Embrace aggressive learning! Here’s how (and why).

I have a bold claim: If you can reframe how you think about consuming ideas, you’ll grow faster — and have more fun as you go.

I loaded my brain with professional development inputs last year. MasterClasses. Books. Podcasts. Documentaries. Training events. 1x1s. Out the wazoo. 250 hours is my conservative estimate.

But why cram all that info into my head? That's a question I wrestled with myself — and my reflection is the impetus for this article.

We're all familiar with this (valid) sentiment:

I don’t disagree with the importance of action. But I’ve decided that, instead of aiming for quality over quantity, I should aim for a steady stream of interesting, entertaining, high-quality ideas/info. And I recommend this approach to anybody!

The rationale stems from my assessment of the different things that can happen when you put ideas/info into your head:

1 – You immediately integrate it into who you are and how you think.

This is when stuff is just so interesting, relevant, and well said that it sticks with you for good. You tell others about it. You use it. It lives rent free in your head.

Example: In George Stephanopoulos’ MasterClass, I was struck by the extreme nature of how he prepares. He spends hours every morning reading the news. Also, he and his team start with extremely long interview prep documents, which they methodically whittle down to a couple of sheets on a legal pad before the actual interviews.?Sometimes this process takes weeks!

I immediately saw the relevance of this in the corporate world. His notion of preparedness, and his extreme approach to it, influenced my routines.

Bonus: Bob Iger also harped on the importance of preparedness in his MasterClass, and shared some examples of how that worked for him. I contrasted his POV with Stephanopoulos’, adopting elements of both.

2 – You store it for easy recall.

This is stuff that doesn’t fully live rent free in your head. But it’s archived so you can readily access it. In situations where you can use it, you know to revisit the source (or the notes you jotted).

You can’t keep it top of mind at all times. But you know you should make it easy on yourself to retrieve it later. Because you can see yourself using it somewhere down the line. So you put it in your iPhone notes. Or take a screenshot. Or put it in Google Keep or Microsoft OneNote.

I have pages of these things in my iPhone notes. Simple ideas I read about that could potentially be put into practice at a future time. And I triage those pages at random intervals. I often realize that something I have written down is a solution for a problem that I didn’t have when I wrote it down.?

Example: When setting up my personal goals at the beginning of last year, I revisted my notes from reading The 4 Disciplines of Execution and realized Discipline 3, "Keep a compelling scoreboard" was exactly what I was missing. So I dusted off the book, re-read that chapter, and put it into practice.

3 – Your subconscious mind hangs onto it.

This is stuff you don’t know exactly what to do with. You’re not sure if you’ll ever need it. Or, you know you’ll need it, but you can’t justify documenting it because you have more immediately relevant stuff to focus on, and your time is finite.

There is beauty in going ahead and exposing yourself to it, though. As your mind develops and your career progresses, you’ll often end up revisiting the topics you’ve been exposed to in this category, when they’re ready to fit into category 1 or 2.

Then, you’re not starting from square 1. Your brain has been pre-seeded. You’ll learn that stuff faster.

Example: Last year, I listened to 2/3 of book called The Wall Street MBA. I wasn’t in the headspace to study it deeply. There were entire chapters that I barely retained. Nonetheless, it helped me get in some “reps” thinking about financial principles. And I’m optimistic that when I revisit the subject at a better time, it’ll be easier as a result.

4 – You neither use it nor remember it.

Maybe it’s boring. Maybe it’s too complicated and your brain simply isn’t yet capable of retaining it. (Yes, some stuff in this category might theoretically serve you well if you could hang onto it and implement it. But you can’t let that plague you.)

Example: Looking back at my list of MasterClasses, books, etc., many of the titles send surges of recollection through my brain — memories of how I implemented, or plan to implement, learnings from them. BUT…

A few of them did not trigger any meaningful recollections. Essentially, they were forgettable. Any of their “impactful” contents clearly weren’t impactful enough to stick with me. Despite this, I don’t regret the time I spent with them. Because it’s impossible to discern with 100% certainty which resources will fall into category 4.

Trying to always gauge this ahead of time could be paralyzing and prevent you from consuming a lot of resources that would, in fact, be helpful (falling into categories 1-3).

When you see things through the lens of these 4 categories, it makes more sense to constantly feed your brain than to agonize over implementing every single bit of wisdom from a resource before moving onto the next one.

Don't be passive with your learning efforts, though.

I’ve started reading Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. So far, I’m pleasantly surprised by how much the book overlaps with my anecdotal learning theory. It stresses the importance of:

• Learning using diverse methods
• Spacing out your learning about different topics
• Learning by linking things to other learnings
• And applying knowledge in different contexts.

It also reminds me that I should caveat what I've said above, though. The approach I've outlined (why you should always be loading your brain with interesting ideas) is a powerful supplement, not a holistic substitute, for deeper, more effortful learning.

Of course, you have to narrow down and prioritize a few skills at a time to practice intentionally and seek feedback on.

But everything is connected. And I've found that almost everything I learn is somehow related to whatever few skills I'm prioritizing at the time.

Example: The Wall Street MBA seemed totally outside my wheelhouse. But when I read it, I was struck by how many strategic decisions about how to calculate metrics — and which ones to emphasize — go into financial reporting.

I realized how it tied to communications. Suddenly it felt less like I was taking a break from strengthening my core skill set, and more like I was exposing myself to an interesting facet of my core skill set.

It’s all about how you position things to yourself. So don’t be passive. Be introspective. Always be racking your brain for ways to implement what you’re learning. Revisit ideas. But whatever you do, keep feeding your brain!