Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning domains is a map of learning levels. Bloom chunked learning into 3 domains: Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor (or thinking, feeling, and doing.) If you think of Bloom’s Taxonomy as a map of learning domains and levels, you can use it to evaluate your expertise in a given topic. If you create or deliver training, you can also use Bloom’s Taxonomy as a checklist for helping you structure and organize your training material.

I find chunking my notes from lectures and training helps me turn insights into action. I chunk them into three categories: actions, insights, and notes. This simple refactoring helps me quickly find the actions or my “ah has” without having to fish through a laundry list of reference points. I bubble these to the top so I can find them at a glance. The act of refactoring my notes also helps remind me of the most valuable parts, which is usually the new distinctions …

Wanna learn more effectively and be a better teacher?  Learn to match or bridge learning styles.  It’s one of those things you do everyday, but you might not be aware of.  It’s about how you sequence information and how you relate to it.  The key is to first know your own preferences, and then  understand others.
Concrete, Abstract, Random, Sequential Here’s the parts that make up the styles:

Concrete – You’re dealing with the here and now and processing information based on what you see, …

Want to have a place to put your lifetime of learning? Organize your mind with a personal memory house.   You effectively decorate your memory scenes with ideas and thoughts.  You can then remember anything simply by walking through your memory scenes.  In Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion, Jay Heinrichs writes about how the ancients used these personal memory villas to deliver great speeches and store a lifetime of learning.
Key Take Aways Here’s my …

You can use your daily routines for learning and growth.  Rather than view habits as mechanical, you can view them as mastering your craft.  By focusing on improvement, your routines and habits become an opportunity for personal transformation.  You can use your routines as an exploration into who you are and how you express yourself with something larger. In The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It, Michael E. Gerber writes about using routines and habits for joy and personal development. 
Habits Need a …

Working on your business, is working on your life.  Life if what business is about and your business should create more life for everyone.  In The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It, Michael E. Gerber writes about how going to work on your business, is going to work on your life.
Going to Work on the Business, is Going to Work on Your Life
Gerber writes that working on your business development is a metaphor for working on your life:
“On a more practical level, …

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Do you get return on your reading investment? Do you turn insights into action? In Little Guide To Your Well-Read Life: How To Get More Books In Your Life And More Life From Your Books, Steve Leveen writes about reading as an investment.
Your Notebook is Not a Miser’s Sock
Leveen writes:
“‘The time you spend in reading is an investment,’ Walter Pitkins advices us. ‘You ought to get good returns on it. But, in order to do so, you must salt down the essence of books and articles in whatever …

How can you retain more information? What are the most effective techniques for remembering information? After all, what’s the point of learning if it’s not there for you when you need it. In Little Guide To Your Well-Read Life: How To Get More Books In Your Life And More Life From Your Books, Steve Leveen writes about proven practices for remembering information.
SQ3R: Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Review
Leveen writes:
“In the 1940’s Francis Robinson, a professor of Ohio State University, came up with something of a breakthrough for learning college course …

Are you a Preservationist or a Footprint Leaver? Do you leave your books riddled with notes and turned down pages or do you leave them in pristine condition? In Little Guide To Your Well-Read Life: How To Get More Books In Your Life And More Life From Your Books, Steve Leveen writes about writing in your books as a helpful way to learn, along with arguments for Footprint Leavers and Preservationists.
Key Take AwaysHere’s my key take aways:

Writing in books can be helpful.  When you’re reading to learn, writing in books …

How important is speed reading in today’s information overloaded world? What do the experts do to read faster and retain more? In Little Guide To Your Well-Read Life: How To Get More Books In Your Life And More Life From Your Books, Steve Leveen writes about the truth about speed reading.
Key Take AwaysI read a lot of information every day, on the job and on my own time, whether it’s books, blogs, email, sites or feeds. If there’s a better way I’m always looking for it. Here’s my key take …

How do Zen masters point students to awareness without using words? In Simple Zen: A Guide to Living Moment by Moment, C. Alexander Simpkins PH.D. and Annellen Simpkins PH.D. write how Zen masters point students to awareness through hits and shouts.
A Nonconceptual Experience
Alexander and Annellen write:
“Chinese Zen masters Ma-tsu and Lin-chi often resorted to shouting or hitting in response to students’ questions. This created tension in the students since they never knew when they might receive a smack from the master. The purpose, however, was not to terrorize the students …

You have programs for everything you do. Your programs consist of sequences of thoughts and behaviors triggered by a stimulus. In NLP terms, this is called a strategy for achieving an outcome. Really, this is an internal processing strategy. If you know about the components of an internal processing strategy, you can change it, copy an effective strategy from somebody else, or create a new one from scratch. In Brilliant Nlp: What the Most Successful People Know, Say & Do, David Molden and Pat Hutchinson provide a technique for eliciting …

One way to learn is by making mistakes. Another way is to learn from others. In Software Architect Bootcamp, Raphael Malveau and Thomas J. Mowbray, Ph.D. write about two skills you need to learn from other people.
Two Skills to Learn from Other People
Malveau and Mowbray write the following:
“There is another way to learn (rather than making mistakes), and that is by learning from other people. To do that effectively, two skills that most people lack are required: how to read between the lines and how to take advice. “
Taking Advice
“It …

How can you learn whatever you want from any of your favorite heroes? By modeling what they think, feel, and do.   I’m a fan of “model the best.”  Whenever I focus on something, I try to find examples of the best of the best.  To model from them, I try to figure out what their mindsets, attitudes, and behaviors were that helped them achieve their success.  I look for both the strategies and the tactics.
In Think and Grow Rich, Napolean Hill writes about emulating the great.
Key Take AwaysThere are …

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The “Can’t Lose” System is a way to combat your fear of failure. It works by listing your fears, exposing distorted thinking, and identifying ways to cope.
In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns writes about using the Can’t Lose System.
Key Take AwaysHere’s my key take aways:

List your worst case fears.  Start by listing your worst case fears.  This gets them out of your head and down on to paper where you can analyze them.
Rationalize your list.  Look at …

 
Test your cant’s. I think the name says it all. “Test” what you think you can’t do, rather than just “think” you can’t do it.  This technique is about putting your negative thoughts to the test.
In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns writes about testing your cant’s.
Key Take AwaysHere’s my key take aways:

Test your cant’s.  Rather than just think you can’t do something, prove it.
Test one step a time.  Rather than test the big picture, break it down into small hurdles and test one …

 
Does fear of failure hold you back?  Don’t be the person in your life that holds you back.  Be the first person that picks you up when you fall down. 
Perfectionism can get in the way of your best results.  Don’t let it push your off your path.  Mistakes are a part of life.  You can either embrace them and find the lessons, or you can try to avoid them and become a shadow of your potential self. 
In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns …

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In, Flawless Execution: Use the Techniques and Systems of America’s Fighter Pilots to Perform at Your Peak and Win the Battles of the Business World,James D. Murphy shares the STEALTH Debrief, a 7 step process for continuous learning and improvement:
Key Take AwaysHere’s my key take aways:

Find root causes.  I’m very much a fan of sharing lessons learned, finding root causes, and focusing on my mistakes first (since I own them, I can fix myself first), so this approach resonates with me.
Start with yourself.  I like the …