Blinks of the inner eye

Great Offer

2011-10-04T12:06:00.000+01:00

A Speed Reading training session for a genuinely massive reduction of 55%. When? 13th October between 10am and 1pm. Speed reading works. It’s not a gimmick. We love that we have DOUBLED the reading speed of nearly every person who has taken the course and learned our method. We think that’s a fantastic achievement. So if you have lots of paperwork (who doesn't?) – or maybe you’re on a course and have to read a lot of books – then this is for you. info@structuredlearning.com if you’d like to take part.

A little more understanding...?

2011-06-23T16:44:00.001+01:00

Did you know that it’s Learning Disability Week? No—neither did I until now. And it’s nearly over…

I’m very sorry to have missed most of this. As someone who works in Learning and has a physical disability then this is exactly the sort of campaign that’s dear to my heart. As it should be for all learning professionals of course.

You can read more about it here http://www.mencap.org.uk/campaigns/learning-disability-week —and then maybe take the time to tell others about this issue.

I’m fortunate in that I’ve never experienced hate crime as a result of my disability. (Though I regularly encounter intolerance, harsh words and a lack of understanding from others about my condition which, at times, is deeply depressing for me.) But hate crime is something else – these case studies make difficult reading: http://www.mencap.org.uk/node/11664

As with so much in life, a little patience and acceptance of others is the key to building a productive and meaningful society. To get to this point we simply need to build our awareness of other peoples’ lives by reading, questioning, listening and observing. Or learning as I like to call it.

DNR

2011-05-19T14:52:00.003+01:00

Mortality. Mine. Yours. How often do we really consider that we’re going to die? Recently, three people I love have been diagnosed with potentially life-threatening illnesses so it’s a subject that’s been on my mind somewhat.

There’s a great radio campaign on at the moment encouraging people to say what they want – funeral / legacies / music and so on before they die. The idea is that you don’t leave the people who love you floundering over what you would want, so you tell them now.

I made a will many years ago—and recently topped this up with a living will—to ensure as best I can that no ‘faith’ or religion tries to hijack ‘my’ proceedings. Most of us will want to know that we will receive a ‘send-off’ which is commensurate with our beliefs or, as in my case, lack of them.

The important thing is to recognise that death—mine, yours—really can happen at any moment. This is not being morbid nor is it depressing. It’s simply about really caring for those we leave behind, who will have enough to do sorting out our affairs and, one trusts, grieving for us.

The last thing we need to inflict on those we love is to make them decide what we might have wanted—if only we’d said. We need to learn to speak up about the things that really matter to those who really matter to us.

BBC - Ethics - Euthanasia: DNR - Do Not Resuscitate

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Death/Preparation/DG_10029429

What's real in training?

2011-05-01T16:06:00.000+01:00

Another birthday yesterday. You would think, after so many, that the thrill would have long gone. And yet. There’s something truly joyful about opening presents and cards, especially when there’s other people sharing the fun with you as each gift is revealed and each card’s picture considered and (hand-written) message read.

egifts and ecards are great of course, and I’d be the first to say how much I appreciated the good wishes of my Facebook friends yesterday. But nothing beats the thrill of tearing open pretty wrapping paper and bulky envelopes to find out what’s inside. (My brash present opening ‘technique’ means I’ve never been able to save the paper and string for ‘another day’.)

Maybe there’s a clue here to the reason why elearning really hasn’t taken over from face to face training in the way it was once predicted. Perhaps it’s because we human beings need to experience something for ourselves to truly understand it. And a real experience involves all our senses—not only our eyes and ears, but smell, touch and taste. Which, as yet, a computer just can’t do.

A gadget too far...

2011-03-30T14:11:00.003+01:00

Last Sunday I did a longish bike ride – one of those known as a ‘sportive’. Which is a sort of race in that you get timed over the course using a personal timing chip handily attached to your person. Very clever. Except we didn't get timed because the technology wasn't working, so we had to revert to an old-fashioned watch and time ourselves.

