Why are all the good ideas left behind in elementary school? Remember recess? One of the best parts of the day. My seven-year-old granddaughter still looks forward to school every day. This last year, her class went ice skating, to the theater for a one-hour play on Cinderella, on an ecology bus tour and more. Each day, she enjoyed hands-on learning through playing instruments in music, running around and completing tasks in gym, and cooperating with classmates to finish deskwork. And "despite" all of the fun, she learned.

The variety in her day is crafted to help decrease stress while working on certain projects, create time to work on projects of her own choosing, and provide opportunity to relax and re-energize before tackling more learning.

Adult learning needs to take note of these deliberate variations throughout the elementary school day. While the American school day has been fine-tuned over decades and modifications and innovations are still being woven into the learning tapestry, a luxury training departments rarely have, some of these can be easily implemented.

As for learners, we need to hold them accountable for detaching from work so they can be effective-when they're on vacation, make sure they really are on vacation so they can come back refreshed and looking forward to the challenges work holds instead of worn out from the "urgent" and "quick" emails they responded to and text messages they received while supposedly on vacation.