Learn as if you were to live forever. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi (Image from www.quotefancy.com) Keeping up with the latest technology, cultural trends, and even business news is a daunting task, to say the least. Change now happens faster than ever before. And that’s just part of the picture. To stay relevant and have real impact, it’s not enough just to keep pace with the competition – we have to learn constantly to stay ahead of the game. Luckily, these days, there is no shortage of ways to fit learning into your life. Here are four ideas to make it happen: Listen to audiobooks. On average, CEOs read 4-5 books a month, while most Americans only read one. 1,2 You can increase your reading time substantially by adding audio books to your library. Listen to a book when you’re commuting, running errands, or exercising. I like to listen to non-technical books while I’m walking the dog and more technical materials or literary fiction when I’m focused on nothing else. Meanwhile, my husband listens to books while he does the dishes or vacuums. He says he almost enjoys chores this way! If you haven’t tried Amazon’s Whispersync , it’s an amazing tool for reading. You can buy a book for your Kindle and get the audio recording for a few dollars more. The recording and eBook sync up as you switch back and forth, so you can read in whichever manner is best suited to where you are at the moment. Schedule it into your day. If you wait around for a moment to pick up that book or learn a new language, you’ll never actually do it. Rather than waiting for free time or putting it on your to-do list, block out some time and don’t let anything keep you from it! Remember that, far from an indulgence, developing yourself is critical to your ability to contribute to your job. So, that last-minute project doesn’t supersede it. Think you’re too busy? Try small increments. Almost anyone can fit in 15 minutes every morning and afternoon to practice French. Alternatively, try using half your lunch break to take an online course, or attend an hour-long webinar each week. Take advantage of your company’s training programs. We’ve all slogged through a boring, outdated training class or online course at work, but corporate training doesn’t have to be that way! Many companies have learned that the old way of learning doesn’t produce real results, so they are investing in immersive courses, innovative technology, and reinforcement tools to make learning programs stick. If you haven’t checked out your company’s training opportunities in a while, do so today. You may be surprised by how much you get out of it. But if your company’s learning opportunities could use some improvement, here are a couple of steps you can take. 1. Let them know. Keep in mind that the people in your Learning & Development department care about providing good training, and they need to prove that what they’re doing works. So, provide constructive feedback to help them get buy-in for better training. On the flip side, if the course is amazing, make sure you share that too, so they can get funding for more like it. 2. Present your manager with potential courses that you could take individually or that your team could take together. For example, BCI offers public courses multiple times each month in different cities across the US, which you could attend on your own or with members of your team. Or, your organization could bring in a trainer to do a course on location. Quit with intention. Learning is a discipline that requires commitment and dedication. That might sound intimidating and like you’re in for a world of boredom. But that’s exactly what it shouldn’t be! If you find that something you’re reading or learning isn’t relevant, challenging, or inspiring (or enjoyable!) then don’t just quit it, drop it without regret. This is a really important point. “According to the ‘Zeigarnik Effect,’ you are much more likely to recall an uncompleted task than one you completed…It turns out that the brain has a powerful need to finish what it starts. When it can’t complete something, it keeps coming back to it.” 3 When you decide to let go of something that is not for you, be sure you allow yourself to really enjoy the fact that you no longer have to read that book or take that course. Make the intentional decision to leave it behind, so that you can take on something more relevant to you and your pursuits. Thanks to the Zeigarnik Effect, to this day, I remember the only book I’ve ever quit, Andersonville . After nearly a year of trying to get through that book, I realized that I was acting solely out of a need to finish it. That’s when I put it down for good and immediately picked up a replacement that I knew I’d enjoy. Now when I think back to it, I don’t regret not finishing that book. Instead I feel an intense satisfaction that I saved myself hours of misery and got back time to spend on books I enjoy. So, be strategic up front about what you decide to learn and how to spend your time on it. But, if something doesn’t work out, be just as strategic about the way you leave it and what you find to replace it. These are tips for making continuous learning a part of your life, but the need to learn and grow isn’t true for individuals only. Our companies need to learn and grow as well. The most effective leaders around the world know this and they encourage their companies to foster a culture of learning. More than ever, continuous learning is critical to developing high-quality products, finding efficiencies, improving relationships with customers, and standing out from the competition. However, great leaders can’t do it all themselves. It takes a commitment from each of us to create a culture of learning in our workplace. A commitment to encourage each other – from the C-suite on down – to develop new skills, challenge each other, and make learning a valued part of the everyday work experience. To learn new techniques to drive this culture of continuous learning, join Baker Communications’ free webinar this Wednesday, June 29, at 1:00 CT, to learn six keys to igniting a culture of continuous learning in your organization. The techniques we’ll discuss aren’t just for the training arm of your organization – they’re for leaders looking to encourage their teams’ learning, for individuals looking for ways to make learning part of their workday, and for any employee who wants to provide solutions to help their company stay ahead of the pack. We’ll talk about: A new, simple model for getting up to speed faster Tips for ongoing coaching and reinforcement How to drive engagement with the tools and technology your team relies on Reserve your space now! Written by Keren Stanley, Sr. Director of Marketing for Baker Communications 1 http://www.refreshleadership.com/index.php/2013/01/average-ceo-reads-45-books-month/ 2 http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/10/19/slightly-fewer-americans-are-reading-print-books-new-survey-finds/ 3 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/here-there-and-everywhere/201403/why-we-hate-not-finishing-what-we-start