It’s been that sort of a week for technology. My laptop’s network card gave up the ghost and then I managed to delete my outlook calendar on the replacement... not a bright idea.

I’m a real gadget fan – but this week, even I might admit that maybe we rely on technology too much. She says as she uploads her blog...

Spring into action

2011-03-24T15:50:00.001Z

It’s Spring – traditionally a time for new beginnings. And how wonderful to see branches gently fluffing green and the cherry trees bursting with pink and white blooms. This is the perfect time to make changes in your life – and in the last couple of weeks I’ve been spring cleaning mine. Two situations were becoming untenable, riddled with politics, scheming and general unpleasantness. Both were social rather than business and neither were serving their original real purpose for me (fun and enjoyment) anymore. In fact, they were becoming a chore and a dreaded one at that. So I’ve ‘sacked’ them both… and it feels great.

Are you putting up with something because it’s a habit or–even worse–out of a misplaced sense of duty? What would happen if you changed that? Trust me–take a step to stop it now. Whatever it is, if you’re just ‘putting up with it’ then it’s time to move forward.

Information Overload?

2010-06-02T09:47:00.003+01:00

Did you know that if email was a country, its 1.6 billion users would make it the largest in the world. Bigger than China, or the population of the USA and the EU combined. A stonking 247 billion emails are sent each day and at least 80% of these are considered to be spam by their recipients. And one more astonishing stat – apparently phishing is successful with 5% of internet users - http://www.antiphishing.org/index.html

Clearly email and the internet are massive in our lives. So why is it that so many seem unable to manage this resource well? We’re constantly gob-smacked (Northern English expression) at the number of emails we receive with unhelpful subject lines, rambling messages and far too many emoticons. We’re also stunned at those who don’t understand how to file their information for later, easy retrieval.

Last week I met several, highly intelligent young people who don’t understand their email programmes and find it hard to use a word processor. This is the Information Age – and it’s been here for at least 30 years. It’s not new technology. It’s everyday – and it’s time we all learned to use it well.

Our Information Overload programme can help. Contact me - clare@structuredlearning.com - if you'd like details.

Leaders, decisions and rules

2010-04-13T16:05:00.003+01:00

Leadership is much in the news at the moment, especially with the upcoming election. This timely article reminds us that what we think we know about our greatest leaders – in this case Gandhi – is not always clear cut.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/thrill-of-the-chaste-the-truth-about-g...

It has reminded me that the worst way to make a political decision is because you’re seduced by the charisma of a particular person so that you act at their behest when you should be considering the facts. I think there’s a real case for saying that charisma is one of the most dangerous qualities anyone in politics – or any sort of leadership role – can have. Dangerous not for them of course, but for their followers. So many of us seem to have a need for our leaders to ‘show leadership’ – by which is usually meant a penchant for quick decision-making, excellent oratory and a sense of personal ‘rightness’. It’s interesting to think of all those leaders who showed just these qualities and caused chaos and mayhem in their wake. Give me the quiet, thoughtful, factual type any day when it comes to political or business decision-making.

Back to the article: one of the most telling quotes in it is this - ‘It seems that Gandhi lived as he wished, and only when challenged did he turn his own preferences into a cosmic system of rewards and benefits. Like many great men, Gandhi made up the rules as he went along.’

Isn’t that common to all of us though – making up the rules I mean?

Recently, a friend told me how she is very seriously considering a particular course of action which would turn her life upside down. She wants to walk away her business – which, thanks to the credit crunch, has eaten up all her capital and barely breaks even – and start afresh in Australia, marrying a man she’s only met a couple of times.

Now my personal ‘rules’ say that the lead I should offer on this is to be quite doubting, very concerned for her and generally play ‘devils’ advocate’. And, if anyone had asked me my views before this, I am sure I would have said, ‘Think twice and think again... are you really sure this is a good idea?’ and many such phrases all designed to express doubt without actually jumping up and down and saying ‘You’re bonkers’.

