Yesterday, I shared a formula for getting a raise – and continuing to get them. (By the way, this works for employees, freelancers, and entrepreneurs.)
The very first step is to consistently add value, and that almost certainly requires that you keep learning. Did you know that 42% of college graduates never pick up a book again? Ever. And that 80% of U.S. families did not buy or read a book in the last year? Ouch.
If you want to earn more – learn more. If you want to get more out of the world you must put more into the world. For, after all, men will get no more out of life than they put into it. – William J.H. Boetcker
In my experience, people stop earning more right about the time they stop learning more. You can coast, but only in one direction – downhill.
Now for the great news.
Today, there are an infinite number of ways to learn. You can pick your medium: print, audio, video, interactive, etc. You can access information from all over the world, not just your own backyard. You can pick your price point, often including free.
You may have looked forward to never having homework again and written that script in your mindset, to reject anything that felt like that.
But self-directed learning is very different – and very needed.
You don’t have to read Shakespeare. You don’t have to memorize the periodic table. You don’t have to remember the Pythagorean Theorem.
But if you want to keep climbing, you do have to keep learning about something.
Here are some ideas to get your wheels turning again:
– Watch a Ted Talk every morning.
– Listen to a podcast from iTunes U.
– Look for an online course from Skill Share or Khan Academy.
The man who graduates today and stops learning tomorrow is uneducated the day after. – Newton D. Baker
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