Category: learn

Embracing Lifelong Learning: The Benefits of Continuous Education

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

It’s no secret that the world is always changing. In fact, the only thing that’s guaranteed in life is that everything is always in a state of flux. The only way to stay ahead of the curve is to constantly be learning.

For many of us, this means embracing lifelong learning. What is lifelong learning, you ask? Simply put, it’s a continuous and never-ending desire to learn. It’s the ability to keep our minds open and constantly expanding our knowledge base.

Why is this so important? There are countless reasons, but here are just a few: Continuous education makes you more marketable. Lifelong learners are seen as more valuable employees because they’re constantly upgrading their skills. They’re also seen as more adaptable and resourceful—both valuable qualities in today’s ever-changing economy.

Continuous education keeps your mind active and young. It’s been shown that people who engage in lifelong learning activities have a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia later in life.

There are many benefits to continuous learning, both personally and professionally. Here are a few of the most noteworthy:

1. Improves mental sharpness and brain health.

2. Helps us adapt to change.

3. Increases our earning potential.

4. Makes us more well-rounded individuals.

5. Facilitates social and professional networking.

6. Boosts self-confidence and self-esteem.

7. Keeps us mentally and emotionally young.

8. Helps prevent boredom and stagnation.

9. Stimulates our creativity.

10. Connects us to our community.

Continuous learning is a lifelong process that comes with many benefits. It helps us stay sharp, adapt to change, and earn more money. It also makes us more well-rounded individuals, boosts our confidence, and connects us to our community.

So what are you waiting for? Start embracing lifelong learning today!

What Is Continuous Learning?

Continuous learning, or lifelong learning, is the ongoing process of acquiring knowledge and skills. It’s a mindset that prioritizes learning over the acquisition of possessions or status.

For many of us, it’s easy to get caught up in day-to-day responsibilities and forget to invest in ourselves. But by embracing continuous learning, we open up a lifetime of possibilities. We learn new things, meet new people, and expand our horizons.

The benefits of continuous learning are vast and varied. It can help us get ahead in our careers, improve our relationships, and make us more well-rounded individuals. It also helps us stay current with the latest trends and developments in our industry.

So how can you start embracing continuous learning? The first step is to identify your interests and passions. From there, you can find resources that will help you pursue those interests. There are many online courses, workshops, and seminars available today, so there’s no excuse not to get started.

Advantages of Continuing Education

Continuing your education past high school or college is one of the smartest decisions you will ever make. There are so many advantages to doing so, and we want to highlight a few of them for you.

First and foremost, continuing your education keeps your mind active and engaged. It prevents you from becoming complacent and allows you to learn new things and explore different topics. This makes you a more well-rounded individual, and it can also help you in your career.

Second, pursuing additional education demonstrates your dedication to lifelong learning. This is an important quality for any employer, as it shows that you are willing to continue learning and growing in your field. It also signifies that you are ambitious and committed to your career goals.

Finally, pursuing additional education is a great way to network with other professionals. Meeting others in your field and networking with them can help you learn new things, find job opportunities, and expand your professional network.

Strategies for Continuing Education

So, you’re done with school and you’re ready to take your career to the next level. But now what?

There are a number of strategies for continuing your education, and it’s important to find the option that works best for you. options include online courses, certification programs, conferences and workshops, and self-study.

No matter which option you choose, make sure that the learning is relevant to your career goals. And don’t forget to budget for continuing education—it can be a costly but important investment in your future.

Here are a few more things to keep in mind as you continue your education:

– Take advantage of free resources. There are a number of free online courses and resources that can help you learn new skills.

– Stay up to date with technology. Technology is always changing, and it’s important to stay ahead of the curve.

– Network with other professionals. Attend industry events and meet other professionals in your field.

– Get a mentor. Find someone who can help guide you in your career and offer advice and support.

– Of course, you also have trainings and workshops you can attend.

Continuous learning is an essential part of any career. By embracing it, you’ll be able to stay ahead of the curve and maintain your competitive edge.

The Benefits of Adult Education

Now that you know what continuous learning is, let’s talk about why it’s so important. By engaging in adult education, you’re fostering a lifelong habit of learning and growing. You’re challenging yourself to become a better version of yourself and stay ahead of the curve.

Continuous learning has been linked to enhanced cognitive and problem-solving skills, improved memory, enhanced communication and collaboration skills, as well as increased creativity and innovation. All of these are invaluable skills that can benefit you in your personal life as well as in your professional life.

