The AI-era is ushering in a speed of change like never before. The printing press revolutionized the replication of knowledge. The computer revolutionized the creation of knowledge. The Internet revolutionized the dissemination of knowledge. What does the AI-era bring?

The AI-era revolutionizes the speed of knowledge.

As coaches, we typically believe in the need for continuous learning. It’s been a core belief and passion for me my entire life. I was inspired by my maternal grandfather and my mother. And after a wakeup call from overcoming a major health crisis, I pursued a PhD in psychology in my late 50’s.

But is continuous learning enough?

In AI-era, I don’t believe that continuous learning is enough. That’s because as continuous learners, we typically follow our interests and/or read books recommended by others. But because the speed of knowledge is ever increasing, an organic approach to learning will not keep you up to date.

The answer is intentional learning.

We must become intentional in choosing our topics, timing, and depth. While it is okay to follow your interests, do so with an intention. Make sure your purpose for taking that course or reading that book aligns with your values and moves you towards a goal.

Here are 6 ways to become more intentional about your learning:

1. Identify valuable knowledge at the right time. The value of knowledge isn’t static. It changes as a function of how valuable other people consider it and how rare it is. As new technologies mature and reshape industries, there is often a deficit of people with the needed skills, which creates the potential for high compensation. Because of the high compensation, more people are quickly trained, and the average compensation decreases.

2. Learn and master that knowledge quickly. Opportunity windows are temporary in nature. Individuals must take advantage of them when they see them. This means being able to learn new skills quickly. After reading thousands of books, I’ve found that understanding and using mental models is one of the most universal skills that EVERYONE should learn. It provides a strong foundation of knowledge that applies across every field. So when you jump into a new field, you have preexisting knowledge you can use to learn faster.

3. Communicate the value of your skills to others. People with the same skills can command wildly different salaries and fees based on how well they’re able to communicate and persuade others. This ability convinces others that the skills you have are valuable is a “multiplier skill.” Many people spend years mastering an underlying technical skill and virtually no time mastering this multiplier skill.

4. Convert knowledge into money and results. There are many ways to transform knowledge into value in your life. A few examples include finding and getting a job that pays well, getting a raise, building a successful business, selling your knowledge as a consultant, and building your reputation by becoming a thought leader.

5. Learn how to financially invest in learning to get the highest return. Each of us needs to find the right “portfolio” of books, online courses, and certificate/degree programs to help us achieve our goals within our budget. To get the right portfolio, we need to apply financial terms — such as return on investment, risk management, hurdle rate, hedging, and diversification — to our thinking on knowledge investment.

6. Master the skill of learning how to learn. Doing so exponentially increases the value of every hour we devote to learning (our learning rate). Our learning rate determines how quickly our knowledge compounds over time. Consider someone who reads and retains one book a week versus someone who takes 10 days to read a book. Over the course of a year, a 30% difference compounds to one person reading 85 more books.

Source: https://medium.com/accelerated-intelligence/the-5-hour-rule-if-youre-not-spending-5-hours-per-week-learning-you-re-being-irresponsible-791c3f18f5e6

As entrepreneurs and business leaders, that’s typically not our primary motivation. So instead of thinking how learning increases your salary or profit, think about how learning increases your VALUE to your clients.

The more value you can bring, the more impact you will have. And that’s what coaching is all about!