Turning What You Love into What You Do
By Patrick O’Connor
“There is always something new to learn” ~Tony Bennett
The quote above is from the book, “Just Getting Started,” by performing artist Tony Bennett who wrote the book at age 90. Lifelong learning is a primary theme of the book. Lifelong learning has become essential to life and career in a global world. A basic definition of lifelong learning is the “ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons.”
All RLT subjects have leaned on lifelong learning along their paths to success. The previous segment addressed the importance of learning from failure. The reader comments to that post testify to the importance of learning from failure. This blog segment will feature two alums who represent the lifelong learning commitment each RLT subject shares. Lifelong learning is the vehicle for adapting to the constant change that affects all of us each day at work and in daily living.
Daily Living
Daily living requires lifelong learning all day, every day. Here are three brief examples: First, how many pages is your file of websites, passwords, and secret questions/answers? A whole bunch of learning went into assembling all those. Another example is something as basic as watching television. A local public library offers a community education course called “Watching Television “to assist people in navigating television viewing. And third, look at the sudden daily learning stemming from virtual/remote learning and working from home. Many parents and grandparents have now added teaching to all their other duties. A year ago, almost no one had heard of Zoom and now almost everyone has learned how to use it.
The Workplace
At one time, little changed in the workplace. This meant that someone could do mainly physical work and have a life-sustaining career. Assembly lines and manufacturing jobs were characterized by the phrase “check your brain at the door.” No more. The amount and rapid rate of change in globalization, technology and work processes have resulted in new workplace terms like “learning organization” and “knowledge worker.” The period from 2000 to 2020 is characterized by startling change, like the late 1800s when trains, telephones, lightbulbs, automobiles and other inventions changed the nature of work and life in America. The workplace used to be the place someone went to each day to do their work. These places still exist. However, with the advent of remote work (much prompted by the Covid pandemic) the home has become the workplace for many workers. Remote work and remote learning are almost synonymous.
“Turning What You Love into What You Do” – Twice – Two RLT Examples
Lifelong learning is often connected to career changes and reinventing oneself. Some people are fortunate enough to extend their first career into a second one that is equally — or perhaps even more — satisfying. Many retirees are pursing this avenue often referred to as “encore.” In effect, they are launching a new phase of their RLT. The following two RLT alums are excellent examples of this.
Joe Hendershott (Volume 15) had to learn entrepreneurship and small business management skills after leaving a successful career in higher education. He and his family started a consulting/resource group focused on training professionals to address the severe trauma needs of young people (Hope 4 The Wounded). His work as a consultant requires continuous learning since it is always changing. Also, his specialty area of working with traumatized children seems endless. The recent pandemic is a perfect example, as more and more children have been traumatized and require more intense intervention. Joe and his team are vigilant in investigating new approaches to assist professionals in addressing these new levels of trauma.
Tom Fulton (Volume13) had to learn how to teach all aspects of theater as director of the Chagrin Falls Performing Arts Academy (Performing Arts Academy, mayfieldschools.org). He transitioned from a theater practitioner to a teacher of it. Doing something and teaching it to someone else require specific skills focused on how people learn and the most effective was to teach them. All learners are different, and a teacher must have many tools available to use based on the specific students being taught. Somewhat like an artist who has many brushes and techniques to create different effects, a teacher must do the same. This is the skill set Tom learned to become effective in his new role as a teacher. This included taking eight graduate courses, leading to a master’s degree in education from Kent State University. The process took about three years of part-time study while teaching full-time. This on top of a bachelor’s degree in theater and 40 years of experience.
The amount and rate of change will continue at the workplace and in daily living. As the previous examples indicate, everyone will rely on lifelong learning to keep up with all the changes in a global world. The next segment of this blog will focus on how RLT subjects mixed their interests to turn what they love into what they do.
Image courtesy pexels.com
Doloes (Dee ) Stegelin
As a recent retiree from higher education, I have had time to reflect on my own career and the always evolving changes in the work setting in colleges and universities. I became a professor because of my love of learning, doing research, and my interest in teaching and sharing ideas. In my early career, I found good balance in my career and my family/personal life. However, over time the demands of my professor’s role changed dramatically, leading to less balance in my life and a growing sense of “there’s never enough and there’s not much closure”. Higher education has evolved for tenure track individuals into a much greater emphasis on successfully writing and securing large grants and external funds, publishing to indexed journals, and much less value of the teaching experience. Along with this change came a less supportive work environment, more competitive attitudes among peer faculty members, and higher levels of chronic stress. Thus, when I retired, I found some relief in that feeling of “no matter what I do, its never enough and it’s never finished”. Don’t know if other faculty members have had this same experience, but I suspect they have. I now observe my younger colleagues in higher education coming through a year of pandemic in the higher education setting, and they are very stressed—especially my female colleagues. They have had to multitask at home and at work, and many feel that women have carried a disproportionate load in this past year. As the pandemic subsides, I hope there will be recognition by administrators for the need for social emotional support for faculty members, especially females who have had to parent, teach in multiple ways, and who have had their research time reduced. How will they be evaluated? How will tenure decisions be decided?
I share this because I believe that higher education will continue to change and evolve, and each person must weigh how he or she will maintain balance in their lives. I am wondering how this will impact the number of people who decide to go into higher education, the number of tenure track positions available, and how the role of teaching will be viewed and valued.
patrick o'connor
Thank you for your thoughtful comments Dee. Indeed your life and professional experiences enable you to share much wisdom with us. It’s been my pleasure to have been a friend and colleauge over the years.
All the best
Pat
Patrick O'Connor
Wow! Great stuff in here!
MICHAEL SPRIEGEL
Another excellent take on lifelong learning. As a former college career counselor and HR manager, you are preaching to the choir on this important subject. Among other pursuits, I am currently working part time for a 21-year-old home improvement contractor, Evan Leichty, who is an amazing craftsman. During college, I worked as a bricklayer helper and a carpenter helper and I picked up knowledge and skills that have served me well over the years. Having just demo’ed a kitchen for Evan, I am learning the finer points of carpentry, electrical, plumbing, and drywall installation. Many of the things I am learning are not taught in texts or trade school classes, but are handed down from one craftsman to the next.
Nowadays almost of the world’s knowledge can be accessed with a few clicks or a voice command on the device we carry in our pockets, and the drudgery of card-catalogues is ancient history. There is no longer any excuse for ignorance — and for those who love learning, it’s like being a kid in a candy store … except the candy is FREE!
I’ve reinvented myself many times over the years and continue to do so, and I’m constantly learning new things for fun and profit. “Gigs” is the term that describes my new occupational prursuits (Uber Eats driver among them) — and is a growing phenomenon and silver lining of the pandemic.
Pat O'Connor
Thank you for your comments and observations. You’re proof that Tony Bennett is right… there is always something new to learn.
Best
Pat
a. christopher
What is “RLT” an acronym for?
I must have missed the reference.
Please show me the sentence it is in.
Thank you.