Are You Learning Enough?

Image source public domain from Pixabay by 3dman-eu

STUDY TO SHOW THYSELF APPROVED - The BIBLE.

Today everyone wants a better and improved life than ever before. But many of us just hope that one day we shall be discovered - that one day luck shall shine on us. But what is luck? Donald Trump once mentioned in one of his books that luck is when an opportunity meets preparation, luck can be created. It therefore means that our chances of getting lucky can be increased by putting ourselves in the right path and spot.

Last night I was reading through some random articles online and in one of them Claire Miller quoted Professor Uta Russman as saying that ‘in school, the most important thing we can learn is how to learn. In universities, we should learn how to approach new things, ask questions, find answers and deal with new situations’. You may be wondering where am heading with all these. A friend asked me a few days ago why I spend so much time taking studies when I just recently graduated from the university. How many of you would ask me that question? Do you believe you have enough skills and knowledge to drive you through the world market today? Well, the situation isn't saying so because we are in an era of rapid change where skills are typically outdated by the time you are done with a four year degree. So are you constantly taking on classes to skill and reskill yourself for the everyday changes in the society? If you are not, then maybe you are planning to get extincted just like the dinosaurs.

In my opinion, it's quite important that we constantly involve ourselves in self study and development. Always aiming to know better today than I did yesterday. Since knowledge is quite important, it should not be left to chances to acquire some new information. Instead put in conscious effort to learn and develop your skills everyday.
Image by Geralt from Pixabay.

I don't know what to learn.

How many of us wants to be an entrepreneur? A lot of us. Do you posses a degree in any subject? If you do, you can take a course in business like an MBA program if you wants to get into finance, sales and marketing. These are the core of a business and should not be left only to hired expert. I do not wants to talk much about how important these are to entrepreneurs as I will discuss this in another post a few days to come.

What if I do not have degree? Then, there are lots of diplomas you can take in these subjects even through self study, online or by taking a night school. Dr Strive Masiyiwa , the Executive Chairman of Econet emphasized this when he wrote: “you must be conscious of the need to acquire some deeper academic understanding of this subject if you want to run a successful business or be a top executive”.

Technology will always grow alongside of us. How good is your computing skills? Do you have at least the basic working knowledge of coding/programming? Do you remember the story of a typist who during the early days of computers refused to learn to use the computer instead relied on her efficiency with the typewriter and believed her bosses will be impressed with her improved typewriter operating skills. What happened to her? Well, her skill became obsolete and she's back home now blaming her bosses and witchcraft for her loss of job. We are living in the age of codes and numbers. image by Geralt from public domain Pixabay.

From IoT, to blockchain technology, machine learning, automation etc, knowledge of at least basic coding/programming will be required to make informed decision in the next few days to come.

What am I saying? These two or so points I have mentioned clearly shows how important it is that we consciously involves ourselves in studying and self development.

I don't know where to study.

Thanks to technology, no matter where you live just with a smartphone you can take the best education in the world right in your house. I have taken several courses on Cousera and Edx - two examples of the many online learning platforms out there. Some of these courses I had for free. You can basically take a whole course in MIT, Harvard or Stanford without ever leaving your country - thanks to the many open coursewares roll out by numerous universities.
Image from Pixabay by Stocksnap

If you are in need me a platform to take a study in any subject, from business to computing, programming, even learning new languages you can check Cousera, Edx, Udacity MIT open courseware etc here, here and here. I am not advertising those platforms but just listing what has helped me in the past. You can search the internet for a lot of them. If you wish to improve your digital and computing skills, you might consider the Google digital skills Garage and in six months of consistent work should have made lots of improvement in your digital skill set.

I didn't write today to instruct or preach but I just wanted to have some discussion. Whatever you have interest in, you can always improve on it through different studying program. I had interest in speaking Chinese and today with a little studies from Chinese with Mike via YouTube I can speak a little 你好吗。我很好，谢谢。Are you lost on what to write about on Steemit? Maybe it's time increase your intellectual bank - teach yourself new things today. Remember, no knowledge is a waste

It's a discussion, do well to share with us some other ways that you have been using for your self study and development.

Originals @lordjames.