You've thought about what you want to accomplish this year, and professionally you have your objectives. But if you want to really build a better you that will last over the long haul, you need to make a long-term investment in yourself.
And the greatest investment you can make in yourself is to learn something.
Do you have learning goals for the year? -- Something new you would like to be able to do, or something you will know so well by year's end that it will transform your doing and being in the world?
"But wait," you say. " I already suffer from learning overload. I learn a hundred new things every day."
Ahh, you've identified a major impediment to learning: confusing information with learning or even wisdom.
Just because you have access to info and even because you absorb it for the short term does not mean you are learning.
We are all surrounded by a sea of info. But it is the person who commits to speciifc learning who will be in the better position to achieve better things at work and live a better life.
Three Different (but related) Ways to Get Serious About Learning:
(1) Learning by Doing / Achieving
Set goals and choose projects that require you to learn in order to achieve them. For example, I would like to know how to use a certain set of web-design software, I want to learn how to easily record tele-classes and how to easily create a wiki site so others can share in adding content to a website. All these things I will learn this year because I have things that I am creating and paying others to create which will provide a front-row seat to learning these things.
Next year, I'll be able to use those skills to create other web-based products and spaces.
What do you want to learn that could be connected to what you want to acheive, produce or do?
(2) Learning by Focus
If you want to learn to do anything, you must schedule time to do so. Logical, I know. Yet, some of us are wishing we would learn simply by osmosis or by good intentions.
Don't plan on learning to play the guitar if you don't set aside regular time WITH a guitar and a lesson book or CD. You might need the additional structure of a scheduled class where you have invested money and people are expecting you.
If you have learning goals already, put them to the calendar test: what evidence is there that you are spending time with the subject you want to learn?
If you're setting learning goals, begin by looking at your calendar and carving out the time to actually learn.
(3) Learning by Environment
If you really want to get into learning something, or you find that you are weak in sticking to a project or calendar-based approach like I mentioned previously, consider recreating your environment: surrounding yourself with people, activities and things that support--even require, your learning.
If you REALLY want to learn spanish...make new friends who speak spanish, some who ONLY speak spanish, label everything in your house with it's spanish name, only watch Univision or spanish television, learn to cook Spanish or Mexican dishes, change your wardrobe etc. etc. Others in your life might ask if you've gone off the deep end, but one thing is for sure: you're learn spanish...and quickly at that.
A simple but powerful single step you can take to immerse yourself to learn better: surround yourself with experts and practitioners in the thing you want to learn.
Do you need to learn to manage your finances, play the violin, laugh, produce videos, develop a better backhand, play texas hold 'em, get financing for your start-up, clean up clutter?
There are people who are very good at all these things...they could be your new friends, colleagues, coaches, business partners, lunch dates, etc.
The real trick is to SURROUND YOURSELF. One person doesn't fill the bill. Nor does just two or three. It takes a group.
When you find yourself in their company and don't understand what they are saying...you'll know you're on the right track. If you hang around soccer players, sooner or later they will be playing or talking soccer. The same is true for musicians, writers, accountants, etc.
Consistently surrounded this way, you can't NOT learn.
Bottom Line: Don't confuse seeing a lot of information with actual learning. To build a better you, make the long-term investment in yourself through purposeful learning. By definition, each year you will be getting better and better.
BE More,
Tom
=================================================================
POWER QUESTIONS:
1. What have I been wanting to learn for some time?
2. How can I connect my goals and ideas for this year to learning opportunities for me?
3. Which of the strategies will I need to use if I really want to get serious about learning?
=================================================================
Comments