The internet has changed how we receive and consume information. As a leader, how many e-mails do you receive a day? How much information do you receive daily? Every minute of the day 47 million videos are being viewed on YouTube. There are 480,000 tweets and 4.2 million google searches being conducted every minute. Finally, there are 200,000,000 e-mails sent every minute. You think your inbox is full! To stay on top of things, leaders need tips to learn faster. Here are four tip.
1. Be consistent
It’s great that you want to learn Spanish someday. You want to learn how to be a better leader. To learn faster, you have to be committed to learning. That includes daily learning. Be consistent. Time block the time on your calendar to spend time learning what you want to learn.
I suggest that you spend time on the topics you want to learn every day. If it is important for you to learn, you have to immerse yourself in that topic. Warren Buffett, the world’s greatest investor, spends 80% of his day reading about companies. It’s important to him.
2. Follow a framework
As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, there is so much information on the internet, there is no reason you need to start from scratch. Search for other people competent in what you want to learn and find out how they learned that skill.
The worst thing you can do is start from scratch. Then you make up stuff as you go along. The results will be slow, you’ll become frustrated and you will give up. Find someone you can model and your learning will be much quicker.
3. Get feedback to improve
If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around, does it make a sound? If you spend all of your time learning about a topic or skill and you never try that skill, are you making progress? The old saying is you don’t know what you don’t know.
Why do you think athletes have coaches? They need someone that can teach them and provide feedback on their performance. Receive feedback as you learn new skills and abilities. It will dramatically shorten your learning curve.
4. Set a deadline
Someday is not a deadline. Someday will not provide a sense of urgency. Establishing a deadline to learn the topic important for your further success is the only way you’ll apply the focus required. I want to be conversant at the fifth-grade level in Spanish by 12-31-2020 is a deadline. It is time-bound and specific.
Being consistent, following an established framework, receiving feedback, and setting a deadline are four great tips to learn faster!
As always, it is an honor to serve you, and I hope that you and your company are getting better every day!
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