It all ad(d)s up. Learning by doing.

The first few weeks of the UpGrad course on advanced digital marketing were like a trip down memory lane. Back to B school days, revising concepts like STP – Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning and the Purchase Funnel and other marketing fundamentals. As I waded into the website section I started learning some new concepts like adaptive design and responsive design (and which is better – responsive I am told). Website architecture and wireframes and how to create them came next and as I completed that module, I felt a little wiser and more digitally aware.

The entire journey of being an online learner is quite fascinating. I tried cheating the system once or twice and figured out that the system has dealt with smart alecks like me before. A well-placed quiz question mid-way through a video ensure you can’t hit play and wander off to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. I also paid attention to which ‘teachers’ managed to grab my attention and keep it, and wondered why others had my attention meander away.

It has been quite tough to keep the discipline of daily learning and logging in assignments on a timetable while balancing work commitments. However, I feel the best learning has been the assignment of having to create and run my own FB ad campaign. I went through the theory like a breeze. It seems pretty logical and straightforward. But when it came time to logging into my account and figuring out how to create a new page, define my campaign objectives and chose my target audience, set up a payment method, and hit publish, the rubber meets the road.

No amount of theory comes close to actually doing the work. Trying it out. Figuring out what works and what does not. While it’s not rocket science, it is a wonderful reminder to keep me firmly in the driver’s seat. In all my ventures and adventures, real learning is always in the doing. While I keep going on my journey of learning new coaching skills, my weekend sessions of actual coaching are where I learn. I can refine my skill by reviewing how I am doing. But do, do, do I must.

The same goes for communication, I went for a pitch a few weeks where the subject matter was so new to me that every minute was a learning experience. I worked with a new set of colleagues on another assignment and learnt, from them, and about them. Get in the ring. Stay in the arena that is where the action is and the learning gets done. And then step out to reflect on how that round went. This is my learning about learning from the week. It all a(d)ds up, it’s in the doing. My little FB Ad adventure designed to drive consideration for?Soul2SoulCoaching?was a great reminder to be fearless and keep exploring new worlds.