Tuesday, December 23, 2014

A Normal Lifeschooling Day - Sixteen Hours of Joyful Learning

A College Day

We normally had classes in the afternoon from 11am to 3 pm. Traveling to and from college would take me another hour. I had the mornings and evenings free which I decided to use more productively.

At college though the course was reasonably interesting, I always longed for more. I wanted to learn more and experience more. I wanted to meet new people, read more books, watch great movies, attend seminars. I wanted to work on community project and start a mini-business venture, I wanted to create something that would leave the world better than I found it.



A New Schedule

This is when I decided to create a schedule that allowed me to do all of the above. Creating this schedule helped me understand what LifeSchooling was really all about. It showed me how my learning is not limited to what happened at school, college, home or the workplace. Every experience I had throughout the day was a chance to learn something new.

If I put in the effort,  I could have an actual learning experience for every second of the sixteen hours I was awake. This is how I did it and this was my schedule on most days during college.

I would get up by 7 am in the morning. I would then do my writing for an hour and half. After that I would watch a few videos online for an hour. It would be 9:30 am by then. I would go down and have breakfast at an idli stall near my paying guest apartment in Grant Road. I would buy the day’s groceries and come back up by 10 am. I would then start sending emails and updating my social media page for an hour. By 10 45 am I would leave for college. The first class would start by 11 am and would go on till 3 pm. On some days we had just one class, and we would use the remaining time for projects.

In My Back Pack

I carried my backpack wherever I went. In it I always had the following things

1)  A book I was reading
2)  My phone with over 500 e-books, 40 audio program and my image and music collection
3)  Bottle of water and some snacks or food
4)  College Books
5)  My wallet
6)  Sanitizer and Keys
7)  Business Cards and Event Brochure in case I decided to go to an educational institute during the day.

Learning Beyond College

After college, I would spend at least two hours at the bookstore next to my college completing my reading for the day. I mark all the social events, conferences, seminars, meet-ups, panel discussions or cultural festivals happening around Mumbai on my calendar. After reading at the bookstore from 3 pm to 5 pm, I would go and attend at least one event happening around Mumbai every evening between 5 pm to 8 30pm.

For exercise I would walk wherever I went and also eat healthy whenever I could. I walked to my apartment and college from the station which gave me about 3 kilometers of exercise everyday. I would have dinner at a restaurant near my house between 9 pm to 9 30 pm. I would come back home have a shower and finish my other daily necessary tasks by 10 pm. From 10 pm to 12 pm, I would watch an Oscar winning movie, two academic lectures or an interview on the internet. Then I would relax for a while, freshen up again and go off to bed to wake up and do the same the next day.

Learning for 16 Hours a Day

By taking this approach to learning, I was actually giving myself the opportunity to learn for sixteen hours a day rather than just a few hours at college.

This would take lots of planning to implement on a regular basis. Maintaining my health and spending quality time with family and friends was a top a priority for me as well. I would only compromise on the schedule to exercise or to spend a day with family and friends.

This schedule continued from the start of college in the July,2012 to October,2012. From November onwards, I got busy with the publication of my first book, the book tour, college work and the many events happening in the time. But these three - four months were some of the best learning and exploration days of my life.


Let us Learn Together
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