Articles & Blog

Learners are Earners.

“The ability to learn is the one common trait for every successful person I know”

say’s Jeff Immelt, the CEO and chairman of one of the largest and most profitable companies on the globe; General Electric.

Immelt says; “The world is moving quickly and we all must keep learning and growing.” If you ask him how he learns, he’ll describe the simple things; reading, meeting new people and taking the time to let your learnings actually sink into your psyche.

Afew years ago

I was on the verge of a stressed-out, anxiety-ridden nervous breakdown because I felt that I was not getting anywhere in my career. I was not progressing. Subconsciously putting the control outside of me; I thought this lack of progression was because I had a disrespectful team that did not listen to me or help me and I thought it was their fault that I and the business that I managed was not progressing.

A dear friend of mine and very smart lady by the name of Kylie Ryan, saw my severe frustration and gave me just one piece of information that made all of my worries completely and immediately dissipate. She simply said; ‘Bets, you are doing everything you know how to do. You just need to know more now!’ She continued: ‘Did you know that big, corporate companies spend thousands of dollars every year on up-skilling their managers and leaders by sending them to development courses and seminars? You just need to be up-skilled right now!’

My stress and anxiety disappeared. It all became so simple – and even better; it all became within my control.

So, just like GE’s Jeff Immelt I started to read. I replaced the New Weekly magazine with Fast Company magazine and the corny romance novels with personal development books on leadership, communication and team building.

I started to listen. I replaced the hip-hop, RnB and dance music on my iPod with audiobooks by Anthony Robbins, John Maxwell and Steven Covey.

I started to meet new people. I looked at what areas of my life I wanted to improve, searched for people I knew who are doing really well in that area and I asked to take them out for a coffee so I could learn from them.

I made time to let it all sink in. I would block out time in my daily schedule for 1 hour of learning; 30mins of reading or listening and 30mins of writing notes and summarising what I had learned and how I could apply that in my own life.

I became a good learner and since doing so, I can honestly say I have never felt the same unbearable stress, anxiety and lack of control that I used to before I was one.

If you’re sick of just getting by and actually want to get ahead, maybe it’s time you take your life and your success into your own hands for a change and start to lift your lid. The lid that is stopping you from getting what you want in life. This lid, my friend, is your level of learning.

So invest in an educational book or magazine, seek out successful people from whom you can learn and most importantly, make the time to actually determine where and how you will put your new knowledge into practice.

If these things are good enough for the head of one of the worlds super powers, then heck, they’re good enough for you and me!