Back To School – Keep Learning

As the kids are heading back to school after a seemingly short summer it prompted me to write about how we should all continue learning.  There are several top-of-mind benefits of continual learning that I’d like to cover in this post.

On the blog I’ve talked about multiple ways that busy folks can learn and focus on consuming value-based content frequently including audio-based “edutainment”.  There are all kinds of free content and worthwhile paid material (physical and virtual) that you can consume at your own pace.

What are a few advantages of continuing your education beyond school?  Keep in mind that I’m not talking about formal education but taking advantage of the many free and convenient sources available.

Confidence

As you learn you’ll gain confidence in decision-making and in conversation with others.  Don’t be proud but have confidence that you can become an expert in a topic and benefit from it.  It may not be as hard as you think to be in the top 5 or 10 percent of folks when it comes to knowledge in a niche or narrow topic.

“The Edge” – Staying Sharp

Incremental learning gives you somewhat of an edge or advantage over others.  It could be a slight edge that you need to get ahead in your business or job.  Consistent learning over time will result in fruitfulness in all aspects of your life.  A little bit here and there adds up.  Set some attainable goals to learn about something over the next few months.

A Sense of Purpose

Setting goals to master a topic over time gives me some extra purpose and motivation.   You have to enjoy learning to begin with but I think that it’s appealing that a person can achieve mastery in a subject if they put their mind to it.

Income

If your aim is to make more money then you will if you apply yourself.  Dan Miller put forth somewhat of a challenge on his 48 Days podcast a while back around the premise that consuming positive content over a six month period would result in a person doubling their income by the end of the period.  This is not verbatim but pretty close I believe.  I think that there’s definitely truth to this but it all depends on application of the knowledge, not simply consumption of it.

Resources

There are books, podcasts, online courses, and more traditional classroom learning to name a few that you can invest in.

Amazon Books – Grab a traditional or Kindle book.

Audible Audio Books – I’ve been doing a trial on Audible and it’s great.  I don’t always have the time to sit down and read.  Audio books are great for people on the go.

iTunes – Find some podcasts on iTunes.  You’ll find a wealth of knowledge from top-notch experts for free.

Udemy – Sign up for a Udemy course.  This is video based learning via courses.    Most of the material on Udemy is paid but I’ve found their material to be well worth the investment.

You probably already know how you best learn.  Do you enjoy reading, listening, watching, or a combination of these?  There are so many options available nowadays, and a lot for free, that you have no excuse to wait.  The only investment that you really need is your time and attention which I know can be hard to come by sometimes.

I get excited about learning new stuff.  I hope that this post inspires you to learn and master a subject or to begin feeding yourself with positive and educational content daily.

Please leave a comment and thanks for reading!

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