2016: The Year of Learning

2016: The Year of Learning

Friday, January 1, 2016

As I graduated from my master's program in early August I had a small panic attack. I had never not been in school. And while I was looking forward to the prospect of never having homework again, I was terrified of the learning process slowing. I love to learn; I eat it up. Thus, in an effort to continue the growth I had while attending a formal education program, 2016 is going to be a year dedicated to learning.


I'm still formulating some of the mechanics of this venture in my head, but I've come up with a few 'checklist' items to get me started:

Write everyday: I really want to develop my writing this year so I've made a goal to write something everyday, whether it's a blog post, journal entry, or the equivalent of a written doodle.
Read 12 nonfiction books: I read a lot. A lot. But I tend to gravitate towards the same genre (classics) and I want to expand my reading sphere. Plus reading is an easy way to learn something new. Two birds, one stone.
TEDTalks: I do a lot of driving it seems. Normally I queue up my Spotify playlist and don't give another thought to the auditory aspect of my drive. While I love music as much as the next girl, I could be using my driving time so much better. TEDTalks are so interesting and cover every topic under the sun and I'm going to listen to 52 of them (at least) this year, one each week.
Conference Talks: Along the same lines as the TEDTalks, I am going to study one conference talk each week and continue to grow spiritually.
Disconnect: I spend way too much time behind the screen of my phone and not enough time experiencing the world in front of me. I'm not going to go dark on social media, but I am going to make a concerted effort to whittle down the time I spend on it. Step one was deleting Facebook off my phone. 

I am still thinking of a few other things to add to this list, but this is where I'm starting. I like the idea of having a theme for the coming the year. It gives these next 12 months a purpose, something to focus my time.