Personal Development: Continual Improvement

We asked a number of bloggers: “How do you make sure that you are continually growing and learning new things?” There answers provide some great starting points for creating your own personal improvement plan. (3638)

I try to remain curious. I constantly challenge my own thinking … even when I don’t want to. Take blogging for example. I thought it was a fad and refused to get involved. But after a while I wondered why I was adamantly against it … and I opened up my sense of curiosity and jumped in.

Being curious opens you to the world of new ideas and challenges your own sense of the status quo. Feeding your curiosity ensures you are always learning.

Gavin Heaton from Servant of Chaos (rss)

I’m facing a similar dilemma when it comes to online games/virtual worlds.  On one hand, I think they are a waste of time, but I also don’t want to miss learning something important or a different way to view the world.

The best way to make sure that you are continually learning new things is to pursue a career that challenges you and pushes you out of your comfort zone (in a good way). What could be better than learning every day and getting paid for it? Even if your job provides learning opportunities (and especially if it doesn’t), I think it’s a good idea to also seek other ways of expanding your horizons on a regular basis. I regularly take classes and seminars in areas outside of my areas of professional expertise and read books on a wide range of topics. I have gotten some of my best ideas from very unexpected places.

Pamela Skillings from Escape from Corporate America (rss)

I think everyone should take a few minutes at least once a year and decide what the current work zone is.  It is easy to get use to not learning anything and settle in for many years without realizing it.

Have an open mind and lose the foolish ego. No matter how talented or knowledgeable you think you are as far as a certain field is concerned, you can rest assured that there is always room for improvement. In the end, you will be the only one losing out if you choose to live in denial.

Alan Johnson from TheRatingBlog (rss)

Ego also tends to make people not like you–even if you are every bit as good as you think you are.

I think the most important thing is to remain interested. By that I mean that you should be interested in the world around you, other people an new developments.

Taking an interest in things takes you in new directions, stops you getting too rooted in one place. Simply taking an interest in what your friends are doing can lead you down new paths and onto new and exciting things.

Katy Whitton from Flipping Heck! Productivity, Project Management & Motivation Blog (rss)

This goes back to Pamela’s suggestion to make sure your career is keeping your interest.

By continuously pushing myself out of my comfort zone. It’s there, and only there, where growth can be found.

“Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone” ~ Robert Allen

Lodewijk van den Broek from How to be an Original (rss)

Good point.  If you are comfortable, then you probably aren’t reaching your full potential.

The best way I know to continue to grow and learn is to set up a life that is conducive to risk taking. The times you learn the most are when you have no idea what’s in front of you.

It’s very hard to take risks if you have heavy financial needs. You cannot change careers, you cannot take time off from working, you cannot have slip-ups where you fail to earn money in an unpredictable way.

Keep financial needs way down, or at least way flexible so that you can take risks that force you to learn about yourself.

Penelope Trunk from Brazen Careerist

Early on, my wife and I decided to live well below our means.  This has enabled us to do all kinds of things that are completely out of reach for most people.  I constantly encounter people who can’t understand how we can spend so much time traveling or doing other things that are important to us.  But most of those people spend 75% of their income on expenses that we don’t even incur.

Keep on moving. Meet new people. Enroll on formal courses. Allocate time and money to learning. I commit 20% of my time to it. I’d like to commit more. It is the best investment of time you can make.

Benjamin from WOWNDADI (rss)

The 20% rule sounds similar to Google letting employees spend 20% of their time on pretty much any project that interests them.

Surround yourself with highly motivated and talented people.

Tatsuya Nakagawa from Product Life

Easier said than done, but very valuable advice.

As a software consultant, I learned a long time ago that not learning new technologies would be fatal to my career. Working as I do with many projects and technologies, I am constantly learning.

In the non-technical parts of my life, I try to keep pushing my skills and knowledge. For example, in crafting, with each new project I try to learn new techniques or new crafts. For productivity and simplicity, I read, and try things out.

I view my life as a giant experiment of best practices that evolves over time.

LJ from simpleproductivityblog (rss)

When you start lagging behind on learning new things, you are headed downhill.  It can be quite a challenge to identify when that is occurring though.

Keep a queue.  Always have fresh ideas lined up that can fill your time whenever you find any.  Whenever I see one of my projects winding down, I know its time to start the next idea in line.

Scott Young from ScottHYoung.com (rss)

A list can help make sure you pick the most valuable thing to pursue.  Without it, you’ll tend to pick something that comes to mind–not necessarily what you feel is most important.

