(This post is part of a series: The Six Personal Perspectives. Click here to review the first perspective, here for the second, and here for the third.)
The fourth of the Six Personal Perspectives is:
Make Being Learning-Based the Foundation of Your Action Plan
Learning is the key to growth, and growth is the key to, well, everything, basically.
Did you like school when you were a kid?
I’m here to admit that I despised school. Except for reading, I resisted pretty much all of it. Perhaps the social aspect was a part of the issue, given that I was never popular and in fact was very sensitive to what I perceived to be mean kids starting as early as first grade. I struggled with boredom, impatience, and annoyance at pretty much all aspects of the classroom. Things did not improve as I got older. By the ripe old age of thirteen I had already decided that school was for skipping, which earned me Ds and Fs and several stints at alternative schools designed for problem kids.
Yet this doesn’t mean that I wasn’t into learning. And regardless of what your school experience was, it doesn’t mean that you can’t be either.
I realized at some point in my teenage years that I did actually love to learn, I just wanted to choose what I was learning, and also choose the pace. Learning is often most exciting when we are learning for the sake of DOING, and hopefully that DOING is something that we feel passionate about.
So in this perspective, we are reminded of two things:
- Learning is critical to our growth.
- Learning that is geared toward taking action is the best kind of learning.
Are you doing your thing the best you can do it, or are you doing it the best it can be done?
Let’s say for example you’re a real estate agent. You’ve been on dozens of listing appointments, and many of those sellers have given you the privilege to represent them. That’s excellent! Congratulations.
Yet if you’re honest with yourself, are you doing that meeting the best you can do it? Or are you doing it the best that it can be done?
Guess what? There’s a class for that. It’s called Win with Sellers.
I was already a well-established listing agent when I first took this class, yet I knew that the instructor sold circles around me, so I took it, and learned several methods for systematizing the process to make it even easier and more fulfilling for both my clients and myself. That’s a win.
Are you seeking to deepen your understanding and skill around the things that you do? This is being Learning-Based.
Are you learning about things that matter?
Trivia can be fun. I’m not here to tell you that you can’t enjoy learning everything there is to know about your favorite actors, singers and reality TV show hosts. And yet it’s called trivia for a reason.
The New Oxford American Dictionary defines trivia as:
of little value or importance.
So how much time are you spending on learning things that are of HIGH value and importance? This is the place to put your focus.
Do you have a Growth Plan?
In the previous personal perspective (Move from E to P) we covered being purposeful. The question now is: what can you do to be purposeful with your learning and growth?
One way is to make a growth plan.
I first learned about this from Dianna Kokoszka in the real estate training program BOLD.
A growth plan is a calendar of the twelve months of the year, wherein you have indicated what you’re doing every single month for your growth. In her example, she had things like books to read, meetings with a coach, and training events.
What would happen to your career or business if you actively mapped out and executed an annual growth plan? What would happen to your life?
Learning is never completed, and our skills at what we choose to do are never perfected. Part of the joy of life is continuing to get better and better, and that starts with asking ourselves WHO out there is performing at a higher level than we are and WHAT we can do to improve our own selves, and our own performance.
What steps will YOU to make being Learning-Based the foundation of YOUR action plan?