I have become convinced (for many years) that to be successful one must be a lifelong learner. It does not matter the discipline, the profession or your own starting level of education. The discipline of constantly searching to expand your knowledge in a subject or subjects just makes life richer and more rewarding. Two activities that have proven fruitful in my efforts to expand my knowledge have been teaching and blogging.
When I started teaching at Florida International University and giving workshops there I thought of it as a form of community service. I was giving back some of what I have learned about business working around the world. What I discovered was that it was an incredible source of learning for me. Being forced to clearly articulate your thoughts on a subject forces one to understand the subject better and in more depth. Fortunately I do not have the pressure to publish academic articles so I can take my learning where ever it leads me.
Brad Feld has a great new post up talking about how much he has learned from blogging. I share Brad's view that writing about a subject enhances the learning process. He also makes the very good point that you will not understand Web 2.0 until you really use the technology to generate meaningful content.
I have noticed over the years that the intensity of my efforts to learn has high and low points. The better the quality of people I am working with, the more I make the effort to learn. The less productive my efforts at work, the more I make the effort to learn. When I am working really hard on a good, productive project I tend to do less learning. This is a mistake. Whenever you fall into a period where you are not learning, there is a strong tendency for it to continue and become the norm. From teaching and blogging I have learned that there are certain activities that encourage learning. If you have not yet found an activity that leads you to learn, you should start looking for it today. For those who would respond "I learn every day", I would point out that we are talking here about profound, in depth understanding that exercises the mind. Everybody learns things by coincidental effort. I am encouraging that deliberate, purposeful effort devoted to expanding your understanding of a subject.
When I started teaching at Florida International University and giving workshops there I thought of it as a form of community service. I was giving back some of what I have learned about business working around the world. What I discovered was that it was an incredible source of learning for me. Being forced to clearly articulate your thoughts on a subject forces one to understand the subject better and in more depth. Fortunately I do not have the pressure to publish academic articles so I can take my learning where ever it leads me.
Brad Feld has a great new post up talking about how much he has learned from blogging. I share Brad's view that writing about a subject enhances the learning process. He also makes the very good point that you will not understand Web 2.0 until you really use the technology to generate meaningful content.
I have noticed over the years that the intensity of my efforts to learn has high and low points. The better the quality of people I am working with, the more I make the effort to learn. The less productive my efforts at work, the more I make the effort to learn. When I am working really hard on a good, productive project I tend to do less learning. This is a mistake. Whenever you fall into a period where you are not learning, there is a strong tendency for it to continue and become the norm. From teaching and blogging I have learned that there are certain activities that encourage learning. If you have not yet found an activity that leads you to learn, you should start looking for it today. For those who would respond "I learn every day", I would point out that we are talking here about profound, in depth understanding that exercises the mind. Everybody learns things by coincidental effort. I am encouraging that deliberate, purposeful effort devoted to expanding your understanding of a subject.
