Why You Should Choose to Learn Something New Everyday

Many people understand and agree that one of the most important things we can do is to live and learn from the people and things around us and the many myriad of things we experience everyday.  However, for the most part, many people become consumed with all they have to handle and manage and little if any attention is focused on what they are learning for the day.

We develop a plan, organize ourselves and then move through our day completing task after task.  There is by no means anything wrong with an organized approach for getting things done, but we need to also make certain we are taking things one step farther.

The Importance of Learning: The alternaview

It is not just enough to organize your day and focus on what you are doing, you have to also consistently focus your attention on what you are learning. Was there new information you learned today?  Was there a lesson or something you learned about yourself or someone else?  These are the questions we need to ask ourselves at the end of each day.

Why?

Because we should be learning something new every single day.  Life is not just about getting things done and crossing tasks off our “to do” lists. We are supposed to be exploring new things, exposing ourselves to different types of information and people, and learning and retaining the important information and lessons that we learn.

This is the means by which we will grow and develop.  It is how we really live better today than we did yesterday. It is how we avoid repeating the same mistakes over and over again and how we make certain we continue to do those things that are working.

There are 2 categories of information that we need to focus on and make sure we are consistently learning:

(1) Information that we need to live, work, and accomplish what we desire.  All types of practical information such as:

- Information about technology

- Information about the field we work in

- Information about the things we are interested in

(2) Information that we need in order to personally grow and develop.  All types of personal development information such as:

- Information about how to live better

- Information about how to find and live out your purpose

- Information about how best to manage challenges

- Information about how to accomplish your desires

How to use this alternaview:

I must give credit for this approach and the “How to use this alternaview” to Doug Belshaw. Doug has a blog that focuses on education, technology and productivity and at the end of the week he posts on all of the things he has learned. It is such a great approach.  Take a look at his post, “Things I Learned This Week – #18” and then put your own list together.

Ideally, you would put a list together every week, but it would also work if you did it at the end of every month.  If you can’t go into as much detail as Doug, just separate the things you learned into the 2 information categories (described above) and then put together a list similar to what you see below.  What matters is that you are focusing on what you are learning everyday and also that you are creating a reference guide you can look at from time to time and remind yourself of all that you have learned.

Things I Learned This Week – May 10^th, 2010

Practical Information

- Read a great book on improving workplace performance by coaching managers to lead

- Learned about a great new application for Spanish drills on my iPad

Personal Development Information

- Found a great way to create a “Things I Learned This Week” List at dougbelshaw.com

- Had a realization about the 2 types of information I should focus on learning every day: practical information and personal development information.

Conclusion

We need an approach and a way we are going to go about learning and retaining the important information and lessons that we learn.  We need everything we learn to stick and we need to be able to draw comparisons, make analogies and apply the things we have learned to new situations that arise. It is easy to forget about some of the things we have already learned, but if we have a way of reminding ourselves, we will be less apt to forget completely and we will set ourselves up to learn something new each and every day.  This is one of the most important things we can focus on because life is not just about focusing on all the things we have to do, it really is about living and learning…that is the alternaview.

Do you agree with this alternaview? Do you live and learn?  Do you have your own approach for learning that has been working?  Please share your thoughts with us in the comment section.