LEARNING AS A PART OF EVERYDAY WORK

As children, we are naturally curious and free to explore the world around us. As adults, we are much more interested in preserving what we have learned, to the point of resisting any information that challenges our views and opinions.

This is the reason why most people don’t include “learning potential” as one of the key criteria when they choose their job, but they should.

Even if you work for an organization that values learning, you need to own your own learning process. It’s up to you to set aside the necessary time to learn. Some of the biggest learning opportunities are spontaneous. They involve learning not from structured courses or training materials, but from peers, colleagues and especially mentors.

Put your learning and development at the center of your career journey.

Agree on a sensible proportion of your work week that can be devoted to learning (an hour?) with your manager. Then put it on your calendar and stick to it. Subscribe to a small number of high-quality, hyper-relevant newsletters and share interesting things you’re reading with your colleagues.

Creating a strong learning environment can help you attract job opportunities.

Training gives you the opportunity to explore, to interact with other people, using new technologies and learning new skills helping you visualize potential career paths.

A growth mindset is essential for career success.

Become a lifelong learner.

People with a growth mindset actively seek learning opportunities which result in more career success. Be curious about everything. Research shows that, while less successful people read mostly for entertainment, those at the top are avid readers of self-improvement books. In fact, 85% of successful people read two or more self-improvement or educational books per month. Another study revealed that 30% of executives said having a willingness to keep learning is the characteristic they consider most necessary for an employee to succeed.

All learning strategies, tools and techniques are almost useless if we don’t combine them with a strong, growth based learning mindset - the simple belief that the power to improve our learning abilities lies in our own hands.

Carol Dweck, in her book “Mindset: the new psychology of success” said: "In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment".

There is no end to learning. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.

Enjoy it!

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