Growth Factorials

In the past, I used to buy lots of books, but most of them just sat there, untouched. Then I changed how I picked books. Instead of getting ones that seemed interesting at the moment, I started choosing ones that dealt with problems I needed to solve. Like, once I had trouble with pricing stuff, so I got a bunch of books on that topic and read through them. It was easier to find what I needed because I knew what I was looking for.

Changing why I buy books changed how much I read and how I use what I learn. Now, I mostly buy books that I need to learn something right away. I end up reading most of them. Sometimes I still get books recommended by others or with cool covers, but those usually just sit on my shelf.

I recently found this article from Harvard Business Review that has some great tips for doing well in life and work. Here’s a quick summary:

1. Keep Up with emerging skills: Pay attention to what skills are hot in your field. Look at who’s hiring and what big names are doing to figure out what you should learn next.
2. Learn with others: Team up with others for learning. Join classes or groups where you can work and learn with others. It makes learning more fun and keeps you motivated. Plus, you can learn a lot from your friends!
3. Action your learning immediately: Don’t just learn stuff and forget about it. Put it into action as soon as you can. Using what you’ve learned helps you understand it better and deal with any surprises that come up along the way.
4. Focus on your goals: Figure out what you want to achieve with your learning. When you have clear goals, learning feels more important and helps you get where you want to go.

When you learn continuously emerging skills, you stay at the top of your game and keep growing professionally in the fast evolving business environment.