Out of the seven and a half habits for lifelong learners,
there were two that stood out to me as the easiest and hardest. One of the
easiest habits that I find in myself is the ability to teach and mentor others.
One of my minors in undergraduate school was for technical writing. In order to
be a technical writer, everything that you write must be written clear and
concisely in order to organize and explain to others how to do something like
using a website. I apply many aspects of the technical writing skills to each
position I hold within my career. I am currently a caseworker at the Department
of Human Services, and though I am one of the youngest in our office, I am
often asked to mentor new workers coming in. I feel that this is due to the fact that when I explain things to newcomers I understand the importance of starting from the beginning and explaining things fully.
The
habit of lifelong learners that I fear I have not mastered yet and would find the
hardest is creating my own learning toolbox. As a child with divorced parents
early in life, I was constantly shuffled back and forth. My sister and I often
referred to this as living out of a duffle bag. As a consequence for living
this way, the majority of my life, I only organize out of necessity. This is a
habit I am constantly working towards trying to break, but my efforts to stay
organized are now completely derailed by a two year old. I am able to keep my workspace well organized, but anything I bring home has a potential to be misplaced in the time it takes to turn my back on it. I know when it comes
to becoming a teacher this will be one of the habits that I will have to spend
the most time trying to master.
