Information is everywhere.
It seeps through the blue-light of our late night TikTok scroll, bounces in our ear-drums to the tune of our podcast obsession and is handed over like candy in every conversation we have.
But, finding useful knowledge is harder than ever.
Our obsession with short-form edutainment means it’s easy to lose sight of the deeper, more nuanced perspectives that are so important to understanding.
Use the newsfeed to find topics that interest you.
Then commit to delving deeper by:
Exploring an online course.
Signing up for a learning cohort.
Reading through an entire book.
Interviewing experts you admire.
Subscribing to newsletters like this one.
Connecting with a whole new community.
Listening to a library of podcast episodes.
Plus a million other ways to learn.
As you continue to explore the rabbit hole of knowledge, reflect on where your interests are taking you and how you can combine your expertise areas.
To fit it all together, think of your learning like an E-shape.
Where your soft skills enable you to interact with others, your hard skills create a unique understanding and your industry knowledge gives you an ideal sector to work in.
It will look something like this:
Build your learning in this way you’ll become a specialising generalist with a unique skillset, able to command a high salary and create a huge impact.
Sounds pretty good right?
That was the easy part.
Here’s how you master learning.
#1: Practice your soft skills
Soft skills are all about people.
Read all about psychology and what makes humans tick and you’ll have all the frameworks you need to become a soft skills expert.
Then get out there and practice.
1) Learn how to learn
Understand what really sets your learning heart on fire. Find an accountability buddy, set-up your environment for focus and use the 25 mins on 5 mins off Pomodoro technique.
Double down on whatever gets you in the zone.
2) Get comfortable being uncomfortable
Whenever your hands get clammy, your heart starts racing and your voice suddenly disappears, you’ll know you’re on the edge of your comfort zone.
Stay there, it’s where you’ll learn the most.
3) Ask for feedback often
You’ll only develop soft-skills through practice. So, reframe failure as an opportunity to learn and constantly seek out feedback from your colleagues, friends and family.
Then listen to what they say and implement what’s relevant.
Building your soft skills is all about combining the knowledge of mental models and techniques with the confidence of proven application over time.
Strive to be 1% better everyday, always have a preference for action, listen to feedback without judgement and you can’t go far wrong.
#2: Develop your hard skills
Now for the hard skills.
These are all about the execution of specific tasks, ranging from the technical of coding a new website to the marketing of creating great content online.
They look like:
Mastering software packages like Adobe.
Understanding processes like Project Management
Conveying information in PowerBI Dashboards.
To learn them combine the practical with the theory.
1) Start a project
Find a problem that you care about. Then research how you can solve it using forums, case studies and examples from online.
You’ll then have a strong reason to learn.
2) Learn the theory
Once you get stuck, it’s time to take on the formal training. Find a book, course or guide that will show you how terrible your first solution was.
Equipped with the theory, your project will start to make sense.
3) Find a mentor
When it feels like it’s all coming together, find yourself a mentor. Scour a few LinkedIn searches, join a community and attend some networking events.
They’ll show you how to accelerate from good to great.
After you’ve mastered one hard skill, build another one.
Then combine them together and you’ve got a fresh perspective that will set you leagues apart from the competition.
#3: Gain your industry knowledge
Your industry knowledge is the secret sauce.
It helps you know the problems your clients face, the intricacies of their legislation and the standard approach to business in the sector.
It can take decades to become an industry expert.
But, you can accelerate the process by learning from those who already have the knowledge, shortening a lifetime of daily execution into a few years of active listening.
Here’s how you do it.
1) Follow Creators
Every founder is creating a personal brand on LinkedIn right now. Use their content as a livestream of industry updates that you can absorb daily.
If they have a newsletter, get yourself signed up.
2) Get Networking Online
Connect with creators and send them your biggest questions. Explain why you love the sector, the research you’ve done so far and the one thing you’re struggling with.
More often than not they’d be delighted to help.
3) Interview the Experts
Dive a little deeper by creating a podcast or building a report. Use it as an excuse to invite your favourite expert for an interview.
Hit record, ask some great questions and you’re away.
Once you have a conversation, don’t forget to ask them “Who else should I talk to?”. Sharks refer sharks and they’ll lead you right into your next ideal introduction.
The Summary
Let’s recap; To master learning you need to practice your soft skills, develop your hard skills and gain your industry knowledge.
There’s your 5 minutes. Now take ACTION.
If you want to study further, here’s some options:
A Great Short Course: Learning How To Learn (Barbara Oakley)
An Awesome Book: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant (Eric Jorgenson)
An Infinite Course Library: Class Central
Learning Cohorts to Explore: Coleap, Let’s Level Up & Maven