How can you develop your career through books, podcasts, and blogs?

It can be really easy to go off track when looking at other sources of information to inform your learning. I suggest starting off with the end goal in mind to prevent you from being distracted. Look at thought leaders in your own field and approach them for recommendations too. Often this way you will get some great recommendations from someone who has already spent time researching what works. By sharing information both ways, this also helps to build a network which can be useful for the future.

In the realm of learning, discerning valuable resources is akin to selecting tools for a craftsman's kit. Just as not all tools are equal, not all books, podcasts, and blogs offer the same depth and relevance. To navigate this landscape, draw parallels with market research. Like identifying a target audience, pinpoint your learning objectives. Are you seeking to hone skills, gain strategic insights, or explore fresh domains? This mirrors market segmentation, where understanding distinct customer segments informs targeted strategies. Leveraging my industry knowledge, I emphasize that aligning your learning goals with trusted sources mirrors aligning business goals with tailored marketing approaches, optimizing outcomes.

Leveraging books, podcasts, and blogs can significantly boost your career by providing a continuous source of knowledge, skill development, and industry insights. These resources enable you to stay informed about industry trends, expand your skill set, and connect with influential figures in your field, potentially opening doors to new opportunities. By actively engaging with these materials and applying the knowledge gained, you can enhance your expertise, improve your decision-making, and establish yourself as a respected authority in your profession, ultimately accelerating your career growth.

It can be easy to get overwhelmed with the number of resources out there. I recommend identifying what are the skills, knowledge, and behavior you want to change? This will help you identify the best approach and ways of learning.

It's commonly believed that you should read as many books as possible. However, deep reading—studying a few books thoroughly—can provide a more profound understanding and practical insights if you want to become a master in your chosen field. Striking a balance between deep and shallow reading is essential for maintaining a diverse knowledge landscape and staying informed. One lens to see this through is via the T-shaped framework, which suggests that you should have deep expertise in one area (the vertical stroke of the T) while also having a broad understanding of related fields (the horizontal stroke). → Deep reading for mastery and expertise → Shallow reading for broad knowledge, and staying up-to-date in your chosen field.

Let's delve into the art of consumption—a dance of efficiency. Just as a gourmet savors diverse flavors, you needn't ingest every morsel of content fully. Skim like a researcher poring over findings, scan like a detective seeking clues, skip like a traveler passing mundane sights, and repeat like an artist refining strokes. Industry-wise, this parallels efficient project management—focusing on pivotal tasks while relegating the less crucial. Employ tools, analogous to market analytics, to streamline: bookmarks as pointers, notes as insights, highlights as landmarks, summaries as executive briefs, and audio speed as time optimization. Embracing these strategies, you sip from the cup of knowledge while nurturing your own expertise.

Podcasts, books, and blogs are great but are a passive consumption medium. While great for building knowledge, the knowledge won’t transfer to skill until you do something with it. If anything, in a vacuum you’ll run into good ‘ole Dunning Kruger and believe you’re more capable than you really are. That’s especially dangerous if you’re consuming with career development as the goal. Fail to transfer the knowledge to skill and you may talk your way into a role you’re ill prepared to handle, resulting in a painful backslide. And, while there’s not enough characters to go through all the ways to make the transfer, go beyond knowledge recall. Find situations where you can safely experiment, fail, reflect, get feedback, and grow.

Learning is most impactful when put into action. After absorbing insights from various sources, take time to reflect on how they align with your objectives. Connect these learnings to real-world scenarios you encounter. Craft actionable steps based on these connections and integrate them into your professional tasks. Utilize techniques like journaling or note-taking to solidify your understanding. Consider seeking feedback from mentors or peers to enhance your application further. This continuous cycle of learning, reflecting, and applying can greatly amplify your career growth and expertise.

Reading and watching content are passive ways to learn. You can begin to apply your learning by using what you've learned, writing about what you've learned, collaborating or teaching others.

To remain consistent with your learning, you'll want to check in on a recurring cadence. It could be monthly or quarterly. You can reflect on your learning goals and ask questions like: what have I learned? What worked? Didnt work? What are my goals for moving forward?

Don't limit yourself to text-based content. Videos and audiobooks can be just as informative and may suit your learning style better. Take your goals as a starting point, and then decide which learning format is best suited for those skills. For instance, if you want to get better at cooking, watching cooking demonstrations on YouTube can be particularly effective. Learning musical instruments, fitness and yoga, software and graphic design, language learning, photography and videography, fashion design — these are just some examples of skills where audio-visual learning is the best fit.

1. Diversify your sources and explore a wide range of subjects. Doing so can bring fresh perspectives and innovative ideas from one field into another. For example, a software developer could draw inspiration from psychology books to make software that's easier for people to use. 2. Challenge conventional wisdom. Seek out people and resources that present alternative viewpoints. Even if you don't agree, understanding opposing arguments can sharpen your critical thinking and decision-making skills. 3. Look beyond your industry for inspiration. For example, consider how principles from architecture can be applied to software design or how storytelling techniques from literature can enhance your marketing strategy. 4. Teach what you learn.

As helpful as CONSUMING can be for your career…I’d argue that CREATING content in these mediums can be even more beneficial. Especially if you create content WITH the movers and shakers in the field you want to pursue. For example, let’s say you want to develop your career in marketing. Specifically, content marketing. If you created a podcast about content marketing, you could build strategic relationships with influencers, peers, and potential employers by inviting those people to be a guest on your show. Taking the insights you learn from these interviews, you could then create solo episodes that share what you learn. You can repurpose those solo episodes into LinkedIn posts, a weekly newsletter, and/or YouTube content.