Purpose Driven Learning

I received a lot of gratifying responses from my earlier note on rebuilding one’s career. And even more questions from those who had read it.

“You wrote about what needed to be done – and briefly touched upon the how … but only briefly.”

I thought it therefore good to discuss in more detail on what needs to be done to prepare oneself for an ever changing future. While this is always a challenge, there is a greater danger if one does nothing at all.

Points to ponder:

1.    Learning is like breathing – neither is optional.

2.    Prioritizing learning is therefore not an afterthought. It must appear on the absolute top of your list.

3.    Understanding what your own learning style is and leveraging it will give you an advantage.

4.    Developing a Learning Plan that will help you reach your career goals is the first step.

Continuous Learning? – But I am already learning something new daily!

Merely learning is different from Learning with a purpose in mind.

Typically one or more of the following learning opportunities present themselves to us:

1.    Job requirements: my current or immediate next job requires me to pick up a new skill or concept and therefore I do. I call this hygiene learning – without which I can’t perform even my current role effectively. This kind of learning falls into the “important-urgent” quadrant.

2.    Opportunistic: I learnt something new because I was sent to a workshop/conference which just happened to be organized in my vicinity – sometimes this helps me on my job and sometimes its good for my future role. I may also have stumbled upon a blog or a book by chance that helped me learn something new. This kind of learning is typically “not important but urgent’ given that the window of opportunity to participate is limited.

3.    Purpose-driven learning: This is the most important kind of learning. This is done with an end goal in mind and with conscious effort. If I wanted to become an architect, I would research and identify all the competence required of an architect and methodically acquire the competence. I would do the same if I wanted a business role, or if I wanted to become an entrepreneur.  This kind of learning typically falls into the “important – not urgent” quadrant. It is important because it defines whether I will be successful in my career. It is not urgent, because it tends to get pushed to a day when I have free time.

How can you structure your learning?

1.    If your ambition is to become an architect, perhaps you may want to develop competence on “Design Patterns”. If so, then read the important books, blogs and other online postings on the subject. Say for 4 months. Then move onto a new theme for the next few months e.g. “Understand basics of Finance” – which by the way is as important for an architect to understand as is the technical areas.

2.    For more advanced learners, I would recommend that you choose an author and read all the author’s works. The challenge here is that an author may have written on multiple subjects and disciplines. And perhaps that is the reason it is so useful.

3.    Some people are more comfortable working on more than 1 subject at a time. This is purely driven by your own preference.

I started by spending just 20 minutes a day on my development. I increased this gradually. About an hour a day is the bare minimum required. And this does not include reading newspapers!

Prioritize Learning

Most of us feel that we just don't have enough time. Remember however that no one gets a second more or a second less than someone else. What we do with it is what matters.

Dr. Peter F Drucker (a management guru) wrote that effective executives do not start with their tasks but with their time. And they do not start out with planning. They start out by determining where their time goes. Once you know what you are currently doing with your time, you can reprioritise.

Great leaders, busy corporate executives, doctors, and lawyers all take the effort and the time to keep up with the latest in their area of work. If the prime minister of a country can find time to read or if the CEO of a company can find time to read – so can all of us.

The Indian Vedas state it insightfully:

“Live as if today is the last day of your life. Learn as if you are going to live for ever”.

All the best.