Vicki Anderson

I attended a professional conference today for training professionals and conducted one of the breakout sessions. On the way home I was listening to the monthly audio magazine put out by the National Speakers Association and they were talking about the importance of learning and growing, thus evolving. I started reflecting on my day’s learning. I always find it invigorating and it challenges me to try something I haven’t done before even if it is tiring sometimes.

Evolution is about learning and growing to not only meet the needs of today but ensure you will be around tomorrow. It is sometimes difficult to take time to learn something new, but it’s what professionals do. If I want to consider myself a professional, I have to take ownership of my learning. No one will care as much about my survival as me. If you are waiting for someone to develop you, I wonder what you have done to take the first step for yourself. Leaders lead the way. If you want your employees to be interested in learning something new, you have to also be a lifelong learner.

The other piece of learning is sharing what you know. Find a way to magnify your value by teaching it to someone else. You not only grow yourself by learning it deeper, you help someone else move along in their evolution.

Do you ever think of something you “should” learn but you never really get around to doing it? Isn’t it easy to think things are impossible when it’s really just uncomfortable?

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard in the last few months that someone would like to know more about social networking because they just don’t understand it. Is that you? It’s me! Well, I have tried to stick my toes into the water little by little with the help of my daughter and a few friends, but I’m not convinced I do it very well. So, I have attended a couple webinars recently and I signed up for a comprehensive, hands-on social networking course offered by the Broken Arrow Chamber of Commerce. Hopefully, I might find I’m doing some things right as well as learning what else I should do.

It is so hard to keep up with the latest as the world is changing so fast. Therefore, it’s important to use the tools we have efficiently. I don’t have time to do everything, so I have to figure out what will give me the most results for the least effort.

Whatever it is you need to learn, get started right away. You don’t want to be one of those “old people” who don’t understand what this world is coming to. Be part of the change now and it will be easier down the road.