I never was a star student in school.

I got through high school with average (barely) grades and went to college because I was supposed to. There I found a major to get through in the shortest amount of time and once I finished I was glad it was over. The only goal setting I did was to get through college as quickly as I could

Now, on with my life. All that learning was over.

Or so I thought.

It didn’t take long (obviously) before I realized I needed to keep learning in order to keep us with my job and all the change happening around me.

Sometimes it was focused on a skill or individual task knowledge. Other times it was more broad and general on concepts. But being a learner was going to be life-long process. Most people keep learning for their jobs or vocation but what about themselves? Are you working on yourself as much as you do skills for work?

The world and society are constantly changing, and today it seems the rate of change is only increasing. If you are not constantly learning and growing with new information, skills and knowledge you will be left behind.

In an article for Industry Tap, David Russell Schilling explained the concept of the “Knowledge Doubling Curve” created by futurist and architect Buckminster Fuller:

Buckminster Fuller created the “Knowledge Doubling Curve”; he noticed that until 1900 human knowledge doubled approximately every century. By the end of World War II knowledge was doubling every 25 years. Today things are not as simple as different types of knowledge have different rates of growth. For example, nanotechnology knowledge is doubling every two years and clinical knowledge every 18 months. But on average human knowledge is doubling every 13 months. According to IBM, the build out of the “internet of things” will lead to the doubling of knowledge every 12 hours.

What does this mean? If you aren’t continually learning you’ll quickly find yourself far behind everyone who is.

You need to develop an attitude of a continual learner. That includes developing the tools and skills you will need to succeed and achieve your goals and dreams.

The attitude of a continual learner is to:

Learn. You need to first make a decision that learning is a life-long process. The more you learn the easier it becomes to keep learning. It’s a habit you develop over time. Remember when you got out of school for the summer and you were glad you didn’t have to study? Once school started again in the fall it was hard to get back into the habit of studying. Learning is a habit.

Grow from what you learn. If you aren’t applying what you learn, what’s the point? Certainly, some information and knowledge is just fun to learn without any real use in your daily life. But you need to be intentional about what you learn so that the tomorrow you is a bit better and more skilled than the today you.

Never give up learning new information, skills, and insights. If knowledge is going to double every 12 hours, it won’t take long to be left behind. The attitude of a continual learner is to always be learning. There is always new information available. Because of technology growth, new skills will be necessary. I don’t see too many typewriter repairmen around these days, but computer technicians are a must. What information or skills do you need to learn, or keep up with, in order to be successful in your job?

Have an open mind. So much of the time we stay focused on a narrow set of beliefs and concepts, but the world is made up of any number of beliefs, thoughts, ideas and skill sets. Being open to learning from someone with an opposing view or a new way of completing a task from what you’ve always done will allow your mind to expand.

Find new ways to get things done. When you drive to work, do you always go the same way? Have you ever gone through an intersection and then in a slight panic wonder if the light was actually green? We are so comfortable with the routines we create for ourselves that we are putting out brains at risk. Learning something new or having a new experience will help your brain expand and create new connections. Monday, intentionally take a different route to work. You’ll see new things and will actually find yourself focusing more on your driving (a real good thing!). Instead of the normal agenda of your routine meetings, change it up. Have the meeting outside, in a different space or do it standing up. Change is good.

Be willing to try them. Okay, so you’re looking for new ways to get things done. But you might be reluctant to follow through. You’ll never know if it is a better, easier or more beneficial way until you try it. Thomas Edison didn’t know what would make the best filament for the light bulb until he tried nearly 10,000 times. Today, you don’t even think about that when you turn on the lights. Try – learn – try again – do.

If you’re wanting to achieve more in your life, don’t let life just happen. Follow the journey of The Success Grower. Be a continual learner. Make life-long learning a part of your regular goal setting process.