Continuous learning is an investment
Key topic
This lesson will try to equip you with all the information you need regarding continuous learning, how it can help you, and why it is important to you. You will receive information on the benefits to individuals and groups and you will also learn the importance of investing in yourself.
Learning objectives
- Understand the concept of continuous learning
- Incorporate continuous learning into your life
- Develop proper understanding of the benefits associated with continuous learning
- Discover the importance of investing in yourself
- Create conditions that will allow you to target specific self-investment opportunities
The importance of continuous learning
Continuous learning is the process of actively and constantly learning new skills and acquiring knowledge. This can come in many shapes, such as taking new course or something closer to casual social learning. In any case, it requires self-initiative and taking on new challenges.
Continuous learning is about expanding your ability to learn, by regularly upgrading your skills and increasing your knowledge. Strong continuous learning skills are required to successfully adapt to changing demands in your everyday life. Continuous learning can take place without necessarily having to put all the skills or knowledge you acquire at work immediately, but it definitely means storing information that might at some point become useful to you in a situation.
Imagine you are a star central defender in your soccer team. During practice the coach teaches you how to play the position of defensive midfielder. At the end of practice, the coach also makes you master the skill of penalty taking. This is continuous learning for you, where you have the opportunity to learn new skills and new information for something otherwise unknown; it doesn’t mean that the coach will have you play regularly in this different position, or that the coach will make you the team’s designated penalty taker. But if a teammate is absent or suspended from play, you will at least be prepared to play in this position, having learned the tricks and traits of the position; or if the team is in a penalty shootout, you could very well be chosen to be one of the five initial penalty takers. This is continuous learning in context.
Continuous learning involves viewing your experiences as potential learning and re- examining assumptions, ideas, values, methods, and practices. Some of the practices of people who are after continuous learning include:
- When they do not understand something, they ask questions
- They are not afraid to take feedback and advice from people who more experienced on the subject
- Identifying available learning opportunities and training programs that are available
- Learning by observing others who are more experienced than them
- Finding and using learning materials or resources
- Participating in training courses
- Pinpointing their strengths, but most importantly the areas that need improvement
- Developing their own learning goals
- Applying lessons from past experiences to new situations.
- Experimenting between different ways of doing things
- Settling on their preferred learning style
- Taking responsibility for their own learning
- Maintaining a skill by practicing it
Continuous learning can come in the form of individual learning, or in the form of group learning. Going back to the example of penalty taking, if your entire team practices penalty taking after practice, despite the fact that your team already has two or three designated penalty takers, that means that the team as a group is performing continuous learning, which could very well come in handy if the team has to play a penalty shootout.
Let’s watch a 2-minute video from World Bank on how lifelong learning can end poverty.
Lifelong Learning and Equality of Opportunities for All
Types of continuous learning
There are several different types of continuous learning, which we will discuss here. Before looking at these different types, you should know that lifelong learning and continuous learning are oftentimes used interchangeably. They can sometimes have a slightly different meaning depending on the context. Lifelong learning is geared more towards the individual level. It refers to someone who makes a long-term, voluntary commitment to learning new skills or acquiring new knowledge. A lifelong learner is someone who incorporates continuous learning as part of their lifestyle. Continuous learning can also refer to someone who is committed to learning new skills or knowledge, but is often used in a more temporary context or formal context. Let’s look at the different types of continuous learning:
Formal learning
Formal learning includes the ways a learner can gain new knowledge and skills via learning initiatives that have already been pre-determined, organized and implemented for a specific learning purpose or goal. These can include:
- a university/ college course
- training programs within an organization
- external workshops or conferences
- e-Learning courses
- Mobile learning courses
Social learning
Social learning includes all the ways a learner interacts, discusses, collaborates and learns from others to increase knowledge or learn new skills. This can be both formal and informal, including:
- Discussion and collaboration on social media
- Finding blogs or other resources to gain deeper insight
- Working with other teammates
- Coaching and mentoring
- On-the-job training
Self-directed learning
Obtaining a new skill or improving your knowledge and understanding of something does not have to be restricted to formal training or working with others. Self-directed learning can include:
- Researching and reading to gain a deep understanding of a topic. For example, when trying to learn about the real estate market in order to make an investment
- Listening to topic relevant podcasts or watching instructional videos
- Experimentation and exploration
Benefits of continuous learning
Continuously updating knowledge or skills can help you in your academics, but also in your sporting endeavors and will undoubtedly become an advantage for you in your adult life as a professional and in your personal life as well. Looking at the benefits, you as an individual can enjoy, we can see that:
- You can become a top performer, since developing new skills and knowledge can increase personal performance or competence on the tasks you already have undertaken.
- It can help you build and advance your career, since any additional training, education, or skill development can help you achieve goals, it can help you undertake new or different responsibilities and it will definitely look good on your resume.
- It can provide an official certification such as a license or a certificate, which will help you in your career further down the line. An example is obtaining the CPA (Certified Public Accountant) certification when you’re an accountant.
- You could take advantage of your newly acquired skills to find new incentives and rewards or earn a promotion; a promotion as class president, or team captain, or a promotion at work in the future.
- The extra skills and knowledge, which means that you are on top of new trends, new information, and new ways of doing things make you highly respected amongst peers and also help you become a “commodity”, which other teams or companies will want to acquire.
- Having gained these new skills and knowledge, having experienced the journey and the process thus having become more valuable, can have a very satisfying effect on you on a personal level. This sense of accomplishment and self-fulfillment can be very satisfying and a boost to your self-confidence, plus it can lead to insight and developments that open the door to new opportunities.
