How to remain committed to continuous personal learning

Continuous learning is only possible when there is a strong why to learn. Some of the solid arguments to sustain the urge to continually learn include:

1. Seeking to understand, where you are uncertain
2. To observe how certain things are done
3. The need to put in practice what you previously learnt calling for more learning
4. To remain up to date with current affairs
5. To implement a new project or program
6. For fun and enjoyment
7. And to explore alternative ways of doing things and so forth.

“Those people who develop the ability to continuously acquire new and better forms of knowledge that they can apply to their work and to their lives will be the movers and shakers in our society for the indefinite future.” – Brain Tracy. You can use any of these reasons to strongly get convinced to continually learn something new and useful.

In this article, we will look at how you can take a proactive approach to your personal continuous learning for self-improvement and development.

1. Develop a growth mindset

Learning is a choice: therefore, to learn is a decision that is in your hands.  Dr. Carol Dweck observes that a growth mindset drives willingness to be open and curious about your strength and weaknesses necessitating commitment to improve your personal and life situation. For this to happen requires you to personally recognise what is required for your career, development and sustainability needs including appreciating:

• Your current skills- are they specific, broad, do they support your current and future growth needs. Candidly determine what you could do better with enhanced skills and knowledge.
• Your past skills-Are there any redundant skills that you can use now, do you need to refresh to be able to apply the skills now.
• Your future skills- what skills do you need that you don’t currently have to achieve your goals. Identify the skill and knowledge gaps essential for you to focus on your goals such as career, family and retirement goals.

2. Set a Personal Learning Plan (PLP).

PLP is a tool commonly used to focus people to learning.  This starts with creating the desire to learn to improve your skills and knowledge to what matters to you detailed with area of focus, learning objective, proposed learning approaches, time to learn and expected learning outcome. These aspects are summarised in a PLP. You can add or amend the PLP depending on your progress to your learning objectives. For example, you may want to learn and be efficient at public speaking or at making presentations or at making a retirement plan. If your learning objective is achieved, then you can drop it from your PLP and introduce something new to learn.

3. Make time to apply the skills or knowledge learnt.

Learning, acquiring and developing new skills and knowledge can be an exciting and satisfying process. However, applying the skills to cause desired change a reality can be tough. So, you need a clear mechanism to put into practice what you have learnt. If the skill of interest was for example public speaking, practice it in meetings, functions, workshops, seminars, social networks, volunteer to lead in areas that involve speaking. Consistency and regular use of what you have learnt is key to sustain change, growth and to nurture your continuous learning urge and resilience.

Continuous learning can be as dynamic as you would want to make it, so making a commitment to your learning plan and adjust it as often as necessary to keep it current and relevant is essential.

Are you interested in continuously learning with ease?

Do you believe you can regularly learn with fun and joy while also acquiring essential knowledge and skills?

These steps are by far the simplest ways to set yourself running with continuous learning even if you are not a regular learner.

You can also access

https://retirementlifehub.org/use-learning-to-drive-your-dream/

Learning-for-career-success-ebook This book will get you started with building your own continuous learning drive!

https://retirementlifehub.org/aiding-personal-decision-making/

Charles Barugahare (PhD, FCCA)

Co-founder Retirement Life Hub