A Letter from Chris Suarez
LEARNING FOR DOING
So many of you who consistently read this weekly blog just love to learn. I appreciate you reaching out, commenting, and sharing your thoughts about each post. I come back to the keyboard each week to really recount what I have learned over the past 7 days and put in writing something actionable I can do based on that learning. It affords me the opportunity to think about the lessons I was handed, ask what I’ve learned, and look for ways I have changed my thinking or behavior based on that lesson. But your reach-out’s, comments, and shares allow me to continue to learn from your individual perspectives as well.
At times I learn from experience. At times I learn from study. At times I learn through being taught by others.
This week I stopped for a moment and thought about the process of learning.
Learning for the sake of learning, is just entertainment. And there is nothing wrong with that form of entertainment. Some people watch movies, others listen to music, some play video games - all for the purpose of entertainment. It is a form of relaxation, decompressing, or having fun. Some read books for entertainment. They love to read. I’m in that club. Movie night with the family at my house usually involves the kids picking a movie, all of us getting on the couch or crawling into bed, and me grabbing a book. Even though my kids will remind me I’ve “watched that movie”, I couldn’t tell you who was in it, what happened or even the ending. While they enjoy their movie, I enjoy my book.
Now in that moment - even if I am reading a business book, a company case study, or a biography of an entrepreneur - I am learning for learning’s sake. I am reading just to know. I am reading for pleasure and because I enjoy it.
Each week however, I make certain I have time to learn for the sake of doing. The true definition of learning is “an acquisition of knowledge and change in behavior brought about by experience, practice, study, or being taught.”
Learning isn’t just taking in knowledge, studying a topic of interest, or sitting in a class or on a zoom being “taught”. Learning is about taking in that knowledge, studying that topic, or sitting in the class with the purpose of changing even just one aspect of our thinking or behavior.
Humans can learn, animals can learn, even machines can learn. Hopefully we can do more with what we learn than the squirrel or bird outside our window. Hopefully we can do more with what we learn than the computer or phone we are reading this on.
Learning with the purpose of doing is not automatic or by any means easy. It requires showing up with purpose. Every single day our organization delivers some learning opportunities. Each of them are designed to be converted into action. It could be a class, a webinar, a mastermind, a coaching call. It would be easy for any of us to consistently show up, to have the habit of learning. Every morning we show up and learn and practice our conversations and scripts. Every week we learn about wealth building. Every week we show up for skill development for a necessary activity. That won’t automatically convert into changed thinking or changed action.
Most of us know WHAT we need to do each day. We show up to learn HOW to do it. If true learning is about behavioral change, then it is less of leaving with the “what” and more about leaving with an improved “how”.
At the end of the week I like to ask myself the following questions:
What did I learn this week?
In what way has it changed how I think?
In what way has it changed how I act?
In what ways would it be obvious to others that I have learned this?
We are all learners. It is near impossible to go through a week on this planet without learning something. In contrast, it Is quite possible that weeks slip by without doing - without really learning by changing our thinking or behavior.
Who’s in for some real learning and doing this week?
Chris