Self Employed Success

I made an amazing discovery last month. Like you, I’m a busy business owner. Yet I need to continually learn new marketing techniques, new business ideas, etc. in order to maintain my expertise in my field.

Where was I going to find time to do all that reading, listening, and studying???

As with most successful projects, lifelong learning is about two things: structure and discipline.

If you took six hours a week to learn something new (read a book, listen to an audio program, take a watch a video tutorial, take a class), you’d have completed 312 hours of learning new material a year. That’s equivalent to over SIX college-level courses.

To be be known as an expert, you must be willing to invest six hours a week to “sharpening the saw” of your knowledge.

The way I do it is this: I’m taking off every Friday for the next year, to read, take classes, learn. From 9:00 – 3:00, I’ll read a book to read, listen to an audio program on MP3, watch video lessons, read websites, or take classes.

A colleague of mine uses her treadmill time to listen to audios. Another colleague signs up for one class a month, each and every month of the year. One of my clients takes a weekly trip to the library (“The only place I can find some quiet!” he says) and reads a book for a few hours.

You can do this, too. Maybe you take one hour a day as your Learning Time. Maybe you schedule one day per week. It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you schedule the time into your calendar and religiously adhere to your learning schedule.

When you think “300 hours” it’s overwhelming.

When you think “1 hour a day” it’s empowering!