Learn something today
If you chunk it down, you can increase your knowledge every day.
Good morning!
Happy Monday to you.
A friend of mine, Lisa Lie, (pronounced ‘Lee’) has created a micro-learning app called Learna.
Her theory is that small moments where we can learn something practical is more useful than more formalised longer-form learning.
I read this piece in The Harvard Business Review called ‘Make Learning a Part of Your Daily Routine.’ (It’s subscriber access only, and I thoroughly recommend the HBR)
This paragraph stood out to me:
“Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, shared that when assessing founders of potential investments, he looks for individuals who have an “infinite learning curve”: someone who is constantly learning, and quickly. Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, echoed the importance of learning when he said, “The learn-it-all will always do better than the know-it all.”
So let me offer a few short tips.
Learn intentionally. Incidental learning (on the job) is great, but when it’s purposeful you are sending a signal to your brain ‘it’s time to learn now’ and you can better commit it to memory.
Make it outcome based. If you want to learn how to bake a cake, eat it at the end. Too often people learn things and don’t have a practical outcome in mind when they do. Learning sticks when you know what you’re going to use it for.
Go a little further than you feel comfortable. Too often we’re tempted to stop learning when we know the specific skill. But putting it into place straight away and advancing that skill is going to stretch the grey matter more. Like learning to ride a bike… don’t get off when you’ve got your balance. Ride around the block and build up the confidence to keep going.
So, what will you learn today?
See you in the morning,
Wade