My Learning Plan

1024 685 Ellen Ensher
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Over the past year, I made a commitment to myself to become more informed. Like a properly Jesuit-educated man, I strive for the education of my whole person, meaning investing time into gathering information in various topics – some pertaining to my future, and some to be more generally knowledgeable. While it’s important to know a lot about your career path and everything in that world, it’s also important to be generally knowledgeable (like aRenaissance man) in order to be flexible in any sort of setting. Here are my top five sources of information that I currently use regularly:

  1. ESPN 30 for 30 My field of interest is sports business, so these keep me up to date with sports history and inform my view of current sports. Also, sports documentaries are just downright interesting. Show me a slow-motion rush to the end-zone with dramatic music and I’ll have a hard time holding back tears, no matter the team.
  2. The Art of Manliness. This is a website on which various writers and bloggers post useful articles and videos on who to be a well-rounded man. These pieces cover everything from how to properly dress for various occasions to how to fly-fish. Favorite articles of mine include “Bookend your Day: The Power of Morning and Evening Routines,” and “10 People every man Should have in His Rolodex.”
  3. Stuff you Should KnowThis podcast is where the Renaissance-man, general knowledge really comes in for me. This podcast covers a unique and random topic of knowledge each week. Favorite episodes of mine have included: “How Free Speech Works,” “How Malls Work,” “A Partial History of Action Figures,” and “How the Negro Leagues Worked.”
  4. When I wake up in the morning, I immediately look at three apps: Goal, MLB at Bat, and Flipboard.Goal gives me the most recent soccer news and scorlines, worldwide. Similarly, MLB at Bat gives me the same information for baseball. I read the box scores for both sports and follow the standings. For my desired sports business future, these keep me current and up-to-date (supplementing my nightly Sportscenter). Flipboard, on the other hand, gives me customized world news in a number of subjects. I’m able to check boxes to tell the app my specific interests such as sports, politics, and business, and the app customizes my feed to give me headlines in these specific categories.
  5. Never in my life, until this semester, had I read a newspaper on a regular basis (outside of the Sunday funnies as a kid). I’ve made it a point this semester, and going forward, to read the New York Times at least once a week. Already, it’s helped me become more conversant, politically. It’s a near-unbiased source of information that lets me form my own opinions.