Learning Life: The Path to Academic Success and Personal Happiness

Learning is a process -- going from not knowing to knowing, from not being able to do to being able to do. The reason people do not know, cannot do, is because they never learned how, or they were shown the wrong way. In addition to simply lacking instruction, individuals may also acquire self-imposed barriers to learning -- ''I am not good at that" -- sometimes because they 'failed' on their first try.

Learning Life provides a systematic way to shift those root causes, a process to make the adventure of learning and success more efficient and more effective. The text is comprised of four sections -- Foundations, Learning Strategies, Life Skills, and Applications. The Foundations are a unique aspect of this text, a holistic approach to learning developed over many years of classroom instruction. This section of the text consists of three core elements -- mindful awareness to cultivate attention and memory; clear goals and mental imagery to reinforce goal-oriented action and positive expectation; and a quality/continual improvement perspective.

The second section, Learning Strategies, provides a model of learning and a palette of techniques to optimize all aspects of academic success. Having the right approach makes the world of difference. The third section focuses on specific Life Skills that are essential for success in human environments, from the home, to the office, to the planet. These include emotional literacy, time and stress management, decision-making, and habit change. The final section looks at Applications in the areas of work, relationships, health, finances and civic engagement.

The text emphasizes self-reflection, problem solving, use of data/feedback, and making constructive changes. It is about building an effective life. Ultimately the information and skills are applied in an active research format, based on a learning-by-doing orientation, which focuses on a personal change process related to academic/life success.

Learning Life is the product of working with real students making real changes in their lives, significant changes. This is not a rehash of all the old ideas. This is a systematic, fresh approach to student achievement. We can all learn, and knowing how, having an effective strategy, is a game changer. Learning Life provides that path.