Learn Something New Every Day
After making the time to take a picture every day in May, I started thinking about all the 5 minute projects that I could begin each day in June. I’m a huge fan of 30-day projects. They’re just the right amount of time to explore new ideas, and they’re far more practical than New Year’s resolutions because you actually can remember them and want to try them.
Trying to take a picture every day was a lot of fun, and I’ll try to find a way to share my project with all of you. In the meantime, here’s June’s project: take a few minutes to learn something new every day.
This eager kid says it all, don’t you think? I’ve been so eager to start this next challenge. Would you care to join me? My all-time favorite website… and this is embarrassing… is Wikipedia. It’s an online encyclopedia overflowing with gobs of really cool bits that readers actually contribute to.
Do you ever have moments where you ask what something is? But then do you quickly shrug it off and quickly move on with what you’re doing? I do that all the time. I wonder about trees, foods, places… For loving Wikipedia so much, I’m not very good at using it.
So this month I’m challenging myself to take a few minutes to learn. It’s a simple way to make learning a habit – perfect for our Simpler Life Series, wouldn’t you say?
Here was my June 1 Wikipedia search: red-winged blackbird
These fellas are everywhere around here, and they’re one of the few birds I can identify. (I’m still stumped by these weird birds in Berlin.) Or at least I thought I could identify red-winged blackbirds.
They’re constantly hanging out with these guys. I figured they were just good pals.
Nope. Those are the females. No wonder the males are so friendly, huh?
So here’s to another 30 day challenge! I’d love to have you join me. Think of all the randomness you could impress your family with at the most random times. I can see it now. Awkward silence. Then you blurt out the not-so-cool ingredients in Subway’s bread or bamboo clothing like the considerate Christine is talking about on Simple Savvy.
I’d really like to know what you all do when you have questions about stuff. Do you keep track in a little notebook or drop everything to find an answer? You could just forget about it, and that’s okay, too. I am up for interesting must ask topics to look into. …well except I’m kind of thinking that today I’ll look into Subway’s bread.
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:51 am
Matt and I use google all the time to look up random stuff. We both like to think of ourselves as mini encyclopedias on random knowledge. I used to be killer at trivial pursuit. But lately – as in the last two years – my interest in random knowledge has waned as my energy has too….I know it’s coming back though – so I’m up for the challenge!
June 2nd, 2009 at 6:57 am
Dont be embarassed about loving wiki! When I got a new cell phone, one of the more important features that I required was a phone that could load wiki in a reasonable amount of time!
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:41 am
Thanks for linking to me today! When I have a burning question, I’ll write it down in my trusty moleskine, and then come back to it. Those questions usually become blog posts.
My family’s not that impressed with my crazy information, but I think that’s because most of my family doesn’t care as much about going green as I do. That’s what the internet is for!
June 2nd, 2009 at 9:03 am
If Martin’s with me, I ask him. He’s smarter than I give him credit for. :-) If Baby Bug’s with me, I ask her. Her answer? “Da, da, ooh, weeeeeh.” If none of their answers suit me, I google it. I often wonder how people would react if we couldn’t google anymore. Can you imagine the chaos? Haha!
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:52 am
Katie, I don’t think my Martin would last ten seconds without Google. I’m glad everyone loves looking up things, too.
Christy, I probably wouldn’t stand a chance at Trivial Pursuit against you! Maybe after this month…
Katie
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
If I have access to google, I look it up as soon as I get a chance. I absolutely must research random movie trivia though. Ask me “Wasn’t that guy in that movie about that thing?” and I’ll call up imdb.com in about a second. I just can’t stand not knowing.
June 3rd, 2009 at 3:24 am
Remember, I’m older and, uh, wise enough to know that all I know for sure is, uh, that God exists and I’m going to Heaven one day. Seriously. When I worked for a living (and I actually did that for years), I learned that you don’t have to know STUFF, you need to know to whom or where to go to find STUFF out. All of the people around me are smart, Jeopardy variety smart. What one doesnt’ know, another does. In between times, I rely on google. Here’s the thing about Wikipedia (which I use on rare occasion), anyone can make entries in it. ANYONE. So there are some inaccuracies to be found. Okay, now I’m relying on you to remind us throughout June to try to learn something new every day.
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:28 am
Great reflections, PJ. Thanks for sharing them. I’ll surely keep them in mind over the month!
Katie
June 4th, 2009 at 1:12 am
I like very much to study… books are my favorites, but lately I prefer audio books, I can hear them when traveling and if they are read by the author it is a great experience …
June 6th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
We are so lucky in this era to have such vasts amounts of knowledge available to us via the internet at the touch of a button, all it takes is a little question, what is that. Thanks for sharing the ideas, it is an interesting old world out there!