CottrillWidmer21

Remember dial telephones? Adding machines? Carbon paper? They are relics of the past, proof positive that the business community we live and work in changes. At times seemingly overnight. Office tools we were satisfied using lately are grossly outdated today. And - to no one's surprise - much of the knowledge we relied on yesterday is grossly outdated today.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 is why that is 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 or so of one's best band buddies are marching in lock step formation along the football field. Got the picture?

But, out of the blue, you decide you don't want 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. In any event, they'll soon be way ahead of 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, and 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 way you can you shouldn't be left behind, the only way to keep up with them, is to turn into a lifelong learner.

Yep, ya gotta keep learnin'!

That learning doesn't have to be fancy, formal or expensive. And your lifelong learning doesn't 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 couple of years. Or possibly signing up for a business seminar or workshop. It could even mean enrolling in an evening course or two at your community college.

Economics, marketing, human resources, team development, another language? Perhaps an instant course to become more proficient utilizing a software program you've been struggling with. Maybe a course in creative writing? Any subject you're interested in 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 work, 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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