RhodaMathis652

Remember dial telephones? Adding machines? Carbon paper? They're relics of the past, proof positive that the business world we live and work in changes. At times seemingly overnight. Office tools we were satisfied using not too long ago are grossly outdated today. And - to no one's surprise - much of the knowledge we relied on yesterday is grossly outdated today. To keep up, ya gotta intensify. Ya gotta keep on learnin'!

Don't believe me? Here's why that's true. Let's say you're a trombone player in your high school's marching band, a band that's playing at some big school event. Homecoming, maybe. You and a hundred roughly of your best band buddies are marching in lock step formation up and down the football field. Got the picture?

But, out of the blue, you select you don't desire to march any more. So you stop. Suddenly. Abruptly. Right then and there. Smack dab in the center of that thundering, music-making herd.

What happens once you stop? 1 of 2 things. You'll either get trampled by the marching buddies behind you, or they'll step around you, passing you up. Either way, they'll soon be way before you. You're left standing there, not going anyplace. Got the picture? Not just a very inviting one, is it?

Yet that's just what happens once you stop learning. It happens in your career or profession, also it happens in your everyday life. While you elect to stand still, your world - family, friends as well as those you work with and work for - continue to move ahead. The only path you can avoid being left behind, the only way to keep up with them, is to become a lifelong learner.

Yep, ya gotta keep learnin'!

That learning does not have to be fancy, formal or expensive. As well as your lifelong learning does not have to cost you - or your employer - tens of thousands of bucks like getting an MBA does. Lifelong learning can be as simple as going to that trade show or convention you haven't gone to in a year or two. Or maybe signing up for an industry seminar or workshop. It could even mean searching for an evening course or two at your community college.

Economics, marketing, human resources, team development, a second language? Perhaps a quick course to become more proficient using a software program you've been struggling with. Maybe a course in creative writing? Any subject you find attractive but don't know much about is a great place to begin.

None of this is expensive, none of it very consuming. But lifelong learning, a little at a time, does you a world of good. Personally and professionally. It's exhilarating, energizing, mind expanding. Lifelong learning results in new ways to think, at home, at the job, at play. Lifelong learning delivers new alternatives to explore, new ways for you to grow. Try it. You may never be left behind again. Guaranteed!

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