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Photo Courtesy of moriza (flickr)

How much sense does it make to learn a skill you won’t need for 10 years? Not much. That’s why I love my education today more than I did in school. Now, I practice self-education, not formal education. I am in control of my learning. I am not invested in learning skills in a classroom that I may or may not use, ever. I teach myself what I want to learn, when I need to learn it. In other words, I don’t waste time memorizing endless amounts of information just to regurgitate it on a test a few hours later and never use that knowledge ever again. If I need to learn something, I learn how to do it when it matters.

This one simple skill has transformed my productivity and my interest in self-improvement. I buy books about topics that are important now. I focus my energy today on tasks that matter today. I do appreciate learning things I may never use, especially when the topic is interesting. But, when I am aiming for a specific result, I want specific actions that will get me there as efficiently as possible. Just-in-Time Learning may be the greatest tool that I have ever practically utilized to get phenomenal results.

Take a look below at an excerpt from Chapter 5 – Personal Development, taken directly from my new eBook, Graduated And Clueless.

“I find television to be very educational. Every time someone

turns on the set I go into the other room and read a book.”

- Groucho Marx, comedian and actor

Your personal growth will be catapulted in the right direction as soon as you begin consuming the right information, at the right time, through the best means possible. One of the best approaches to keep in mind is called just-in-time learning. The idea behind this approach is to acquire knowledge or skills as they are needed, or when they are most essential. For example, if you decide that you want to learn a specific ballroom dance for your wedding, it would be a waste of your time to learn the dance two years in advance. Just-in-time learning will focus your growth when the time is right, meaning you learn the dance a couple of weeks before the big show. Keep in mind that you should be learning only the information that is absolutely critical for your next goal. Otherwise, you run the risk of wasting your time because you will be learning information you will never use or you will be delaying progress on the goal that matters most in your life right now.

Another common trap, which happens to me more often than I care to admit, is paralysis by analysis. In other words, consuming so much information at one time that you freeze and accomplish nothing. This is very common and potentially damaging to your own self-confidence. The key is to minimize the amount of information, focusing only on acquiring actionable knowledge. If you cannot quickly convert the information you learned into an actionable to-do list item, it is useless information for you at that specific moment in your life.

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Don’t forget to check out my new revolutionary eBook for conquering life after college!

The Clueless Graduate,

Jeff & Tessa Sanders

Jeff Sanders


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