Everyone is born with an innate desire to learn and evolve—but sometimes as you grow up your passion for learning can dissipate. The simple pleasure of learning something for the first time no longer exists. You become comfortable with understanding the basics of a particular subject and leaving it at that.
However, technology is providing new challenges that are uncomfortable and force you to learn something new or be left behind.
But with so much information coming at us from all sides on a daily basis, how do we learn more? By forgetting some of what we already know and drawing on the tips listed below:
1. Mental maps
Change is constant and to thrive you must embrace it. One way you can learn more is to create multiple future perspectives or mental maps, to broaden your potential views of what may be possible.
By creating a new set of mental maps to explore a different potential work and career options, you create an ocean of opportunity for yourself. Shawn Achor talks about choosing the most valuable reality, in his book “Before Happiness.” In his book “The Happiness Advantage” he also provides great stories and tips for perspective shifting taken from positive psychology.
Another perspective is to identify what may be your limiting mental maps and consider ways these could be replaced by something more expansive and explorative. Whether you apply mental maps to exploring blocks or future possibilities, you will only see results if you make the time to do them and reflect. Let me know how you go.
2. Adapt or die!
Darwin was onto something. Don’t narrow your options by shutting down or putting your head in the sand. Question how things work, challenge old paradigms, and begin to relearn what is beneficial for your industry, career, job position, and lifestyle. Access your curiosity. Explore what your industry early adopters are doing… follow them….
At the least, question your assumptions, your rules, your prejudices and biases. Where is holding onto being right stopping you from being right? Tim Minchin nails the point in his 9 life lessons UWA address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoEezZD71sc
3. Knowledge without action
Knowledge in copious amounts is frivolous when there are no intentions behind it to implement it in your life.
You might read the most informative book of your life but it is wasted if you don’t put in place what you have learnt. In this modern technology era, we have more knowledge than we can wrap our minds around but the difference between striving and thriving is implementation.
If you learn something new, find an opportunity to apply it – and as soon as possible and then repeatedly. Repetition and practice drive changes in performance. You cannot think your way into being a lifeguard. You must get in the water at some point, swim, and practice saving or save someone! You cannot think your way into better skills, you must do stuff.
4. Learning agility
Success in an unpredictable environment is achieved by finding the key and unlocking learning agility to thrive in professional and personal domains.
Learning agility is the ability to let go of information that doesn’t hold a solidified purpose or benefit anymore and flex to something new. Arun Pradhan is a mastermind on this area and has some great tips to share. He has also developed a fabulous app to help further develop learning agility.
Employers are looking for people who have critical thinking skills and solve problems. You must innovate, reinvent, and re-engineer your mindset, your job, your skills and your knowledge. If you enjoy learning online, check out www.Udemy.com to access immediately available curated content on a wide variety of subjects. If you prefer face to face, join a Meetup group to fast track your insights and connections to experts in the fields you need to know more about. I LOVE going to the Instructional Design & eLearning Sydney chapter and always leave inspired to learn and create more.
Next month I’ve enrolled to do the online IDEO intro to design thinking course.
What are you doing to enhance your learning? Let me know.
