Xyleme Learning Blog

What’s your to-learn list? That’s the question at Learning Circuits this month, where bloggers are asked to come up with their own lists to share. But first, a story:

A monk asked Zhao Zhou to teach him.
Zhao Zhou asked, “Have you eaten your meal?”
The monk replied, “Yes, I have.”
“Then go wash your bowl,” said Zhao Zhou.
At that moment, the monk was enlightened.

I first read that story in a book where the way it was told, the monk was asking specifically to be taught something about self cultivation. That’s more or less Zen for self improvement.

That story has stayed with me for years, occasionally surprising me with how immediately relevant it seems. Like the times when I get consumed by a difficult project and the chores piles up, I finish the project, but feel dissatisfied. Then I tackle the bills, the laundry, what have you, and presto, then I can look at all the things I’ve gotten done and feel like I’ve made progress without reservation.

When my bowl is washed, when I can be satisfied that my life isn’t careening wildly out of balance, it’s so much easier to take on a fresh challenge and be confident that I can meet it. And judging by the to-learn lists the other bloggers have put up, a lot of people feel that way about their learning activities, too, that they should be part of an integrated approach to personal and professional development.

Anyway, enough rambling. Here’s my forcibly abbreviated to-learn list for the next year, pared to five things that I’d like to be more knowledgable about:

• At least one video editing software system.
• The Dark Ages and the collapse of Roman civilization.
• Blog trends in other industry sectors.
• Integrating Twitter with blog software.
• How to make a Thai meal that approaches restaurant quality.

Some of that might even come in handy, someday

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