I've read "Aha! Learn to be smart"

I'm glad to see Jay is 'back' and even more glad he has starting writing a book on one of my favourite topics: self-directed learning or 'how to learn your way in life' as I call it. With Jay I mean Jay Cross - the author of thé book on Informal Learning, and hopefully soon the author of an equally important book that truly helps people to take learning in their own hands. The thing is that the man works with a concept of 'un-books' which means he regularly publishes a new iteration of the book instead of sitting on it until the whole thing is deemed publication worthy. I bought the very first draft of 'Aha!' which was mostly a structure with some blurbs of text, rough ideas and placeholders but already enough to see what was cooking on the stove. Of course, by the time I got around to write this blog post he has already a new iteration of the book out. Well, that's unbooks for you!

Jay says he once started a keynote saying he was glad to be there because he was curious what he was going to say. The first attempt of the book must have felt similar - curious what he was going to write :-).

Here are some random things I found interesting in the draft I've read:

• "Think of this as a cookbook for self-improvement" is one of the first sentences of the book which sets the tone. It is meant to offer all kinds of practical support to be better at learning your way and develop into the person you aspire to be. When I reflect on my own path in the learning industry I have always felt very strong about self-directed learning, have always practiced it myself and set myself a yearly learning goal. I even wrote a book (un-book) on competent people. But it took me years to realize that self-driven learning doesn't come as natural to all people and that a lot of people can actually do it if only they get the mindset right (yes you can learn / growth mindset) and a few gentle tools and pushes to set them on their way. 
• Grit assessment: Self-control is important for steering your own learning and sticking to your goal. One of the tools suggested in the book is the Grit assessment. Grit is long term self-control and it tends to be an important indicator for self-made people. You will find a free version here: https://sasupenn.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_06f6QSOS2pZW9qR 
• VIA test on your strengths: A lot of corporate led training initiatives feel like they are made to 'fix' us, and work on our weaknesses. That is fine if those weaknesses are derailing us. Otherwise it makes more sense and is more fun to focus on our strengths and play them out. Jay suggests the VIA test on http://www.viacharacter.org/www/The-Survey#nav (registration required)
• "Learning is a lot like driving in that you are not conscious of the process unless something goes haywire."
• The law of the two feet: If people find themselves in situations where they are neither learning anything nor contributing, they are responsible for moving to another place - using their two feet to find a place where their participation is more meaningful.
• We often hear and say we learn by experience. That sentence is not complete enough to be true. We don't learn from just any experience. Truly developmental experience is in that 'out of comfort' zone that is just far enough out of our comfort zone and not far enough to be completely terrifying. The book has a great visual on this idea - familiarland.