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Continuous
Learning
By
Brian Tracy
Throughout
the developed world, we have moved from an era of manpower to an era of mind
power. We have moved from the use of physical muscles to the use of mental
muscles. Today the chief sources of value in our society are knowledge and
the ability to apply that knowledge in a timely fashion. In the information
age, knowledge is king, and those people who develop the ability to
continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to
their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for
the indefinite future.
When you learn and practice the techniques for rapid learning, when you join
the learning revolution, you will learn how to unlock the incredible powers
of your mind. You will learn how to become smarter¾faster than ever before. You
will learn how to become a master of your fate rather than a victim of
circumstances. You will learn how to take complete control of your present
and future destiny so that you can accomplish and achieve anything you want
in life.
Knowledge is doubling every two to three years in almost every occupation and
profession, including yours. This means that your knowledge must double every
two to three years for you to just stay even. People who are not aggressively
and continuously upgrading their knowledge and skills are not staying in the
same place. They are falling behind. You see this demonstrated all over the
place with massive lay-offs, declining wages, and growing insecurity in the
workforce. You see it in the increasing bewilderment and despair on the part
of people who are being displaced from low-skill jobs which have either moved
overseas or disappeared altogether. We are in the midst of a societal
revolution where unionized industrial workers are becoming a smaller and
smaller percentage of our workforce each year.
As recently as the 50s and 60s it was common to believe that you finished
your schooling, got a job with a large company and stayed with that company
for the rest of your life. This was based on the old paradigm of learning. In
this old paradigm, life was divided into three parts. First were your
“learning” years, during which you got your education, however extensive or
limited. Then came your “earning” years. This was the period of time during
which you worked for a living. After that came your “yearning” years. This
was the period of retirement which would be paid for by Social Security,
savings, and pensions.
Today, with workforce requirements changing so rapidly, you must continually
be asking yourself, “What is my next job going to be?” You must also be
asking yourself, on a regular basis, “What is my next career going to be?”
Imagine for a moment that your entire company or industry vanished overnight
and you had to start all over again in an entirely new business doing an
entirely different job. What would it be? And don’t think this question is
speculative or that it applies to someone else. It is a question that you
will probably have to deal with, perhaps far sooner than you expect. In
thinking about your new job and your new career, here is the most important
question of all: “What do I have to be absolutely, positively excellent at
doing, in order to earn an excellent living in my new job and my new career?”
The answer to almost every question and the solution to almost every problem
in the world of work is to learn and practice something new and different.
When you learn how to use the incredible power of your brain to absorb and
apply new ideas and information, you will be able to lead the field and rise
to the top of any profession or occupation.
Here’s another question for you: What is your most valuable asset? In terms
of cash flow, what is the most valuable thing you have? Well, unless you are
very rich, or have a family trust account, your most valuable asset is your “earning
ability.” It is your ability to earn money. It is your ability to apply your
knowledge and skill in a timely fashion to get results for which others will
pay.
All your education, knowledge, experience, reading, training, and work has
contributed toward building up your earning ability. According to the
research, the so-called “rich” in America, and in other countries, are almost
invariably people who started from common beginnings, often with great
disadvantages, and then overcame those circumstances by investing an enormous
amount of time and effort on developing their earning ability. And you can do
the same thing, starting today, or at any time.
Management consultant Peter Drucker says that the truly educated person today
is a person who has learned how to learn continuously throughout life. Tom
Peters says that continuous learning may be the only real source of
sustainable competitive advantage for individuals and corporations. And Peter
Senge, who wrote The Fifth Dimension, says that only learning organizations,
those organizations that are capable of taking in new information, adapting
it, and using it faster than their competitors, will survive in the
fast-changing, competitive world of tomorrow.
The more you know, the better you will be at solving problems and getting
results for which people will pay you. The more you know, the more freedom
and opportunity you have. And the more you learn and the faster you learn it,
the more rapidly you move upward and onward in your career and in every other
area of your life.
Between where you are and where you want to go, there is almost always a gap,
and in almost every case you will find that you can bridge this gap with
knowledge and skills. In order to get from where you are to your goals, you
have to learn and practice something new and different. You have to learn new
skills and abilities. You have to learn new attitudes and methods. You have
to learn new techniques and practices. If you want to be a better parent, you
must learn and practice better parenting skills. If you want to be a better
spouse, you must study and practice relationship skills. If you want to earn
more money, you have to determine what it is that people will pay more money
for, and then get busy learning and practicing those behaviors.
Specific knowledge and specific skills will become obsolete with the passing
of time, but learning how to learn is a permanent skill that you can use all
the days of your life. The people who join the learning revolution, and who
learn how to learn faster, like those people who first learned how to operate
computers, or learned how to become excellent in their fields, will be able
to earn more in one or two years of work than the average person earns in
perhaps five or ten years.
By joining the learning revolution, you will enhance every area of your life.
You will be able to help your spouse and your children unlock and realize
more of their individual potentials. You will be a better friend in helping
your friends use more of their abilities. And you will be a better manager,
developing the skills that will enable you to get far more out of yourself
and other people than ever before.
Visit Brian Tracy's
website - Make Money!
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