that in mind, I suppose that of the 7 1/2 habits listed, the one that comes easiest for me is having confidence in myself "as a competent, effective learner". I generally feel that if I give a new activity or subject a try, providing I'm genuinely interested in learning about it, that I'll be relatively successful in at least acquiring a working knowledge.

The habit that is most difficult for me would have to be "begin with the end in mind". I have definitely been guilty of jumping into a new activity or reading up on a new topic, get past the beginner stage and give up. While I don't think that the giving up part is bad - I mean, who is really good at everything? - I tend to have these unrealistic expectations of myself and my commitment to the new area, when I was really just curious.

So in the spirit of setting some positive learning boundaries, I'd like to state here that my end goal for this program is to have a working knowledge of 2.0, and to continue utilizing these tools in both my personal and professional lives.