College is important, but it isn’t a determining factor to be successful in life. I believe that a good work ethic, a willingness to learn, and honesty will take you a long way. Having said that, I am currently attending college 20 years after graduating high school.

Rolando J from macNwin (rss)

I think college is pretty valuable, but most people see it as a 4 year one time investment.  Getting a degree out of high school should be just part of your life long educational plan.  I’ve been enrolled in a college course of some type for the last 15 years and am working on finishing up my second master’s degree.  With all the distance education opportunities it is significantly easier to keep yourself educated than it was even 10 years ago.

I enjoy reading and so I often peruse the aisles of my favorite book store and will always discover a book that would lend some insight from a different perspective.

I often write and with all the thoughts that collect from my reading and time alone, I tend to sort of bits of wisdom which often inspire me to find more!

Another method I truly enjoy is speaking to people from all different walks of life.  I learn so much when I spend time with the elderly or check out the recommendations of new friends who also seek growth or experience a sense of balance, peace and happiness.

JEMi | Tips for Life, Love, You from InMyHeels.com (rss)

I like to go to bookstores and find sections I know nothing about and see what new things I can learn.

I take a step back and see if I’m generally comfortable with everything I’m doing. If so, I know that I’ve stagnated to some degree and need to push myself to do things that I’ve never done before. If you’re comfortable with where you are, you know it’s time to move on.

John from Fiscal Musings (rss)

If you have no fear of failure in your current projects, you probably are operating well below your potential.  I don’t think people realize how dangerous it is to stagnate in their job–5 years of not learning anything new is deadly to a career.

First, by reading something outside of the things I know and believe everyday.  Second, by trying to make the things I think about become real, whether that’s expressing an idea, creating a new tool, or drawing a picture that represents what I’m thinking about.  Thirdly, I talk to as many different people as I can, as everyone brings new ideas and perspectives to learn to the table.  Lastly, I always try to do something better today than I did it yesterday.

Charlie Gilkey from Productive Flourishing (rss)

Charlie makes a good point about working on continual improvement.  If you get a little better every day, your growth over a few years can be tremendous.

It’s just part of my DNA.  I don’t know any other way to be in the world!

Ariane Benefit from Neat & Simple Living (rss)

Well that probably makes things easier.

Reading blogs, listening to Audio books, and listening to the news and talk radio.

John Richardson from Success Begins Today (rss)

I’m a big fan of audio books. Recently I’ve been experimenting with summaries of audio books.  The are good and bad points, but it helps you cover a lot of ground very quickly–useful if you want to make sure you are abreast of any new things in a particular field.

This is what I live for. Personal development and the study of personal change is my passion, so it’s not hard to keep moving forward.

When I’m trying to implement a dramatic change or improve rapidly I like to set up some type of crazy challenge for myself - something like eat a vegan diet for a month. By doing this I raise the bar extremely high. At the end of the month when I let myself backslide I don’t go all the way back to where I started. Instead, I’ve improved but the improvement seems easy compared to the challenge.

Maria Gajewski from Never the Same River Twice (rss)

That an interesting tactic.  Kind of like running with weights or at a higher altitude while you are training.

Stretching Yourself

Take the time to do something hard.  Take the time to do something new. Your biggest surges of growth will come from stretching yourself.  You can stretch yourself in small ways by trying a new type of food, talking with a stranger, or watching a movie that is different than your norm.  You can stretch yourself in big ways by quitting your job and going into business for yourself.

Regardless of how you go about it, you will grow more by stretching yourself on a consistent basis than by reading every self-help book you can find.  When you are looking for things to stretch your capabilities, here are a few things to keep in mind.

• What are the risks?  You need to understand the impact of failure.  If you plan to quit your job and start an antique furniture store, you need to make sure you understand your financial position and
  what will happen if you are unable to make the store a success. Sometimes understanding the risk will  make it easier to try something difficult.  For example, say you are looking at signing up
  for a particularly challenging college class–not toward a degree, but just as a way to stretch yourself.  If you recognize that your failure in the class won’t have any impact on your work, your status, or anything else, it is a lot easier to take the risk and learn from the results no matter how it turns out.
• Do Something New. You want to put yourself in situations where you haven’t been before. Doing harder versions of things you’ve already accomplished will help you grow some, but not on the same scale as throwing yourself into something new and unfamiliar.
• Start Small. Concentrate on doing things to grow–not necessarily the biggest thing possible. You can grow from putting yourself in new circumstances that have very little risk and simply offer you
  a new perspective or view point. You will be learning about yourself and many small steps can be just as beneficial as a large one.

