How To Become A Lifelong Learner

When it comes to learning, is there a best-practice? While it would be great to have a cut and dry answer, it’s not that simple. Fortunately, there is a best way for YOU to learn. We all learn differently, but that means that there is a best-practice on an individual level.

If you can identify how you learn best, you’re only setting yourself up for success. Who wouldn’t want to maximize the amount of information they retain, in order to access it later? We’re going to break down education for you, so that you can reach personal success.

Financial freedom is a lifelong journey to building a bigger and better future for you and your family every single day. Education is a part of that — without it we remain stagnant, which is the opposite of growth. Liquidity is a term that not only applies to finances but all of your assets. You are your most important asset, and your mind is a part of that. If you don’t take care of it, you’ll lose it. The sentiment of being a lifelong learner sets you up for success because you’re willing to strategize and do what it takes to be successful.

The Seven Styles of Learning

If you break it down, there are really seven main learning styles, or ways that people learn. You might be a mix of these styles, or one method may resonate you with above all others. We’re all unique in that regard.

Learning Styles Online is a great resource, complete with an online assessment that you can take to determine how you learn best. You might already know, or have a hunch, but the assessment is a great tool. You might be surprised.

Essentially, there are seven different ways to learn — visual, aural, verbal, physical, logical, social, and solitary. The first four refer directly to your senses — do you prefer to look at charts, images, and PowerPoints, or do you respond more to music, podcasts and lectures? Does physical activity or touch help you lock-in information, or do you prefer learning linguistically?

“Logical” refers to a more mathematical approach — you like systems and reasoning more than simply being told the information. Social learners respond well to group environments, and solitary learners prefer quiet environments to learn.

The best thing — you’re probably a mix of all of these. You might even find that it’s circumstantial, and that’s okay too. Self-awareness is key, because it ensures you get what you need.

Dale Edgar’s Learning Pyramid

The styles of learning are great when you’re building strategies — how to learn new information and bring your business to new heights. If you know that you’re a highly visual and aural learner, videos will be a great learning tool. For others, videos are distracting. But you must also consider knowledge retention.

Dale Edgar’s learning pyramid is another great resource in self-education. The pyramid includes data on information retention. Did you know that after a lecture, the typical person only retains about 5% of the information after 24 hours. You retain about 10% of what you read. What people can retain jumps up to 20% for things we can both see and hear. Demonstrations have a retention rate of 30%, and discussion groups are better still at 50%. Better than that? Humans are capable of retaining 75% of what we actually do.

Being a lifelong learner requires action. You have to take part in this world; you give yourself a better chance when you are involved wholeheartedly. Even then, the thing humans are most capable of retaining after 24 hours, is information on things that we teach to others. The rate of retention? 90%. When we take the time to educate others, we make ourselves the masters of that information, little by little. Consider the other retention rates, and how much of that you invoke when you teach. Rather than passively participating in one of those actions, you’re actively participating in many of them — speaking, demonstrating, discussing, and doing.

We must be active participants in our own lives, and continually empower others with what we know — it’s how we grow stronger, and thereby develop new thinkers and leaders in the process.

The Teachability Index

Our conversation on lifelong education wouldn’t be complete without a discussion of the teachability index. Are you teachable?

There are two key components to this that you must consider: what is your willingness to learn, and what is your willingness to change?

If someone approached you with a new idea, would you brush them off or would you take a moment to listen? This encompasses the first question. There are a lot of ideas out there, and some of them can seem particularly crazy…but are you willing to entertain an unusual idea? Even if the idea is “out there,” your willingness to offer a listening ear says a lot about you. Every single one of the most innovative ideas we know were once crazy, impossible, and weird. So what’s the harm in listening?

The second idea is more complex than it seems. If you’re willing to entertain new ideas for the sake of learning, how willing are you, then, to change what you previously believed? If the data were sufficient to change your mind, would you?

Some of the most successful people are the people who are willing to learn new things, no matter how crazy they may seem. This doesn’t mean they lack integrity…in fact, it’s the exact opposite. They take an idea presented to them and dig deeper; they find sufficient data, they do the research, and they learn. It takes integrity to question your knowledge and put it to the test, it takes greater integrity to adopt new principles when presented with all the data. If the data is insufficient, there really was no harm in digging deeper. In fact, it only further deepens the knowledge you possessed. A lack of integrity is evident in the person who is unwilling to entertain any ideas other than their own.

Knowing who you are and how you learn, making that education stick, and being open to new ideas are all trademarks of a successful person. The people who choose to stagnate rarely surpass their circumstances. This is a lifelong journey, and knowing yourself better (and how you learn) will only help you reach your full potential.

You can listen to the podcast episode I recorded on my new show, Cashflow Investing Secrets here.

Live your Freedom, Live Your Legacy, On Your Own Terms,

M.C.

M.C. Laubscher is a husband, dad, podcaster & Cashflow Specialist. He helps business owners and investors create, recover, warehouse & multiply cashflow. You can learn more about exclusive cash flow strategies in M.C.’s new video series at https://www.yourownbankingsystem.com/