Discover the Importance of Lifelong Learning

Your ability to expand your mind and strive for lifelong learning is critical to your success. By dedicating yourself to learning, you can get ahead in every aspect of your life. All it takes is a commitment.
The most successful people read an average of 2-3 hours per day. They belong to organizations that encourage learning the most current information and share ideas.
For people dedicated to continuous learning, it means that they attend annual conventions and go to every session available that has new insights that can help them be more effective in getting the results for which they are responsible.

The Importance of Lifelong Learning

Learning is the minimum requirement for success in your field. Information and knowledge on everything are increasing every day. This means that your knowledge must also increase to keep up.
Learn why it’s so important to eat the biggest frog first. Get my Eat That Frog transcript here.

Expand Your Mind

This brings us to a very important point on intelligence, information, and lifelong learning.
There are three different kinds of education that you can acquire, either deliberately or in a random fashion. These three kinds of learning are maintenance learning, growth learning, and shock learning, and I’ll go into detail below.

1) Maintenance Learning

Maintenance learning refers to you keeping current with your field.
This keeps you on pace and prevents you from falling behind. Many people think that reading an occasional book and keeping current with blogs and newsletters is the equivalent of adding to their education.
This is not the case…
Maintenance learning is the same as checking the stock market reports each day to find out the sales prices of various stocks and securities. This information does not add to your knowledge of the companies, the market, or the investment potential of a particular stock.
Maintenance learning is absolutely essential. It’s similar to light physical exercise that keeps you at a particular level of fitness. It won’t increase your level of fitness or improve your conditioning in any way, but it will keep you in shape.

2) Growth Learning

This is the kind of learning that adds knowledge and skills to your repertoire that you did not have before.
Growth learning helps you expand your mind. You’re acquiring information that you didn’t have that enables you to do things that you could not do previously. Some of the very best thinkers in the world today are producing some of the very best material and ideas that you can use for continuous education and to help you expand your mind.
You can find this information by doing a quick search online. You can discover great ideas by listening to podcasts, reading blogs, and reading books. You can discover incredible information without having to buy anything at all.

3) Shock Learning

Shock learning is learning that contradicts or reverses a piece of knowledge or understanding that you already have.
Shock learning can be extremely valuable if you act upon it.
Peter Drucker, in his book Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said that the primary sources of innovation in a company are the unexpected succeses or the unexpected failures. Something that happens that is completely inconsistent with the expectations of what should have happened.
This “shock” can give you insights that can enable you to either take advantage of a major change in the marketplace or guard against a serious reversal.
Unfortunately, most people are creatures of habit. When something happens that is completely unexpected, they choose to ignore it in favor of the old information with which they are more comfortable. Don’t be afraid of change.
Always change and adapt.

Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Education

Knowledge is the primary source of value in our world today. Your ability to expand your mind and devote yourself to lifelong learning is the key to breaking any success barriers that may be in front of you.