Most of you enjoy learning new stuff and you thrive on building new skills.
I love being surrounded by people like you who take life in their own hands and find ways to improve the opportunities that present themselves. Maybe, like me, sometimes you get a bit tired of the ‘self improvement hustle’ and just want a break?
Then this edition of my newsletter has you covered.
If it helps, you have my permission to close the book for a while and absorb all the stuff you’ve learned.
Pause the inputs and create outcomes
After several months of constant learning, I need a break to actually put things into action.
Here’s what I’ve been doing and what’s worked for me:
For most of this year I’ve participated in coaching and courses to improve my writing skills, my coaching skills and to better understand website building, newsletter writing and publishing, audience nurturing and ebook writing. It’s fun, interesting and… exhausting.
For the last couple of weeks I’ve ignored my mailbox folder that’s filling up with valuable content about digital writing, because I had to stop the inputs. It was like drinking from a firehose without a break.
So instead, I’m spending the next few weeks taking action. All this knowledge is only valuable if I do something with it.
Do I feel bad about not studying right now and not learning more new tricks and skills? Nope. Because it’s easy to forget all this good new information if you never use it.
Nobody is keeping track of whether you’re ticking all the personal development boxes
You don’t have to read 52 books a year. No one is keeping score. It also makes no sense.
Reading a book each week is like binge-watching TV shows. It can be fun for a bit, but if you’re just going from one book to the next, you don’t have any time to let things sink in and change your thoughts and behaviours based on what you just learned.
Whether it’s books or certifications, degrees or reps at the gym: no one cares as much as YOU about the things you do. So do what actually makes sense for you and take the time you need. You don’t even need to set a target for self improvement.
Try alternating your learning with taking action
There is a lot of great content out there that can make you a better analyst, engineer, writer, teacher, surgeon or scientist. It’s tempting to devour everything you can get your hands on.
I want to suggest an alternative approach.
Read a book on a topic you’re interested in and take notes or mark the parts that really speak to you. When you’re done, review your notes and reflect on all the stuff the author shared. What are one or two things you have learned that you really want to incorporate into your own life? How can you go about it?
Take small steps to include new ideas and skills for several weeks and see what impact this has.
You’ll know when you’re ready for more learning. And when the time comes, embrace it and repeat the process :-).
Happy learning, happy implementing. Have a wonderful week and let me know if you have any questions.