Principles are all very well in the abstract. In the reality, what I said was –‘Fantastic, go for it, there’s nothing here for you and you deserve this chance’. Why? Because I could see she was happy when she thought about packing it all in. Seeing her happy isn’t something I’ve seen much of over the past few years. And who knows – I certainly don’t – this could be absolutely the right way for her to go. This is a heart question, not one for the head.

She’s still thinking about it. But – and here’s the rub – whatever she decides to do I know I’ll support her. Even if that means making completely the opposite point to my initial one if she decides not to go. Bit like this blog posting.

A realisation and a promise

2010-03-26T14:48:00.002Z

It's been a long time since I blogged. It became a chore.

But all that's changed now after hearing yesterday at a conference, just how powerful social media has become. And seeing this for myself through the mesmerising updates on Gary Hayes' blog which graphically illustrates, in real time, just how many people are using social media every second.

My realisation? That blogging is an important business tool.

My promise? To update this blog once a month. And to keep my inner eye open...

Connected?

2009-11-20T11:52:00.001Z

It’s been a busy time for me – not Christmas, but ‘getting connected’. I have finally succumbed and joined Facebook and re-joined Linkedin - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/clareforrest

I have no real idea why, other than a vague feeling that everyone else is doing it and I don’t want to be left out. And I bet that’s true of most of us who join an online network. Not belonging, missing out, being left behind – these are probably our biggest fears as human beings, tapping deep into our psyche. And the internet has simply exacerbated these fears by providing more opportunities for us to ‘belong’.

You know what’s really crazy? When I look at people who are my ‘friends’ on Facebook or ‘connections’ on Linkedin – they’re all the same people. And they’re already in my email contacts anyway.

Still – at least I can say I’m well connected.

Chronological Unfairness

2009-09-23T17:31:00.001+01:00

As a company we’ve just won a fantastic contract with the Equality and Human Rights Commission to write guidance on the new Equality Bill – soon to be an Act. It’s fantastic because this is an Act which will help everyone to be treated fairly.

I love the idea of fairness. Who doesn’t? And I think it’s a really important idea because life itself is such a lottery. As Alexander Herzen, the courageous radical Russian exile said, “Human development is a form of chronological unfairness, since late-comers are able to profit by the labours of their predecessors without paying the same price.”

I was lucky in my background circumstances – born to well off parents, educated extensively, never really known hunger or poverty and brought up to have confidence in who I am. A great example of chronological unfairness. Others aren’t so lucky. How unfair it is that advantage comes from an accident of birth.

And even I have suffered from unfairness. In particular, some years ago a very unpleasant man, who held the keys to my next job promotion, made it very clear that he would never allow a woman to hold such a senior position. I couldn’t even get an interview despite being well qualified. So I left – in the end the best thing I ever did as it led me to where I am today. But, at the time, it was devastating in its unfairness. In fact, when I think about it, it still is.

So that’s why I’m delighted to be doing my small bit to help make life a little more fair for a great many people.

The Personal ain’t Private

2009-09-02T15:18:00.002+01:00

In the last day and a half I’ve travelled some 520 miles – from Wales to Bexhill and back to Cheshire. It’s been peculiar as for once I was in a car and being driven rather than driving. First by my cousin and then by my brother in law.

I can’t read comfortably in a car so I had chatted and, mostly, watched the world go by. And the world was mainly vehicles, which we either passed or were passed by. Each with one person (very occasionally there were two) immersed in his or her own private – but actually very visible – world. People eating, drinking, on the phone, singing, laughing (on their own...) gazing grimly out of the window, clutching on to steering wheels, (often in a position which seemed guaranteed to cause them serious neck problems). All convinced, just like us of course, that they were unobserved and able to do exactly as they liked.

