Learning new things is important to me. I’m building my next phase of life around it and named my practice, Old Dog Learning, and designed the services I offer, e.g., Professional Learning Partnerships, to reflect that.

Learning also permeates the 100 + Life membership community we’re building together, as these entries from the Manifesto show:

# 3. “Learning = Growth = Life” — Dr. Lee Thayer

# 4. Learn from your elders. Learn from your youngers. Nurture great relationships with both.

# 13. Regularly work on learning something you find hard.

# 14. Connect the dots! Incorporate your new learning into past lessons.

# 15. Seize opportunities to teach what you’ve learned and share the connections you’ve made.

So, if I’m encouraging you to invest your time, energy, and sometimes your money in learning, I thought I should give you a taste of how I’ve been approaching learning just in the past couple of years since “retiring” from the BlogPaws business Yvonne and I co-founded.

Here’s a sampling from the formal courses I’ve completed, nonfiction books I’ve read, and informational videos I’ve watched:

Online Course Certificates:

Learning How to Learn: Powerful mental tools to help you master tough subjects, by University of California, San Diego on Coursera. Instructors: Dr. Barbara Oakley, Dr. Terrence Sejnowski & Linda Walker. Certificate earned on October 13, 2017.

Positive Psychology (Course 1): Martin E. P. Seligman’s Visionary Science, by University of Pennsylvania on Coursera. Instructor: Martin E.P. Seligman, Ph.D.
Certificate earned on November 23, 2017.

Positive Psychology (Course 2): Applications and Interventions, by University of Pennsylvania on Coursera. Instructor: James Pawelski, Ph.D.
Certificate earned on December 16, 2017.

Positive Psychology (Course 3): Character, Grit and Research Methods, by University of Pennsylvania on Coursera. Instructors: Claire Robertson-Kraft, Ph.D. & Angela Duckworth, Ph.D.
Certificate earned on December 27, 2017.

Positive Psychology (Course 4): Resilience Skills, by University of Pennsylvania on Coursera. Instructor: Karen Reivich, Ph.D.
Certificate earned on January 11, 2018.

Books:

I’m going to break the book listing into categories around my PIERS Whole-Self Model for designing a meaningful, fulfilling life (yes, another shameless plug for my 5 Steps to Forever Young course!).

This is just a quick sampling of my recent reading, as of December 2017. In the Library section in the 100 + Life Community Center we’ll curate a much larger collection, along with discussion forums where you can connect with other readers, form virtual book clubs, and more! Have I mentioned how much Yvonne and I LOVE books?

Physical Health – This includes your brain!

Footnotes: How Running Makes Us Human, by Vybarr Cregan-Reid (2017)

Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program to to Activate Your Brain and Do Everything Better, by Wendy Suzuki, Ph.D. (2016)

Play

Intellectual Growth – This category pulls in your Work, although for most of us work spills over into other categories, too.

Mindshift

Getting Unstuck

It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again

A Curious Mind

The Person and the Situation

Grit to Great

Working Identity

Find Your Why

Daring Greatly

Creativity

Emotional Well-Being – Again, there’s going to be overlaps with other categories — but that’s inherent in the “whole-self” concept.

Life, Incorporated

Before Happiness

The Happiness Hypothesis

Relationships – From your significant other, to family, to teams at work, to your community, to all humanity.

Love 2.0

Braving the Wilderness

Collaborative Intelligence

Co-Create

Strong Relationships, Strong Families, by National Resource Center for Healthy Marriage and Families (2013)

Spiritual – Like the Dalai Lama, I’d describe my spirituality as non-theistic; but I recognize the importance of serving something bigger than myself and believe that’s a key to happiness (my own and others’), so I look forward to learning about yours!

The Book of Joy

Eat, Pray, Love

Online Videos & Tutorials

TED Playlist on the Advantages of Living Longer

How to Hang a Door

How to Create a Line Drawing from a Photo in Fireworks

How to Combine Paths in Illustrator