Continuous learning - the key to success in today’s competitive world

Recently I completed my Ph.D. at the young age of 50. It took me 6 long years to complete it - writing many exams including for my M.Phil..

It was a unique experience to work on research and scooping out time from my hectic work schedule. I also had to travel 18 times during these years to attend meetings with my professor and for attending Doctorate meetings.

A lot of my friends and well-wishers were amused that in spite of being a CA, ICWA, and CS, I was still in pursuit of my Ph.D.. However, my passion was to learn and research in Economics and continue to share my education with the society at large. Though the Ph.D. degree may not immediately help in my current career, it has given me a different dimension to look at things and I feel more enlightened on the subject of my Ph.D..

In this article, I make a strong case for Continuous Learning.

Our world is constantly changing and at a faster pace now. Due to the pace at which innovation has increased, significant skill gaps are appearing quicker than ever, placing pressure on us to constantly upskill. Self-learning will be key in the future.

Based on my experience, here are 5 Ways to Improve Self-Learning While Enjoying the Journey:

1. Allow Yourself to Be Curious

According to a study, the researchers state that curiosity makes our brains more receptive to learning. When you learn to satisfy a level of curiosity, it makes the learning journey more enjoyable.

Harvard Business Review found that people who were curious in their roles at work were 34% more creative, less reactive to stress and provocation, more empathetic with others, and better at communicating.

The self-learning process will become more effective and exciting if you can trigger your intrinsic curiosity.

Our intrinsic motivation normally starts with a strong purpose — ‘Why?’

·       Why do you need to enhance your knowledge about this specific subject?

·       Why is this information going to be of use to you?

·       Why are you going to use this knowledge to create an impact in your life?

When your motivation to learn is intrinsic, it ceases to be a chore. It’s about your personal desire to gain more knowledge and to make progress towards ‘WHY’ you’re learning.

Moving from a passive learner to an active learner will make your learning experiences more meaningful to you.

2. Set Goals to Create New Opportunities

Goal-setting is extremely important because it helps you increase productivity and also improves your focus. Having clear objectives means you are more likely to create a specific plan and take action to achieve your goals.

When you’re learning new skills, one potential goal you can think about is how to apply these skills to your working life or how these skills can open up new career opportunities for you.

When learning, an interesting tactic that can be employed is the 20/20/20 rule.

·       20 mins self-learning

·       20 mins working with another learner

·       20 mins with a mentor

The mentors are the past students of the craft (like any mentor), which means that experience and expertise becomes self-perpetual.

3. Assess Resources that Support your Learning Journey

Whatever subject you want to learn about, the resources on the Internet are endless. The resources on the internet do not provide a linear path like a course or curriculum, but there are opportunities in that.

Typical Learning Environment

Knowledge in a classroom/course is based on curriculum and modules. This is typically a very linear style of learning.

Benefit: Bundled knowledge provides a clear and efficient learning journey towards a set goal.

Weaknesses: You learn a % of information available, as chosen by a tutor or institution through a set curriculum of which you adhere.

Self-learning environment

Knowledge in pursuit of an interest, based on curiosity and life-long learning is collected in a more sporadic fashion.

Benefit: The nature of learning in a curious manner leads to serendipitous discoveries (information and people) and takes you down paths you may never have been exposed to.

Weakness: It’s unknown what you’ll discover or achieve, and you may learn about topics in a broad manner rather than deep (but that’s your choice!).

So when you’re on a self-learning journey, here are a few guiding principles to live by:

·       Be sceptical and verify everything - the Internet is awash with information produced by people who have varying experience and opinion. Even this very article that you’re reading should be reviewed and constructively challenged (I’d appreciate your comments below ????)

Through constructive challenge, debate and counter-argument, we become wiser to the various complexities of any one topic.

·       Use peer-reviewed academic databases - Google Scholar and World Cat can be useful and powerful tools when you’re looking for reliable sources. Google Scholar allows you to search for free and purchase full-text articles and books from academic publishers and universities. It lists citations and gives you links to peer-reviewed academic journals, abstracts, technical reports, and more. World Cat helps you locate libraries local to you with reputable sources of information. You can even have resources posted to your library or receive e-documents online.

·       Online learning platforms - Further when you do discover you want to go deeper into a specific topic, there are numerous sites with interesting courses.

You can find many interesting courses with unlimited subjects from these sites from math, science, history, economics, humanities, to computer programming, designing, and coding.

Some platforms such as Coursera or Iversity are also partnered with leading universities to provide online courses covering dozens of different subjects. They offer learners from all around the world a huge opportunity to study from these leading educational institutions.

Many high quality sites also offer a completely free trial period or discounted courses so you can get your feet wet, before committing.

·       The World Wide Web - Look for primary sources around industry trends, discussions or interesting personal views. But don’t ignore secondary resources to cross-examine the credibility of that information, the authors and their references. Even proactively searching for opposing views can help with enriching your overall perspective and mitigating any confirmation bias.

4. Create Something Out of What You’ve Learned

Make a habit of creating something new from what you’ve learned.

One of the strategies to solidify information in your long term memory is to use multiple ways to present information . For instance, creating a video presentation, drawing a mind map, telling a story or creating your own personal learning journal can be helpful.

5. Build a Network of ‘Learning Collaborators’ Around You

We are collaborative learners by nature. Take advantage of online communities that will support you through your learning journey.

In the self-learning process, each learner is also a teacher, so it’s super helpful to become a part of a learning community and share your knowledge with others.

As mentioned in point 3, about the serendipitous nature of self-learning, you can signpost each other to the information you each discover; crowdsourcing knowledge as you go.

‘While we teach, we learn’ — Roman philosopher, Seneca

If you wish to enter the future unscathed, continuous learning is going to be absolutely paramount. All the best!

I have leveraged HBS and other published artciles.