If you follow my posts or podcast appearances, you know that our kids and I share what made us happy and what we learned each night before bed.
The habit originated from a combo of Mike Leckrone's philosophy about "moments of happiness", James Clear's Atomic Habits, my "Discipline" strength from Gallup Strengthsfinder, and my philosophy about Learn In The Flow Of Life.
Did you know? Mike Leckrone has a podcast called "Listening With Leckrone" available on all major podcast platforms.
I started capturing our responses to the daily questions about happy moments and learning in a notebook, then shifted to an app I downloaded called Day One, and in January shifted again to the Apple app that recently launched.
This past weekend I had a proud dad moment when our son Jack passed to the next level of swimming at Goldfish Swim School. He's been working hard to advance levels motivated by his love of fishing and the ability to be confident near water.
When bedtime rolled around it was no surprise to me that what made him happy that day also happened to be tied to his progress learning swimming. I looked back at the previous days this week and found the following responses to his questions:
Fun day in music class
Piano practice
We got to do a lot of cool math things at school
How to set a volleyball
I got to pro 2 in swimming
Were these his responses to what made him happy or what he learned? The answer is - BOTH!!!
While it's a relatively small sample size, if I did a comprehensive review of our entries in the notebook and apps, I am confident there's a correlation between learning and moments of happiness not only for our kids but for me too!
Before I close, I need to give credit to those teachers and coaches who help teach, coach, and lead Jack including Jennifer Harvey, Jean Hendrickson, John Potter, Goldfish Swim School Instructors, as well as Heather and I who play a role as parents supporting his journey in learning. These individuals and others who I didn't name, help make learning fun, demonstrate role-model techniques and push him even when he's a little stubborn.
You don't need to take my word for it on learning and happiness. Try it yourself. Capture how you feel after you learn something and reach out with the results.
Learn In The Flow Of Life
Jason
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