‘Knowledge workers should train like LeBron, and implement strict “learning plans.” To be sure, intellectual life is different from basketball. Success is harder to measure and the metrics for improvement aren’t quite as clear. Even then, there’s a lot to learn from the way top athletes train. They are clear in their objectives and deliberate in their pursuit of improvement. Knowledge workers should imitate them.’ David Perrell
David Perrell had some interesting thoughts suggesting that knowledge workers should take a more systematic approach to lifelong learning. They should, he says, structure their learning in the same way that an athlete would their training – committing to a new goal each quarter, learning in three-month sprints, but breaking the project down into weekly goals and daily increments that enable you to acquire the skills you need to complete a learning project in good time. He even has a template that he’s created that you can use.
I’m a fan of continuous learning and self-renewal. And I think that this systematic approach could be brilliant for acquiring a new skill (like learning to draw or to play a new musical instrument). It’s perhaps less easy to see – for me at least – how such a rigid schedule of continuous learning could be applied to acquiring knowledge and expanding your thinking on a topic you become interested in.
My own process for this is a lot more flexible and seemingly more haphazard than David recommends. But in a way it is still systematic, in the sense that I’ve developed a habit for intellectual exploration (without wanting to sound too pompous). And I do think that habits can be excellent systems for making progress and change happen.
When you set a goal it’s always some way off in the future and for intellectual exploration it’s often hard to know where exactly you want to end up. But developing a learning habit and following your curiosity is a system in and of itself, and one which often takes you to places that you never thought about going to in the first place. What I mean by this is that reading every day about topics that are of current interest to you, going down the odd rabbit hole, being willing to slowly explore unfolding subjects that fascinate you, and (for me at least) writing about the observations you have and the opinions that you form along the way, creates a powerful habit for continuous learning.
Change is a process not an event, and systems are more powerful than goals.
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Photo by Braden Collum on Unsplash
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