Category Archives: Technology

My First Task for 2019: Learn how to Learn

4th Industrial Revolution, Learn how to Learn, Learning, Planning, Technology

Learn How to Learn

In previous posts I mentioned about the importance of Life Long Learning. We must keep learning in today’s world as we enter the 4th Industrial Revolution or become obsolete. We have to keep reinventing ourselves throughout our lives.  A job for life is gone. We have to plan for multiple jobs and even multiple careers in our lifetime. The average person will change careers 5-7 times during their working life.  According to a report by the Institute for the Future (IFTF) and a panel of 20 tech, business and academic experts from around the world, 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 haven’t even been invented yet!  It is commonly quoted that 65% of children entering primary school today will end up working in jobs that don’t even exist yet.  That means as you read this article it is possible that you could end up working in a career or job in the next 5-10 years that hasn’t even been invented yet! The question is how do you prepare for this new career when you don’t even know what it will be? The answer is life long learning.  But to make sure you are an effective learner you must learn how to learn.

Learning how to learn

The idea that you go to school/college and learn there and then spend the rest of your career applying what you learned is dead.  Since we have to keep learning we must first learn how to learn effectively.  But what does learn how to learn mean?  How do we translate learning into the reality of our everyday lives?  Technology is driving rapid change in the world and this rapid change is making our knowledge and skills obsolete quicker than even before.  Interestingly technology is also a part of the solution to our need to re-skill and up-skill.

My learning goal in 2019

In 2019 I am setting a process goal (see last post) of spending one hour learning each day.  I have no idea what I will spend that time learning.  I will learn what I feel I need to as the year ahead unfolds.  The first course I am taking is an online course by Coursera aptly called ‘Learning how to Learn’.  I want to make sure that the time that I spend learning is well spent (especially since this is a life-long activity!).  I want to be a more effective learner.  You can take the course for free and if you want a certificate you can pay a small fee.

Let’s learn together!

Why not join me in setting a process goal for learning during 2019.  Join me also in taking the free course ‘Leaning how to Learn’ on Coursera.  I will be sharing some of my insights as I go through the course.  I will also be sharing with you what else I am learning as I go through 2019.  Let us make 2019 a year of earning and learning and preparing ourselves for a rapidly changing world.

Best wishes,

Tom

Plan for career change

4th Industrial Revolution, Career, Technology
Who are you?

How do you define yourself?  How well do you adapt to change?  What new skills have you learned in the past 12 months?  How much time every week do you spend learning new skills?  Are you prepared for career change?  In today’s world and going forward these are very important questions to reflect on.  We have increasing automation of work processes due to new technology and the forces of globalisation (known as the 4th Industrial Revolution).  As a result our working lives are becoming increasingly impermanent and unpredictable, and will only become more so in the future.  Long term employment with one company or organisation (or even in one industry) is becoming a thing of the past.

Career Change

A UK worker will change employer every five years on average, according to research by life insurance firm Liverpool Victoria.  In January 2016, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the average employee tenure was 4.2 years, down from 4.6 years in January 2014.  When you look at the technological disruptions of the new technologies of the 4th industrial revolution the trend of increasing career change is set to continue and accelerate.

How about you?

What did you learn in school or college?  Is it useful and relevant to you now?  For example when I was in college in the 1980s Personal Computers were just coming in.  I learned computers for the first time on a mainframe computer in University College Dublin.  That was basically one big computer with many terminals.  Much of what I learned is irrelevant today.  Now I have a computer in my pocket called a smartphone.  Back then there was no commercial internet as we know it.  We had no idea that the internet age was around the corner.  If you wanted information you sought out books and journals in the college library.  The idea that I might one day self-publish a book or write a blog, or teach an online course was nowhere on the horizon.  In the past one year I have learned how to publish online courses.  I now have two courses and teach 1,737 students from 109 countries!  I am now working on my third course which is on changing technology and the skills we need to prepare for this new world of work and increasing change.

In summary

If we do not keep changing and growing we become outdated and irrelevant.  We must be perpetual self-improvers.  We must be life long learners.  What are your thoughts on today’s world of work and where you are headed?  Are you building new skills and keeping up to date?  Are you systematically preparing for your next job or career move?  In this world of the 4th Industrial Revolution, being ready for change and preparing for multiple jobs and careers is a very necessary response.

Best wishes,

Tom

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My online course ‘Transform Your Life: 30 Experiments in Personal Change’ will help you build the type of personal skills needed for the new world of work.   Please use the link above for a special discounted price of $9.99 (only for readers of this blog).