Never Stop Learning

Stay young, be more successful, appear more intelligent, BE more intelligent, earn respect from others, solve problems more quickly, get promoted, have more influence, make more money, sleep better, raise your self-esteem, and more; all by becoming a continuous learner.  Don’t be like the 90% of people who graduate and then never open a book again.  Be like Einstein who never stopped learning.  This is key to your success.  Read books!  Create learning goals!  Set big goals that require you to gain knowledge you don’t have right now.  Readers are leaders.

I know 2 very ambitious business people.  One believes in continuous learning and one does not.  They both are successful but the continuous learner can converse on a wider range of subjects, can make connections between those subjects, is very creative, finds answers where there seem to be none, and can converse with many people in other departments.  The other person is very smart and very good in their field but only there.  Now which do you think has the brightest future?  Which one would you follow?  It’s obvious, isn’t it?

The challenge is that a learning habit requires discipline.  I have a goal right now to read 12 books in 12 months.  No teacher, no parent, nobody is going to make me do that.  Only me.  I will succeed or fail on my own.  If I don’t read those books, I’ll be just like 90% of my competition.  Nobody will scold me.  If I read them, I’ll be in the top 10%.  Nobody will praise me.  I have to make myself read all year.  But would you rather hire someone who had the foresight, ambition, and discipline to read the books or the one who didn’t?

The best way to start is to set a goal to just keep getting smarter.  Just like when you were in school.  It didn’t take that much effort to go from 9th grade to 10th grade.  Remember meeting with your counselor as you entered the new grade?  Picking out classes that matched your goals for graduation and your field?  Then picking up the course material and digging into it.  You might have needed some help along the way but most of it was up to you.  It’s a similar process now. And step by step you’ll keep gaining knowledge.  When you look back in 6 or 12 months you’ll be amazed at your progress.  If you need some suggestions on what to read or what to study, email me.  I’ll be glad to make some suggestions.

And if you do this, I guarantee results.  Learning keeps your mind sharp as you age by creating a more flexible brain.  You create more neural pathways.  You become a magnet for success because people notice your improvement and want to work with you.  And of course your self-esteem will rise because you will admire your accomplishments – because you will have bigger ones and they will happen more often.  Sleep better, more money, greater leadership…let’s just end here with a guarantee by me and a quote by JFK who said “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other”.  Now isn’t that something worth working for?