Celebrating the little things you learn

| learning, life

Photo (c) 2007 Sean Dreilinger, Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Copyleft

I love learning. I love being able to do something I’d never done before or to do something even better than before.

This week, I learned how to write a good set of low-level documentation using the doxygen tool, influence project decisions, test a website for accessibility, set up a digitizing tablet under Linux, sketch and edit my sketches, mindmap using a tablet, lay out a photobook, and answer some of J’s old homework in French. I’m looking forward to learning even more over this long weekend!

Every time I learn or improve a skill, I like celebrating. I often write about what I learn on my blog, as it’s a great way to not only share what I’m learning but also that sense of accomplishment in learning something new. Sometimes I take a moment to pat my own head, which alwas makes W- smile when he sees this. “Celebrating the little things?” he says. You bet!

Why shouldn’t we celebrate these little victories? A baby’s first smile, first word, and first step are all monumental milestones people celebrate. Growing up, we celebrate the first time we tie our shoes by ourselves, the first degree, the first paycheck. What if we never grew out of celebrating these milestones? What if we celebrated more?

Celebrating the little things keeps learning fun. What have you learned lately?

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