With Passion, Everyday?

"Well, you learn something new everyday." said Mrs. Parker, the
neighborhood matriarch. She was looking vacantly out her domain,
otherwise known as our neighborhood. She sounded lackadaisical: surely
not intrigued by the process.

Lily scrunched her nose: Mrs. Parker's expression and demeanor were so
opposite to the statement. Lily found it very exhilarating to
imagine and embrace the new lessons available to each of us daily.

How often have we heard "You learn something new every day"? What
have we believed about that statement?

Think for a moment.

Tell me, what did you learn today? How about yesterday? How about
on January 16 (or pick any random date)?

Abigail Adams said, "Learning is not attained by chance. It must
be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence."

As people seeking to make a difference in the world, the first place
to start learning is within our own lives. Being conscious
in the realm of learning is simply being alert and awake to all the
possibilities that surround you daily.

For example, I scan the newspaper everyday.

I had an assignment in a class I was taking to read the
newspaper and find two articles which are especially interesting to
me and add them to a scrap book for future reference.

Now when I scan the newspaper, I am looking for headlines that light
something within me. Sometimes my local paper does not cut it, so I
subscribed to the New York Times Headline email service. Today one of
the articles I chose to study was about bus service in Atlanta.

>From that one article I can do several things to grow my business and
positively impact my life.

One, I can take examples directly from the transportation model and
speak about this issue with other people. Another is I can discuss
both interagency collaboration and cooperation as well as this context
for cooperation in the private sector as well. I can write articles
about either collaboration. I can write about cooperation. I can
talk about creating a successful life from projects which appear
to be unsuccessful in the first place.

Last week my favorite new information was about the Rice Genome from an
article in the Los Angeles Times. A genome, I learned, is a
completely mapped structure of a living organisms DNA. Not only did
I learn what a genome is, I also learned about the significance of
this genome and the impact this scientific evidence may have on the
entire world. Not simply for the consumers of rice, for the consumers
of ALL agricultural products. This fact is amazingly huge.

Until I read the article, I did not even know what a genome was!

Merriem Webster teaches us that learning to gain knowledge or
understanding of or skill in by study, instruction, or experience.

It is to be facilitated with respect and continued to be cultivated
throughout life. To learn is to know. To understand. To be able to
integrate lessons and apply them to your life with both effectiveness
and efficiency.

Mrs. Parker had the words right. We do have the abillity to learn
something new everyday. The piece she did not understand, she did not
know, is that to truly learn everyday requires that we gain knowledge
and understanding. It is not just about being a repository of facts.

It is about using those facts to passionately connect with the world
and the people around you.

Passion Activator: For the next three days, scan the newspaper and
pick out an article or two that interest you. Look at the article
not from a perspective of a collection of facts that are not connected
to your life and your work.

Instead, ask yourself to create two or three ways the article connects
to your life and your work. Ask yourself questions such as: "What
solutions does this article point to in my business?" "What are the
similarities with this story and a particular situation in my life?"
and "What is it that called me to select this article above the myriad
of other articles published today?"

I guarantee you will begin to learn truly learn something new. And
use that knowledge. Today and everyday.

Activate Your Passion!