You may want to acquire some skills that will make a difference in your business (or life), but with your busy schedule, how do you find time to learn something new?
If you start a new job or work at a larger company with established training programs, then a system is already in place for you and time is built into your workday for training. That training program ensures you have the time, focus and action steps necessary to master a new skill.
So as a business owner or entrepreneur, develop your own training program! It doesn’t have to be anything complicated; just a simple system that you follow when you learn a new skill. Your time is valuable! By setting up an organized system that you put into place when you learn a new skill, you won’t feel like you’ve wasted time (or money) trying to learn something that you never use again.
So what would a simple training program look like? Follow these steps each time you want to learn a new skill in your business:
(1) Schedule “training” time into your weekly schedule
Don’t think you can just squeeze in the time to learn something – by putting your training time on your weekly schedule, you are making it a priority. It might mean you get up an hour earlier each day or stay up an hour later each night – but we can all find an extra hour here and there in our regular schedule.
(2) Take immediate action with each new skill
The best way to retain something you’ve just been taught is to take action. If you are attending a teleseminar on how to upload a YouTube video, practice that skill as soon as the event has ended. We see this with our kids all the time – you show your child how to tie her shoe and immediately ask her to try it – if she watches you but never participates, trying it on her own later is going to be more difficult.
(3) Teach someone else how to do it
Do you find that one of the best ways to learn (and retain) information about a subject is to teach that subject to someone else? Find someone to share your new knowledge with: a colleague, an online connection, a client if applicable…
(4) Give yourself credit
If you are in the process of learning a new skill and it’s slow-going or a bit frustrating, keep yourself motivated. Acknowledge the progress you make each step of the way. Have you written down the steps necessary to learn the new skill? Then also keep track of what steps you have completed along the way. Do you use goal posters? Make a “What I Have Learned Today” poster as well.
As business owners or entrepreneurs, we may already have so much on our plate that the thought of learning a new skill sounds too stressful. But with a system in place, we can find time to learn new skills, put them into practice and see the positive results in our business (and ourselves).
“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.”
Anthony J. D’Angelo
About Terry League