In terms of continuous learning for a group, such as your team or your class, creating a learning culture within the group is an effective way to improve performance, and to also increase the satisfaction of group members, their motivation to achieve the collective goals, and their willingness to work harder at all levels. The benefits of continuous learning for groups or teams are:
- Knowledge is a powerful tool; the more group members know and can do, the more they can contribute to the group.
- If a team can develop its collective skills and knowledge without having to acquire them from elsewhere, then continuous learning becomes more cost effective for the team which doesn’t have to spend on new resources to acquire these new skills.
- Putting the entire group in a process of continuous learning sends the message that all group members are respected and appreciated and considered important for the group. This will boost the group morale, but also the self-confidence of each of the individuals in the group; it will act as a motivational factor and it will facilitate further group development.
Invest in yourself
By reading the above information, hopefully, you will have understood what continuous learning is all about, the different types of continuous learning, as well as the benefits for yourself, but also for your team, or class or any other group you are a part of. It’s all about developing an appetite for it. Now let’s watch a short video on investing in yourself and we will then discuss the investment to be made in yourself.
It’s not uncommon for young people to have difficulty in seeing the bigger picture; it’s part of growing up and learning to mature in time. But let’s face it, you will not be young forever and you will not get a free pass in life at every point. By the way, you are already investing in yourself by putting in the time and effort to master your sport skills, to pursue a college education through sport, to play sport at the collegiate level and why not, perhaps pursue a professional career in sport. It’s a true investment that is made primarily by yourself for yourself, putting in time and effort, sacrificing part of your social life, missing out sometimes on the little things that other kids your age get to enjoy; it’s also an investment made in you by your parents, whom you should thank and respect for putting in time and effort and money to give you the opportunity to play sports, to learn and master a very difficult trait by default, to drive you to and from practice, to support you, to watch you compete and so on.
Truth is, the investment in you by you could use further development. Sports have an expiration date. You won’t know it till it happens, perhaps you will not be able to accept it at your age, but at some point, sports may just be a distant memory, a fond one nevertheless, but something that will at some point no longer be able to carry you, feed your family or broaden your horizons and expectations of the quality of life you deserve. You should be ready for that moment and you should start preparing right now.
Investing in yourself is an example of self-love and may end up being the most profitable investment you ever make; not necessarily financially. An example of self-deception and self-sabotage on the other hand, is continuing to do the same thing over and over and wrongfully assuming that you will somehow improve and advance to where you want to be. No improvement in your life will happen automatically, without you making an effort and working towards it.
When you are brave enough to take steps that will improve your skills, your knowledge, your performance and your overall well-being, you are bound to harvest positive results and great returns at some point in your life. The effort you put today into consistently investing in yourself will have an immense impact on your quality of life now and in the future.
Invest in your creativity, which is responsible for a lot of things in your life. It allows you to have fun, it inspires you to do things that others can’t or won’t do and may very well be what will change your life. Invest in your self-confidence, which will help you stand up for yourself; it will determine whether you find the courage to make changes in your life, make you act on your life plans and your long-term goals and it will also be one of the determining factors of your future success or failure. Learn to have the courage to speak your truth. The more you love yourself and own the value that you offer, the more confident you will become in sharing it with others.
Invest in your knowledge, as the more you learn, the more you realize that you have a lot more to learn. Educating yourself and gaining knowledge on a variety of things will empower you with tools that will make you and others become better. Invest time in acquiring knowledge and then making use of the knowledge you will gain; this is what will make you stand apart from mediocrity. So read books, listen to podcasts, attend lectures, panels and talks, go to workshops and watch clips that add value to you, as much as you can for as long as you can. These are great resources that you can use to build your knowledge and expertise in any area.
Invest in your health. You can work for and get anything you want, but make sure you are healthy enough to live long and enjoy the benefits. Eat right each day, rest as much as possible and avoid anything in excess, keeping balance with everything you do. Sports is already helping your overall health, but at the same time putting strain on your body, which needs proper treatment, recuperation and good care.
Invest in your finances. We are discussing financial principles and models of good practice in our financial literacy module and by now you should be able to understand this specific need for sound financial investment.
Invest in your relationships, as perhaps one of the most important investments in life. Relationships add more value to who you are and they take time to build. They teach you skills, they give you knowledge, they are good for your health and your self-confidence. Relationships are as vital to a complete person, as any other ingredient of life. Your most important and valuable relationships will not be built in a day; they will take years and years. Moreover, they will not be built automatically without you putting in any effort. The effort is, however, well repaid by relationships that last a life time, which offer support and comfort and which offer so many valuable things, as you will learn growing up.
Action steps – Exercise 1 (15 minutes)
- Identify one area of your life where you need to make an investment in yourself
- How will you go about investing in yourself? What immediate steps can you take to do that?
Lesson wrap-up
Today we focused on what could be characterized as the most important avenue in life: constant learning. We began by pointing out the importance before exploring the different types of continuous learning. We then discussed the benefits that you will likely reap from seeking constant betterment and learning. In the last part of the lesson, we discussed the areas in which you should seek improvement such as your health, your confidence and your knowledge.
At this point we will wrap up today’s lesson. First, we will go over the learning objectives of this lesson and we want your feedback as to whether they have been achieved and then we will address any questions you may have. Please feel free to ask anything you’d like in relation to today’s lesson and we would love to hear how the concepts we discussed today relate to you and your life!