There’s a kind of head in the sand syndrome that seems to affect us in our cars, vans and wagons. An ‘I can see you but you can’t see me’ belief. We all know that road rage often happens as a result of some people confusing their personal and public space. I wonder too if it happens because sometimes, inadvertently, we catch someone glancing at us in our ‘private’ world – and respond with anger at being ‘spied on’.

Cars are very public spaces, even when they feel private. Remember that next time you sit picking your nose at a set of traffic lights.

Social Conformity – Good or Bad?

2009-08-25T08:31:00.003+01:00

Sunday’s bike ride went really well and was just as predicted. All followed me without question - and most didn’t even notice when I took a wrong turn and led them round in a small circle at one point.

Now I know that it’s wonderful to be trusted in this way and I’d love to be perceived as a servant leader like Jim – but … isn’t it a tad worrying too?

There’s a lot of pretty scary research which suggests that people are – quite literally in this case – easily led and tend to conform to group norms. Which was great for me on Sunday – but is it great for society generally?

Servant or Leader?

2009-08-21T13:23:00.004+01:00

Bit distracted this morning as I’m leading a bike club ride on Sunday - always slightly nerve-wracking. The responsibility for ensuring that 10 or more (actually perfectly competent) adults have a good ride, enjoy it and arrive home safely weighs on my mind. And it’s completely daft because I know that they’ll all just follow me blindly, won’t take any notice of where they’re going and will definitely have a great time, whatever happens.

Sheep to the Slaughter?
I know this because that’s exactly what I do too when I’m following a cycle leader. I know this because I’ve chatted about this sheep-like behaviour with other club members and found we’re all guilty of the same approach. I know this especially, because last time I led a ride at least two of the riders asked me, as we were returning home in the afternoon, if we’d been to this particular spot (a toll bridge) before on a ride. Which we had. That morning on the way out. They were surprised.

Why do we – club members that is - trust whoever’s leading us so implicitly? It’s definitely not behaviour that we show in other areas of our lives, most of us are much more likely to question what’s going on than not. And we’re an opinionated lot generally. So what’s brought us to this point of ‘follow the leader’?

Servant Leader
It’s all to do with Jim Court. It’s his leadership style that has developed the club into a thriving community of cyclists. And it’s a very modern leadership style. (Jim has probably never thought about having a style – he just gets on with it.) But he does and it’s called servant leadership. Not a great title you might think. The word ‘servant’ sounds old-fashioned and with overtones of servitude. But it’s not that at all.

The core of servant leadership, (the term was coined by Robert Greenleaf in 1977) is the notion that leadership isn’t about directing others, it’s about serving them. And it’s about trust being at the heart of the relationship between the servant leader and his or her followers. Drury in 2004 summed up servant leadership as ‘An understanding and practice of leadership that places the good of those led over the self interest of the leader. (It) promotes the valuing and development of people, the building of community, the practice of authenticity, the providing of leadership for the good of those led, and the sharing of power and status for the common good of each individual, the total organization, and those serve by the organization.’

And that really does describe Jim. Virtually anyone who joins the club comes to us a novice cyclist, and/or unfit, and/or terrified of roads and traffic and/or … well you get the picture. Let’s just say that it’s rare for someone to join us who is a good cyclist already, though it does occasionally happen.

'For the Good of Those Led'
Jim does a number of things for the ‘good of those led’. He chooses routes that build confidence in our ability to handle a bike. He holds fast to our three core tenets that we 1) ride at the pace of the slowest, that we 2)wait at the top of a hill until everyone has climbed it, and that we 3)stop to fix punctures for each other. He chats about cycling too, dropping nuggets of information to demystify some of the more arcane parts of the bike and the cycling world as a whole. And – perhaps the act which most defines him as a servant leader – he has trained some dozen of us up to be ride leaders too.

There’s a great many world leaders who could learn a lot from Jim.

