I can't imagine democracy being better served than by all students mastering the fundamental academic skills required for them to continue their educations and hold jobs with a future.
Many students believe that it's good enough to come to class and just sit there. They think they'll absorb something important through the seats of their pants I suppose. Many teachers are content with standing in front and lecturing - even though all the evidence shows that if the students aren't all writing and speaking and re-writing, that virtually nothing is being learned.
Can you isolate what's working for you and what isn't? Are you sure? Are you sure you're on track, or are you content with being one of those people who lets the wind blow you where it may? If you're not sure where the wind is blowing your ship, where you want to go, it's time to figure it out. Are you making progress? How can you tell without a ships log? And what is a ships log but a written record?
What was important in your day? What did you learn that was important? Is anything worth remembering? The only way to remember what people are saying is to write it down. "This is so important that I'm going to take the time to write it down." When you have it written down, then you can look back, you can be more accountable to those things you say you want to do, that you say you're going to do. Are you really? What's working for you? What isn't? How do you plan on learning from past mistakes and successes?
Do you need to know what you're doing during the day (week,
month, year)? The best way is to write your ideas and experiences
down.
Why? So you can look back, reflect and examine. As Socrates (469
- 399 B.C.) said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."
This is true. Shouldn't you pay attention to what's true?
By putting your action steps into writing you will be able to
see what works and what doesn't. You will begin to develop a philosophy.
Most people just try to get through the day. They never write
anything down. They never keep track of their progress. Are they
doing what needs to be done to meet their goals? "Oh, well!
Maybe it's not important anyway. I think I'll just watch television."
To get the most from a day (week, month, year, idea) you must
be able to reflect. How can you reflect on the day, or an idea,
if it's not recorded? How can you learn form your mistakes and
success when they aren't written down? How else can you know what
you're thinking? Not by memory. Memory will play tricks on you.
Our minds tend to feed us back false information. The mind is
not a reliable source of what really happened. Do you doubt this?
Just ask three people who all witnessed the same event to say
what happened. Will they all come up with the same story, the
same colors, the same time of day, the same location, the same
details. No.
How in the world are you going to learn from a course, or lecture, or sermon, if you aren't taking the time to write furiously? You might as well just stay home and save your money.
The written word helps us become more factual, more accurate,
more realistic, more logical. Does this mean we get everything
we write down? That we will solve every problem we write down?
No.
When we reread what we have written we have a chance to discover
how life really is, rather than how we think it is, or should
be. Then we can see ways to make it better.
Writing things down is all part of what "smart" people
do to achieve and make their lives better. Can I convince you?
Perhaps not, but I tell you the truth anyway.
If you're going to try and figure life out you're going to have
to commit your ideas and thoughts paper. Writing creates the space
for solutions to grow.
Gifted people, successful people, learn to get "from the
day," not just "through the day." I tell you, if
you're counting the days until the weekend you're not writing
down your goals and reviewing them regularly, you're not taking
notes. You aren't getting the most out of your life. Grasshopper.
Isn't it time? "If not now, when?"