Power Habit: Lifelong Daily Learning

We have shifted from an Industrial economy to a Information economy. Of course, the remnants of the industrial age businesses are still struggling, some transforming successfully and some not. But the fact that the economy has shifted is, at this point, indisputable.

New skills, new knowledge, new tools, new opportunities all abound. You can drown in new information; as a species, we literally have ten times the knowledge than we had in 1999, across hundreds of different domains of knowledge and science. This does not mean you simply need to learn ten times more than your grandfather knew, but it does mean that you need to learn how to filter and manage information far differently than your grandfather did.

The 21st century is characteristically different than the 20th century, although there are many parallels in the effects and our reactions to the massive changes. Just as we shifted from an agricultural society to an industrial one around the turn of the 20th century, so we shift again.

In the book, "Nine Shift" by Julie Coats and William Draves (link below), they explain that we are going to be replacing commute time with learning time.

In a industrial society, one or two hours a day commuting to a job is normal for the average worker. Cars are the popular mode of transit, and cities and businesses are built around commuting. The commuting time and energy spent by each worker is simply the overhead required to do business in an industrial age.

In an information age, commuting is replaced by one or two hours of learning each day. The knowledge worker is simply required to learn new software, new tools, new skills, read and understand new information, and participate and communicate to vendors, customers, and colleagues via the Internet. Telecommuting, virtual companies and virtual offices, and distributed networks replace the central office of the last century. Daily and lifelong learning is simply the overhead required to do business in the information age.

As a professional hypnotherapist, you probably don't have a boss or a company that employs you. However, that is what it is even more important for you to be spending a couple hours each day learning business skills, professional skills, marketing skills, new media skills and new hypnosis skills.

Knowledge and advancement of NLP and hypnotherapy techniques and effectiveness have exploded in the last decade, and now more than ever, that information is available to you at your desk or on your laptop.

Carve out time each day to explore, learn and connect. Figure out ways to really enjoy it. You'll be glad you did, and so will your clients, associates, and family.

Referenced:

A great read, well worth the time for anyone planning on doing business in the 21st Century.