Hurry Now - and Stop

2009-08-20T16:38:00.005+01:00

Sat in a meeting right now. It’s a good one – focused but free-flowing and we’re achieving a lot. But even so – I’m beginning to get twitchy and thinking about the end instead of focusing on the here and now – which is why I’ve started writing my blog under the pretence of taking notes.

I know this problem – finding it hard to concentrate on one thing at a time, always moving onto the next thing – is one that many of us have. There’s even a name for it – hurry sickness. Isn’t that a great phrase? But it’s not a great thing to have as it can lead to serious wellbeing problems.

You and Your Heart
Cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman coined the term for a group of their patients who were at high risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in 1974. Their findings, the results of 10 years research into heart disease, were very simple. They discovered that uptight, highly stressed people (known as Type A’s) are more prone to heart attacks. Later, they carried out a randomized study of over 3,000 healthy men and found that Type A’s were approximately twice as likely to suffer the future incidence of CHD as non Type As. Their results were published in the 1974 book Type A Behaviour and Your Heart. Their findings were confirmed by a number of other investigators.

If you think you might be a Type A, or have Hurry Sickness then this article will help you.

What to do?
My advice? Be here now. Focus completely on what you do while you’re doing it. Give your attention to here, now. Or, as someone once wisely remarked, 'Take time to smell the roses.'

So – am I hurry sick? No. I’ve just been in this room too long – three hours now and it’s time to go ... please...

Speedy Reading?

2009-08-13T16:41:00.004+01:00

More about Trains and Books
Pondering yesterday’s blog, I realized I have a lot to be grateful for because of my train travelling. It seems that I have spent around 900 hours reading novels on regular journeys between London (work) and Manchester (where I live). I read a novel at around 950 words per minute. That’s pretty fast. I’m a fast reader, partly because I’ve learned the skill of speed reading and partly because I’ve always read a lot – and it’s true that practice does make perfect.

(Quick aside: Contrary to what you might think, speed reading increases both reading comprehension and reading pleasure. It’s slow readers who tend to have a problem with reading – they’re the ones who rarely get beyond the first chapter of a book because their slow reading means they get very, very bored. I get very twitchy without a book or two to hand – am I addicted, I wonder? If I am it’s a great addiction, and not that expensive.)

Back to the Numbers
I was poor at numbers at school so please write in and correct me if I get these wrong, which is more or less a certainty. How many words are in the average novel? Here’s a matter of fascinating discussion – apparently Pride and Prejudice has 122,685 words. Most seem to reckon on 100,000 words as a rule of thumb. So let’s take that and calculate how many novels I’ll have read over 25 years of travel between work and home.

That’s 950 wpm x 60 minutes = 57,000 words per hour x 450 hours = 513,000,00 divided by 100,000 = 513 books.

Wow. That’s a lot of reading. And a lot of fantastic knowledge gained too. No wonder I’m addicted. So now I have to say a big thank you to the train companies for it’s because of them that I’ve learned so much. Hurrah for rail travel. (This is not something I ever thought I’d write.)

Love books? Love reading? Learn to speed read with us.

Reading Oils the Wheels

2009-08-12T09:02:00.001+01:00

I’m on a train. Again. To London. Again. Tomorrow, I’ll repeat the process in reverse. Again. I know I’m not alone. Looking around me there’s about ten of us in this carriage, most gazing at their laptops, plugs in their ears, ignoring the world and each other. The poor stewards – are they still called that? – have to shout or nudge us to get any attention as they offer their drinks and food.

Probably on this very train there’s someone who’s just had the same thought, ‘How many years of my life have been spent on this route?’ I’m going to have a stab at calculating just that - something I've been meaning to do for a long time now.

Estimating (very) conservatively, I’ve completed one return journey (Manchester-London) per month for the last 25 years. Each return journey takes an average time of five hours, excluding travel time to and from the stations, end destinations, waiting and so on. Let’s see that’s …

12 journeys per year x 25 years x 5 hours = 1500 hours. Divide by 24 hours = 62.5 days.

