How High Growth Companies Make Learning a Habit

Learning is embedded into the culture of all high growth companies. They are able to make consistent progress because learning is a habit for individuals within these organisations. Habits are freeing because they save us from the difficult, energy sapping business of making decisions and exercising our self-control. With about 40% of everyday life shaped by habits, if we have habits that work for us we’re far more likely to be happier, healthier, and more productive.
In his book Better than Before, Gretchen Rubin identifies 21 different strategies that we can use to make or break habits in all facets of life. Here are a few that are especially helpful for making a habit of on-the-job learning.

Identify what you need to learn.

1. Take time to think big. In the whirlwind of everyday life, it can be hard to step back and think about what matters most. Where do you want to be in two years? How could you develop your skills in line with where the company wants to go? Some people prefer to do this kind of thinking alone, with just a pad of paper; others prefer to talk it out with a few trusted peers.

2. Take time to think small. Sometimes people get overwhelmed when they try to make grand plans or ask huge questions, so it’s also useful to focus on small, manageable steps that you can incorporate into your life immediately. To make your work easier or richer tomorrow, what do you need to learn or get better at today?

3. Ask yourself: whom do you envy? Envy is an uncomfortable emotion, but it’s instructive. If you envy someone, that person has something you wish you had. Do you envy your friend who only spends a few days a week in the office – or the friend who has amazing holidays? Envy can help show us how we want to grow and change.

Once you’ve figured out what you need to learn…

Make learning a habit
4. Be specific about what you’re asking of yourself. Intentions like “read more” or “learn new things” are too vague. Put your intentions into the form of a concrete, measurable, manageable action, such as “Every month, go to at least two events with learning opportunities” or “Spend two hours every Thursday afternoon reading all the articles I saved during the week.”

5. Monitor your habit. Monitoring is almost uncanny in its power. Research shows that simply by monitoring a behaviour, we tend to do a much better job of it, whether it’s how many daily steps we’re taking or how many business development calls we’re making.

6. Schedule time for your habit. Something like “research such-and-such” is a goal that can keep getting pushed to the bottom of the to-do list. Even if it’s important, it’s just not urgent. So schedule a specific time for research and learning.
7. Spend time with people who have the habits of learning that you want to copy. Studies show that we tend to pick up habits from the people around us, so choose your company wisely. If you know that some of your peers make on-the-job learning a habit, go out of your way to spend time with them, and you’ll more easily pick up that habit yourself.

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