Moreover, embracing lifelong learning can help open up new career paths for you by enhancing your knowledge base and expanding your skill sets. This can give you the edge when it comes to job opportunities or promotions at work. Plus, studies have shown that continuous learning can even boost self-confidence, contributing to your overall well-being.

Resources to Help With Continuing Learning

We are lucky to have a plethora of resources available to help us learn whatever we like, whenever we desire. For starters, there’s the internet—an immense buffet of free knowledge, ready for us to consume at any time.

In addition, we have access to online courses and lecture series that can help us with specific topics—whether it be programming or playing the guitar. If books appeal more to you, then why not pick up an e-book? Or if you like having physical copies of books, you can opt for audiobooks.

We can also attend workshops and benefit from talking with people in our industries who may have valuable insight that’s hard to come by anywhere else. And don’t forget about podcasts; while this is a great way to stay up-to-date with news and industry trends, podcasts also provide a great way for us to learn in shorter chunks of time when we don’t have a lot of free time available.

Tips for Making Continuous Learning Work for You

Making lifelong learning work for you is all about having the right approach and setting yourself up with the right tools and resources. Here are a few tips to help get you started:

– Plan it out: Making lifelong learning part of your routine is key to success. Set aside time for learning each week, even if it’s only an hour or two. This will help it become part of your regular routine.

– Get organized: Make sure you have a place to store all the knowledge you’re going to gain! Whether you’re taking notes on paper or using an app, having everything in one place makes it easy to refer back to when needed.

– Never stop learning: Never underestimate yourself, and don’t be afraid of trying something new. Whether it’s a language, technical skill, craft or hobby—continuously pushing yourself out of your comfort zone will allow you to learn as much as possible and gain new insights!

In short, there are plenty of good reasons to keep learning throughout your life. Whether you want to improve your career prospects, boost your mental health, or make new friends, adult education can help you achieve your goals. And with so many different types of courses available, there’s sure to be something out there that interests you. So what are you waiting for? Start learning today!

What about you? Are you teachable?

With us, learning begins after the last day of Training. Education is about using and retaining knowledge.

Learning beyond Training at pocph.com

#learning #lifelonglearning #beyondtraining #training #leadershipdevelopment #leadership #leaders #jordan #pocph #learningbeyondtraining

“Voicemail” question “Is launching a new brand from the same company more preferable than franchising?”

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

We have a voice in question from an anonymous listener “Is launching a new brand from the same company more preferable than franchising?”

These are two distinct topics, and I am not quite sure how they relate. Unfortunately, it was an anonymous sender. The listener who sent the ‘voice’ question did not leave a name or email address.

Let’s see. Let me tackle this as two questions. The first one is “Launching a new brand from the same company.” If the new brand is not targetting a different customer, then that should be no problem. I assume the new brand is still on-brand with the company’s overall branding.

However, if the new brand being launched is targetting a different set of customers, it’s best to launch the new brand as another company.

For example, when the Toyota Motors directors decided to go after the luxury class of automobiles, they knew they could not launch the new brand of cars under the ‘Toyota’ banner.

The Toyota brand stood for quality and affordability. The target market is the middle class and lower middle class. Coming out with a luxury brand of cars would confuse buyers. The target market of the new vehicles is the upper class of buyers. These target customers will not likely buy ‘Toyota’ cars for personal use. They are after prestige and luxury.

So as not to confuse their existing ‘Toyota’ market and their target luxury market, the car manufacturer decided to create a separate branding and company for it. So they came out with the Lexus brand of cars. Lexus was made to go after the market of Mercedez Benz and BMW. They offered the same luxury level of automobiles with reliability and high quality at more affordable pricing that Japanese manufacturers are known for. So one conglomerate is coming up with two brands of cars.

Now, let us discuss the second topic – franchising. I don’t have enough context to reply correctly. Hopefully, the listener that sent the question will be able to read this and send a follow-up question. Please provide a little bit more context so I can properly reply.

In the meantime, have a good day, everyone, and be safe.

If you have a question in mind, please send your question via the link below.

https://bit.ly/Askjordan

Six tell-tale signs that our leadership superpowers may be dipping

~ jordan ~ Leave a comment

photography of a person pointing on something
Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com

When business is booming and the economy is raising our revenues, it’s easy to perform our role as a leader.

The key behaviors are easily manifested and evident to all employees. “Walking the talk” is easy. Leaders even preach the attributes of a good leader to their direct reports. They also enjoy dropping quotes from great leaders of the past.

