e-dreaming

The term life-long learning is a relatively recent addition to educational jargon.  The reason why it isn't just a lofty ideal, but a pragmatic necessity these days, is that the pace of change in our world is staggering. And so for pretty much anyone who is still wanting and needing to bring value to our economy (or for some, simply continue to bring home a paycheck), that means constant learning.

Now, the truth of the matter is that it is impossible to keep up.  The pace of change and the scope of change is simply too much for anyone to keep up with.  But that can't divert us from the pursuit, rather, it must spur us on to try all the harder.  The degree to which the divide between the have's and the have-not's (wealthy and poor) widens in coming decades will largely be driven by the degree to which life-long learning is taken seriously by those who wish to improve their economic standing.  Those who throw in the towel are certain to struggle financially.  But even those who simply go about their day to day activities without challenging themselves – pushing themselves – to learn new things constantly, will see their careers and future livelihoods slip away. 

While learning new things like how to cross-stich or how to play golf are certainly worthwhile endeavors, they usually don't help your financial security.  Each of us who wants to have a reasonable degree of financial security in the future, needs to commit some of our personal time in the pursuit of personal professional growth.  Now, some would argue that personal is personal, and professional is professional, thus, our employer should be responsible for investing in our professional growth, and we can invest in our personal growth on our own time.  And, most employers are willing to take on a portion of that ongoing learning, i.e. they are willing to provide time and/or money to those pursuits.  But the truth is, those that are unwilling to invest in their own future with their own time, are almost certainly to become increasingly familiar with forced career changes, i.e. layoffs and terminations.

There is no getting around the fact that we are all extremely busy, and finding time for personal career training is a challenge.  Here are some things that I have found that help (even though I will confess that I wish I could increase my own investment ten-fold):

1. listen to audio books (on CD or iPod) whenever you are driving, getting ready for work (and other times when you would otherwise listen to music)
2. spend some time in the library every month (find a Saturday or Sunday when you can go with the kids, or a friend, and just hang out)
3. have at least one book (some within your field of work, and some outside of your area of expertise) within your reach at all times, i.e. next to your bed, on your desk, on the coffee table next to where you watch TV, next to your computer, etc.  We all experience momentary downtime, and those moments can contribute to your future
4. read a futuristic book, or a book that will stretch your thinking about your field, while on vacation
5. invest some personal time finding a blogger or two that you respect or that challenges you, and spend five or ten minutes every day reading their blogs
6. search engines are one of the most valuable tools ever devised to help expand your knowledge, so when you find yourself curious or stumped by something, contemplating it even for a few seconds, make a quick note to yourself to research it later when you have a minute or two... then do it!