Kathleen here. Last night I was browsing the Kindle bookstore looking for a fictional book I could escape into. Before I knew it, I was browsing personal development and business books. Does this ever happen to you? I’m guessing you’re a student of life and just as invested in learning All The Things as I am.
The hard part is balancing the learning with the doing. It’s easy to begin to hoard knowledge without ever implementing it. Or becoming overwhelmed with all the things you should be doing according to the last book, course, or webinar you attended.
So today, I want to share a couple ways I’ve balanced learning and doing:
1. Take stock of what you already know
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the things you don’t know, make a list of everything you’ve already learned. Think about education, courses, books, and conferences you’ve attended. Make a list and next to each one write down even just one thing you learned.
2. Want to go back to school?
Any time I start fantasizing about getting a masters degree in creative writing, I decide to just sit down and do some creative writing instead. Sometimes the best way to learn is by actually doing the thing. (And on that note, can I get an honorary master’s in business from somebody???)
3. You don’t have to know it all
You guys, it wasn’t until early last year that I knew what a “content upgrade” was. Just recently I learned the importance of an auto-drip sequence for your email list. I was running a profitable and successful business long before I knew what a sales funnel was or even had an email list. There are a lot of people trying to scare you into buying their thing in order for you to be successful, but if you learn one thing today it is this: you don’t have to know it all to be successful.
4. Set a “learning” intention or goal
Before you read another book or buy another course ask yourself “What is it that I want to learn?” So for example, let’s say I pick up the most recent Seth Godin book, before I crack the spine I might say something like: “I’m hoping to learn just one technique for growing my list.” or “I want to get more comfortable selling myself.” That way when I’m reading through the content, I’m focused on acquiring knowledge that will support my intention, rather than getting distracted or overwhelmed by all the content.
5. What’s the key takeaway?
And how are you going to act on it? Any time I go to a conference or read a new book, I reflect on the one thing that really stood out and I act on just that one thing. For example, early last year I was at a small mastermind retreat in Mexico with a few creative entrepreneurs. I learned a lot of things, but the one thing that stood out most was that I should be adding content upgrades to my most trafficked blog posts in order to grow my list. I came home, looked at my metrics, designed some worksheets, and asked my assistant to help me with the technical side of adding opt-ins to those posts. Since then my list has grown by 2,000 people.
The final thing I want to leave you with is that you don’t have to be an expert in the idea you’re implementing before you try it out. But it’s not enough to hoard knowledge without ever acting on it. So… what’s one thing you want to learn? What’s one thing you learned recently that you can implement that you haven’t acted on yet?