However, challenging times tend to test our leadership resolve. Difficult times can test the values we preach. Such hard times can test our leadership competencies. It is in these moments that we need to hold on stronger to ideal leadership competencies and behaviors. This is the time where our people look up to us for guidance and to set an example for them to follow.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” James 1:2-3

It is in these moments that we need to understand and observe ourselves. We need to pay close attention to our leadership style. We need to be critical of how we behave towards our current situation and towards our people.

From experience consulting for different company leaders in good times and in bad, here are a few signs to watch out for. If you start seeing any of these manifests in your leadership style then it’s time to take a pause and assess why you are behaving the way you are behaving. Assess how your leadership behavior is helping or hindering your current situation.

  1. We start to de-priorities the development of our people.

In times of blessings and times of lack, people should always be our most important asset. We cannot have people as our most important asset in good times and in bad times bring them down the pecking order. It will be our good people sticking with us that will help us through difficult times. We may need to reduce our manpower in downtimes, however, let’s make sure we keep the good ones. Great companies invest more in the development of their people instead of cutting down the training budget. Management guru Peter Drucker said, “If you think training is expensive, try ignorance.”

  1. We start blaming first and ask questions after

Democracy reigns in good times. Everyone has an equal voice in good times. In bad times, we sometimes shift to finger-pointing. Instead of asking the question “what happened, what’s the root cause, how can we correct it, how can we prevent recurrence”, we default to “who is to blame for this?”

Such a work environment causes people to be afraid to try anything for fear of reprisal. Nobody also wants bad news to trickle up for fear that the messenger of bad news gets the ax. By the time senior management gets wind of an issue, it has already ballooned into a big problematic snowball.

  1. We fight industry trends

What got you there, won’t get you to the next level. Too many times, I have seen the reason for a company’s success turning into the reason for its failure. Company founders hold on to their original success formula. Software companies using the same antiquated programming approach even though it has been made obsolete by the industry. Retail businesses refusing to create a hybrid digital/brick-and-mortar model. People standing on street corners marketing their products and services using old-fashioned flyers.

Do we really think we can beat industry trends? Blockbuster thought that they can keep the lead by ignoring Netflix. They filed for chapter 11. Kodak refused to move to Digital cameras since their massive growth was fueled by film-based technology. They filed for chapter 11. Did Barnes & Noble think that building more stores would win the hearts of customers that are moving into digital books? They filed for chapter 11.

  1. We start losing high-potential people and retain the bad apples.

When signs of bad leadership start to manifest itself in the workplace, it’s the good employees that jump ship. These high performers know their market value. It’s the none-performers that tend to stay. Why? They have no place to go. Now take a balcony moment and check your business. Your company is currently under a lot of stress and the people you have are mostly non-performers. The good ones went out of the front door.

  1. We don’t openly bring faith in the workplace

Deuteronomy 8:18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth; that He may confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

When we succeed, we often think it was purely on our own accord and effort. We think that the growth of our business stems from our intelligence and tenacity. What we forget is that our talents, opportunities, blessings, wealth, valuable employees, valuable clients, favorable market trends, education, parents, family name and so on came from our creator. None of our success is purely ours to solely claim. Why is it that we do not openly acknowledge or practice our faith? Are we ashamed to be seen as an obedient follower? Are we ashamed to show that we rely on a higher power for our business?

Captains of industries with an openly strong faith in God have grown their business to billions of dollars in annual revenues. You have Dan Cathy (Chik-fil-A) grew his business to 2,363 stores with annual revenues of $10.5 Billion. You have Dave Thomas, CEO of Wendys with their 800 stores. James Cash Penny with 2,000 JC Penny store locations.

Clearly, faith in the workplace works.

  1. We start mixing personal and professional views

When times are good, leaders can separate their personal from work views. Even if they do not like people at a personal level they can work with them.

When times are tough, the line between personal and work views starts to blur. The leader’s personal views start to cloud their work judgment. Dealing with good people with opposing views starts to get painted in a bad light.

Once they have a bad view of good people, everything these people say is taken in a negative context. Good people that are marked as (personally) bad eventually leave the company.

There are other tell-tale signs of a leadership 180-degree turn. These are just examples of signs to look out for. With God by our side, we can maintain our positive Leadership behaviors in good times and in bad.

You can listen to the podcast version of this article by clicking here (jordansviews.com)