I am sure you’ve heard plenty about continuous learning…
…but what really is continuous learning?
…and is continuous learning really anything new?
Here’s the scoop:
Learning can take place anytime, anywhere. But it’s not a smooth, steady process…
It can take place intentionally…or it can take place by accident. When it happens intentionally, learning does not always occur every time and everywhere…
…but learning is most effective when you make the effort every time and everywhere!
So, is there really such a thing as continuous learning? Not really, as learning is a “choppy” process, often culminating in a “breakthrough” once we have reached a “tipping point” in our efforts!
Sometimes learning is slow, and takes a lot of effort…
…and sometimes it happens fast and furiously, and seems to take little effort!
But it’s all based on constantly trying, putting forth the effort, inquiring, being vigilant…looking for the golden morsels wherever we are…and putting ourselves into the best learning situations.
Here are 5 ways that you can learn:
- Reading
- Listening
- Watching
- Training
- Sleeping (yes!)
And here are 5 ways that you can strengthen your learning:
- Keep your eyes open all the time and be observant
- Share what you are learning with someone
- Write down your thoughts
- Connect new ideas with things you already know
- Apply what you have learned right away
You can put yourself into situations where those there are greater opportunities for those things to happen…enabling yourself to learn more and faster…
Continuous learning, thus, is really all about continuous effort…then patiently waiting for the learning to gel.
And it’s really nothing new. People have been continuously seeking knowledge and breakthroughs forever! The difference is the pace…because we start from a huge knowledge base of past learning, and increasingly sophisticated learning methods that make learning easy for us.
Happy Learning!!!
______________________________
John Reiling, PMP
Project Management Training Online
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John,
With all due respect, you probably need to do more research on the 7 learning styles http://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/ but probably more relevant for project management is “project based learning”…. http://pbl-online.org/About/whatisPBL.htm
The core problem I see is so many have crammed for their PMP and passed it, but don’t have a clue how to implement what they have learned has resulted in a greatly diminished respect for the PMP credential.
What we need to see from those holding themselves out to be “trainers” are competent facilitator/mentors who are NOT focused on “teaching to the exam” but are committed to building more competent, capable practitioners. Until or unless we see that happening, the real and perceived value of the PMP will continue to drop.
For in the end, the value of the credential is based on the real or perceived competency of those who hold that credential and with the overall failure rate of projects holding flat or even getting worse is not a good testimonial for PMI or their PMP.
BR,
Dr. PDG, Jakarta, Indonesia
http://www.build-project-management-competency.com