Optimize Your Learning

If you are anything like me then you are likely finding that you are being asked to take in and assimilate more new information than ever before.  Constantly changing markets, shifting business priorities and an increasing accessibility to information has put more pressure on employees to have to 'keep up' with all new industry advances.  As a result, our ability to learn and retain new information has become a critical skill for our continued success.

In the face of growing pressure to read more, learn more and know more, the following tips may prove to be invaluable as you attempt to strengthen your ability to assimilate and retain more information.  Use one or use a few.  Each is designed to help you to optimize your learning, enhance your value and increase your success.

Speed Reading.  If you find that the pile of reading you need to wade through seems to always outstrip the time available to devote to it, you may benefit from increasing your reading speed. Don't think that you need to learn to read 1700 words per minute, just that you could benefit from learning to read faster.  There are numerous apps available that you can use to increase your reading speed, without decreasing your comprehension.  The average person reads at a rate of 250 words per minute. Consider what the impact would be if you doubled that?  The techniques aren't particularly difficult to learn and even a small increase in your speed could have a significant impact on the amount of information you are able to get through or the amount of time you need to devote to the reading you do.

Note Taking.  Taking notes helps our brain to attune to what we are hearing. It helps us to increase both our understanding and retention of the information. Research has shown though that it is far better to hand-write your notes than it is is type them. Often, when typing your notes, you are bypassing the brain and simply typing in what you hear without really thinking about it.  When taking notes by hand though, you are processing the information as you are taking it in, determining what the valuable components are to retain, thus increasing your engagement and understanding of what is being shared.

Understand your Learning Modality.  We have all likely heard that there are four key Learning Modalities (VARK) - Visual, Auditory, Reading/writing, Kinesthetic.  You can speed up your learning by utilizing a modality that aligns with how you learn best.

Self Test. Regularly. The more often you test your understanding and comprehension the more information you are likely to retain. Research shows that those who are tested soon after reading a passage retain the information far longer than those who simply read it. Testing yourself proves to be a great way to help you stay on top of the information you want and need to have at your fingertips. There are lots of great online Flashcard tools that you can use to help you build a series of informational databases to keep yourself  'in the know'.

Always Be Compressing.  Tim Ferriss (of The 4-Hour Workweek fame) has shown the strong advantage to learning new subjects by compressing the necessary information down to 1 or 2 sheets of critical information. Use mnemonic devices (like acronyms or rhymes), images, charts, mind maps and even mind palaces to help you to compress information down to smaller triggers.

Exercise Your Brain.  Like any muscle, your brain needs regular exercise to remain fit, alert and ready to learn.  Play mental games regularly to strengthen your brain. There are great online resources like BrainHQ and Lumosity that can help, or paper and pen books of games and mental puzzles you can use.

Teach Someone Else.  Sharing the information you have learned with others helps you to retain upwards of almost 90% of what you have just learned, especially if you teach it shortly after learning it yourself.

We are all on informational overload today.  Technology has helped make information more accessible, but has also increased the volume of information we need to process.  Using the tips above can help you become a better learner, optimizing your ability to process and retain new information.

You don't need to know it all but you do need to stay on top of what is important. Keeping current with your knowledge is necessary for keeping yourself employed.  Staying one step ahead of those around you keeps you in charge.

The key to having, being and doing more...

I have been spending this long weekend landscaping the yard of our new house.  This has meant we have
been busy building new fencing, digging new garden beds, planting trees, shrubs and flowering plants, creating the layout for the new patio still to be laid.  A lot of work but... all permanent changes that enhance the usability of the backyard and enhance the value of the home.  All in all...  a good investment.

It got me wondering about many of my clients though.  How much time do they invest in themselves, in enhancing their marketability?  In today's workplace, if you aren't learning then you aren't increasing your earning power.  You will, at best, stay where you are but, more likely, fall behind those willing to do what it takes to get ahead.

I often hear from clients that there just aren't enough hours in the day or week to be able to spend time on developing themselves, whether working out their brain or their bodies.  I simply don't understand how you can afford not to.  My frustration certainly increases when these self-same people have little difficulty in finding the time to keep up with the plot of their favourite television shows.  I don't have anything against you kicking back and enjoying your favourite show, but don't lose hours a day to the television and then lament your lack of time.  The time you spend in front of the television is your current investment in yourself.  How serious are you about developing your skills, getting ahead and earning more?

I understand that you might work for an organization that does not invest in the training and development of its employees.  Budgets are tight all over.  However, you should care about you enough to make an investment in you.  You might not have the ability to take time off work to attend a training program, or the money to pay for it yourself, but you can afford a book and you can certainly afford a library card to go and borrow one.

You want to be more successful?  Read.
You want to make more money?  Read.

The solution is simple.  To have more, to be more, to do more... Read more.

The easiest way to get better at anything is to emulate those already doing it.  Many of them are generous enough to put their path down on paper, to help guide those that are willing to learn to follow.  Read those books.  Follow their steps.

Here's my challenge. Set a goal to read a little every day, to read one book a month.  One business/career enhancing book a month!  As you read you are looking for that one insight, that one AHA nugget of information that you can apply to your life, your job, that gives you a 1% advantage over those around you that have not read or learned this truth.  At the end of the year those nuggets add up to give you a serious competitive advantage over those around you not investing in themselves.

I have no shortage of books that have opened me to new ideas and concepts, that have introduced me to new ways of thinking and seeing the world, that have helped me to learn from someone else's mistakes so that I didn't need to repeat them, that have shifted me in profound ways to being more than I was before opening its pages.  I want this for you.  You need to want it for you.

1 book a month.   Your competitive advantage.

To help get you started, here are my most recent book purchases that I am convinced will be great reads for you, giving you more than a nugget of information and truth to follow...