How to Apply Lessons From Reading to Your WorkLife Learning Needs
When we came out of lockdown, I welcomed visiting a café to sit and read awhile over a book and a coffee.
I began reading Inspector Montalbano by Andrea Camilleri during isolation. I delightfully discovered Inspector Montalbano Detective series on TV. I decided to create a sense of purpose before watching, so I first read each book and then watched the episode. This helped me get so much more from the stories.
I write about the wisdom people take from books that helps their WorkLife learning.
So, what wisdom did I glean from reading mystery books and how was this helpful in my WorkLife?
Camilleri’s novels breathe out the sense of place.
I needed to learn how to do this for my book WorkLife Book Club.
Montalbano’s gastronomic preferences add a sense of quirkiness and humour to the stories.
I needed to learn how to write about food and drink as the Book Club goes on a culinary tour of Shoreditch – the setting for the book.
Reading the books helped me so much in achieving these learning needs.
I loved the use of dream as narrative to reveal Montalbano’s deepest needs and desires. Prompting him to question if his subconscious mind was trying to tell him something and to pay attention to his feelings.
In my work, I strive to convey the importance of self-awareness in trusting our gut instinct.
Andrea Camilleri began writing Detective Fiction in his late sixties. There is much of his truth, beliefs and values in the books.
He said that social commentary was always his aim. He deliberately smuggled a critical account of the social and political situations of his times into the stories through subtext. This also allowed him to show the progression and evolution in the character of Montalbano.
I strive to smuggle my truth, beliefs and values into my stories in a way that progresses each character.
It helps to be a book lover as a writer, author, storyteller and creator because learning through reading is so important to my craft.
Oh and I love Detective Fiction – it’s one of my favourite genres – I have a few.
I leave you with a few questions to reflect upon. I encourage you to journal on the answers that come to you.
Insightful self-questions and effective self-feedback will help you self-direct your WorkLife learning needs in the areas that are important to you.
3 questions to help you Learn Through Reading to then apply those lessons to your WorkLife learning needs:
What’s your favourite genre?
How does reading help you in your profession?
What wisdom have you taken from books that helped your WorkLife learning needs?
The book I read over coffee was The Patience of the Spider (The Inspector Montalbano Mysteries Book 8) by Andrea Camilleri.
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School of WorkLife helps you self-direct your WorkLife learning through resources that have been created to help you to take ownership of your learning in your own space and in your own time.
What is Self Directed Learning?
Self-Directed Learning is when an individual is motivated to take the initiative and responsibility on decisions related to their own learning. It is a series of independent actions and judgements free from external control and constraint.
Resources to Help You Self-Direct Your Learning
You may find the books below from The School of WorkLife Book Series helpful in meeting your learning needs as a self directed learner. Tap the book title to see a preview of what’s inside each book.
How To Embrace The Superpower of Self-Awareness
How To Fine-Tune The Superpower of Observation
How To Self-Coach, Direct and Lead Effectively
Tap The School of WorkLife Book Series to view the complete collection of books. From here, you can tap on each individual title to see a preview of what’s inside each book.
Founder of School of WorkLife, Carmel O’ Reilly is a learning practitioner and writer. She creates resources to help people self-direct their WorkLife learning. These include a Collection of Books which originated from her first book, Your WorkLife Your Way and a Learn Through Reading Series of Case Studies. which originated from her latest book WorkLife Book Club.
That’s the power of writing (and reading, which is an integral part of the craft for writers). It helps you find, develop and tell the right story at the right time in all WorkLife situations – in day-to-day communication: WorkLife and feedback conversations, presentations, talks, and negotiations, at interviews, and when socialising and networking in building and maintaining good relationships. The practice of writing helps you to tell the stories that express who you are in an interesting and engaging way.