Here are a few things that you can consider as a way to stretch yourself and grow. Some are so small they seem trivial.  Depending on your personality some of them may be things you already do, in which case they may not be good stretch exercises for you.

• Visit a house of worship different than where you regularly attend.
• Get into a conversation with someone you would normally avoid.
• Take a different form of transportation than normal to work.
  Ride a bike, walk, take a taxi, take the subway–just something
  different than what you’ve done before.
• Take a college class on a subject where you have an interest but no expertise.
• Read a book about something you know nothing about.
• Go to a social event where everyone is twice or half your age.
• Visit a museum on a subject that you know nothing about.
• Participate in an online discussion about a new topic.
• Learn to play a new game.
• Go to a concert of a different style of music than what you normally listen to.
• Use a different operating system than normal.
• Take the ACT, SAT, or GRE just for fun to see how you do.
• Watch a sport you don’t understand.

None of these items are particularly challenging, but if it is something new for you, it will help you grow on many different levels. We grow by doing things that are difficult and unfamiliar.  By making an intentional effort to continually experience things that are new and different, we can improve and expand our capabilities well beyond the average person.

Originally published December 7, 2006.

Take a Nap for Memory

Studies suggest that your memories are solidified while you sleep.  Your brain does a lot of work during your rest–almost like it is busy filing and making sense of everything you’ve discovered while you were awake.  When you’ve learned a new concept or information that you want to retain, consider taking a nap or reviewing it right before going to bed.  This will give your brain the best chance to assimilate the new information.

Not Because it is Easy

John Kennedy said we were going to go to the moon “Not because it is easy, but because it is hard.”  The Apollo 11 mission was a huge success and really brought the nation, and to some extent, the whole world together around a scientific adventure.

Choosing to do something because it is difficult is a great way to grow. If you truly want to extend your capabilities, you have to do things that are hard.  You have to do things where you might fail.  If you only attempt to do the things you’ve done before, you might have some level of growth but nothing compared to what you are capable of.

The problem comes when people fail.  Most individuals don’t know how to handle failure.  It knocks them back several steps and they resolve to never fail again.  Obviously you shouldn’t try to fail, but take failure as a sign that you are working on the right types of problems. If you never ever fail, you’re probably only doing things that stretch you very little.  Real growth comes from things that stretch you a lot.

Let’s look at it from a numerical perspective.  Let’s say most of the tasks or projects you undertake are a 3 on a 10 point scale.  You consistently perform on level 3 projects and lower.  Occasionally, you handle one that is a level 4.  Over time you may become more comfortable and get to the point where you can handle a 4 in the same way you previously handled a 3.  However, lets say you successfully complete a level 8 task.  Suddenly, your comfort level jumps forward. Now you are comfortable working on level 6 tasks.

For example, let’s say you are looking for a new job.  By choosing the most challenging job possible, you will definitely put your self under some additional stress for the first few months.  However as long as you are working hard your skills will expand to meet the need.  After a period of time, what was difficult will become routine.  If you take an easier job, you’ll acquire some new skills, but you won’t really push yourself forward.  Now lets say you take a new job every 2 to 4 years. If you start off working at McDonalds, you could easily become an executive at a medium sized company in 12 to 15 years by taking the most difficult job you possibly can.  If you take the easiest job possible, maybe you’ll work your way up to being a manager of another fast food location or something similar.

Growing by small steps isn’t a bad thing, but we only have so much time in life.  Unless you are happy with only incremental improvements, you have to be willing to do things that are hard and where you think you might fail.  That is the only way to really leap forward.

Should he drop out of college?

In a recent conversation, I had a friend explain how he was trying to talk someone out of going to college. The young man he was referring to was going to a community college to appease his mother who wanted him to go to a university. He was talented at computer repair and my friend thought he should drop out and focus on acquiring more computer troubleshooting skills.

I disagree with my friend’s assessment, but it made me wonder why I value education so much. Surely there is something to be said for someone who enters the workforce and learns everything then need to know through on the job experience. Is my belief that getting a degree is better rational or is it just because that is the path I took?

According to this article the actual wage for people without a college education dropped by 13% over the past 23 years while the actual wage of college educated individuals grew by 20%. Now I’m sure that there are people who didn’t go to college who are making millions, just like there are people who went to college who are flipping hamburgers. However, I, for one, would rather be in the group that does better statistically.

If the next 23 years are like the past, following my friend’s advice will result in an average drop in income of 13%. I hope the student in question listens to his mother.