Two months of my life? Four if you only count the waking hours. Can that be right? Doesn’t seem very much. Certainly not as much as it feels.

Even if you add in the waiting time – oh, the joy of Euston Concourse, such shops, such food, such company – it only adds about another 15 days or so. Which is a lot less than the time I spend sleeping. (Estimates on this vary but 27 years over the course of a lifetime seems about right)

Spending Time Wisely?
How have I spent these four months? More often than not I’ll read or work – say about 60% reading to 20% working. Some of time – say 5% - I’ll listen to music. The other 15%? Probably making calls, eating and drinking, gazing vacantly out of the window, calls of nature, chatting to fellow travelers and so on. So, reading mainly then.

For me, reading is a huge source of pleasure and of learning. I really don’t think it matters what you read so long as it’s something, anything. I’m always astonished at the number of people I see on trains doing nothing at all to amuse themselves. Just sitting. How bored they must be, I think, waiting for time to pass, when they could be losing themselves in the joys of a great, or even, yes especially rubbish, novel. I confess. Mostly I read novels, which is apparently a shameful activity for the working woman - I should be exercising my mind more usefully, people tell me. Mainly very dull people. The sort of people who spend their entire train journey peering at their laptops.

A Novel Joy
Well, I don’t care. I love novels. Good or bad, I’ve learned so much from them: what a ‘proper’ hero should look like; the perils of ‘big knickers’, why the oppression of women matters; (thank you Georgette Heyer, Helen Fielding, Marilyn French); the horrors of the criminal mind; what happened in the Channel Islands during the war; the dirty machinations of political life; the foundations of the Trades Union movement; the secrets of Mars – and that’s just a tiny, tiny list of all I’ve learned from reading novels.

Bless you novel writers everywhere. You truly shed light on darkness. And an awful lot of that light has been shed on an otherwise dull train journey. Thank you.

Practice, feedback, knowledge - LEARNING

2009-08-10T13:56:00.001+01:00

Last week I achieved a goal that, three years ago, I wouldn't even have set. I cycled 100 miles in one day. And I got up the next day feeling fine. This, for a 55 year old overweight woman, ain’t half bad.

(Before I go any further, for all you fast moving CTC cyclists out there, my stats are pretty poor – 8 hours plus cycling, average speed 11.6 mph, total time including breaks, 11 hours. Think I won’t be challenging Rebecca Romero this year – or ever)

Now, I’m pretty chuffed with myself. But the real question is how did I, someone who’d not ridden a bike since she was 12 or so, get here? And the answer is – knowledge, feedback and practice and more practice, feedback and knowledge. I bought a bike, joined a club and started to ride – practice. The club members gave me fantastic feedback about my progress – they never discouraged me, even when I gave up and walked up a hill. They gave me valuable hints and tips on my riding style. (Feedback) I talked to the experienced riders in the club, I asked for help in bike shops and I read everything I could find about bikes and bike riding - knowledge. My confidence grew – and that’s how I achieve my goal.

Together these three magic ingredients – practice, feedback and knowledge – add up to learning. And learning is my passion, because it’s through learning that we change ourselves and our lives. It’s learning that makes everything personally possible. Without this trinity of practice, feedback, knowledge we achieve very little.

There’s a very fashionable belief that what we only need to think about something for it to happen. There is, it seems, some evidence for this. But even this remarkable experiment shows that practice, even if it’s just in the mind, is essential. And I bet Dr Yue had to encourage his volunteers (feedback) to keep up with the exercises (practice) and he’ll have told them what to do in the first place (knowledge). So the trinity still remains all powerful – practice, feedback, knowledge.

So, for all those of you who hope that things will change through your thoughts alone, it seems unlikely. Thought is powerful, but it’s internal. I can think something is true, but I need knowledge to back up the thought and make it real. It’s practice that makes it happen. And it’s the feedback from others that makes the process golden. Through feedback we have more knowledge which gives us better practice – which leads to better results. A fabulous, virtuous, circle.