The other day, I was practicing disc (frisbee) golf with a friend. We were flicking our discs into one disc golf basket he had purchased. I mentioned that every time I throw a disc, I plan to make it in the basket. He seemed surprised. That’s just the way I approach things. Call it ‘confidence.’ Call it ‘hope.’ It just makes more sense to me than thinking I’m going to miss.

Think about it. When you shoot a basketball, throw a disc, tell a joke, bike across the country…whatever…do you plan on success? Any effort seems worthy of the hope that it will be successful. Sure, I’m going to miss my share, but why focus on that?

I think learning is similar. Being the naturally curious person I am is really a way I express hope. If I didn’t want to learn something, it would be like saying I didn’t care about my future. Putting in the effort to learn something new is my way of saying I want to be better in the future. And that there’s a future worth being better in.

Here are a few interesting things to learn:

* Gamestar Mechanic teaches kids how to design their own games.

* This one is an Online Personal Finance Game.

* An article about the subject: Games and the Common Core: Two Movements that Need Each Other (and the Edutopia “Games for Learning Resources” page)

* Making Stop Motion Movies (everything you need to know) by Kevin H.

The next thing I want to try is to combine juggling and jogging. As it turns out, it’s not that unique. Check out this short video about it.

Stay hopeful, my friends.

P.S. By the way, I still believe in the importance of failing. Just because I take an optimistic view of things doesn’t mean I don’t know the importance of trying/failing/learning/trying again (repeat as needed). Check out Kevin’s great blog entry on the subject.