If you cannot learn you are crippled in the most important area of your life. Think differently if you want to do things differently and ac...
If you cannot learn you are crippled in the most
important area of your life. Think differently if you want to do things
differently and achieve different results. Learning is more than just getting a
certificate, attending school or college. When you have a deep hunger to learn
you will always find ways and means to learn. Learning is your primary navigation tool through
life. It is lifelong and ongoing. Learning is like breathing, it can only start
but never stops unless you are dead.
Read Part 1 of the article on:
https://www.tapiwazuze.com/2019/06/commitment-to-attain-your-greatness-key.html
When you stop learning you stop leading and moving
forward. Learn more in order to do more and be more. Unless you can learn,
change becomes difficult and your actions become even more absurd.
3. BE OPEN
FOR LEARNING:
Be open to learn and learn all the time, by all
means available. Formal learning gives you access to structured learning
programmes and competent teachers. Sign-up for a course, a class or a webinar.
Attend meetings, workshops and conferences. Take
classes in your area of interest. The key is to be intentional and deliberate.
Keep building your knowledge base and investing in yourself. Consider some
self-study areas as well. Find an area of interest or focus and look out for
everything you can find in that area.
Make it your passion and seek to master that area.
Do not be content with just surface insights and rumours. Sink your teeth deep.
You will be amazed that if you invest just an hour everyday towards mastering a
subject within 18 months a lot of people will be asking you to teach them what
you know.
Also consider informal ways through which you can
learn. It is not just the certificates that should matter to you. Consider
reading widely in your areas of passion and interest. Treat with suspicion people
that do not read and discourage reading. Visit less people that have big TVs
and no personal libraries of books, you may catch their bad reading habits.
Seek out people that can coach or mentor you. Be
willing to invest in your own learning and you will many times have to go out
of your way to learn. At times you will have to pay for coaching sessions.
Whatever you invest in learning is always paid
back to you in generous multiples. Join learning associations, communities and
clubs. Learning does not need to be an agony. It is and can be fun and
fulfilling. You can also learn through games and sport. Just keep an open and
learning mind and exercise it regularly.
4. PEOPLE
ARE A GREAT LEARNING SOURCE:
People are a great learning resource. Take an
interest in people. Observe, copy and model those who are producing results in
an area that you want to master. Look at how they do what they do. You learn a
lot through observation.
Do not fear great people, get close to them and
learn from them. Lot out more for people whose success intimidates you. Learn
the habits of great people and how they structure their time and work.
Great people have cultivated great habits and
honed certain ways of doing, thinking and acting. If you do what great people do,
you will also become great. Find experts to teach you. Some experts have
mastered some hacks and easy ways to do things that you may be struggling with.
Do not be afraid to confess that you do not know.
However, do not end there; do something to
transform your position and power yourself to new levels. Sometimes you have to
travel in order to meet people who know what you do not know. This is part of
what makes learning exciting.
Speak to the elders, they have seen things that
you may not have seen. They may have heard and participated in things that you
can never guess. Stand at attention in the presence of elders and do not
despise people with grey hair. Old people are mobile libraries, with stories
and wisdom that will enthral you and anecdotes that will never leave you.
Speak to children and listen intently to their
musings. They have dreams, hopes and perspectives that will illuminate your
world. They know things that you may never know and they can do things that you
can never do. Stop struggling with simple things and ask children to help you.
They are things that children master so easily and you wonder how. Children are
a valuable source of learning and insights.
When you travel, speak to strangers and you will
learn something you never knew. Speak to locals, they will share insights that
you could have never gleaned. Do not let language barriers discourage you.
Learn other people’s languages and you will learn their world view. Each
language has its wealth, wisdom and attitudes embedded in it.
When you attend a conference or meeting, do not
just speak to the people from your organisation and those that you know. Find
new people, they will connect you to new learning opportunities and teach you
something you could have never known. Ask questions and listen. Be interested
in other people and they will be interested in your learning.
Accredited to Milton Kamwendo
Writing for The Sunday Mail Business
Adopted and edited by Tapiwa Zuze
