Build a plan to Stay Ahead
Making sure you learn the New Tricks you need
Taking control of your learning journey, especially in a mid-career moment, can be overwhelming. But it can also be exhilarating.
We are used to putting our learning agenda in the hands of others.
Schools. Universities. Governments. Employers. Gurus.
All of these can be useful sources of learning, and momentum, but there’s simply no substitute for grabbing control of this process for yourself.
Over the last year, we’ve spoken to a galaxy of LookUP experts, who are doing some amazing things in all kinds of fields of business. The single attribute that most defines and unites them is that each puts deep energy into personal learning - and into reflecting on what learning they need to stay ahead of change.
So, this piece is all about helping you to define your Stay Ahead Plan.
It’s about starting to define a living, ever-evolving learning plan, that helps you to stay ahead of change through learning in multiple directions.
Not feeling ready? In that case, we’d recommend starting here.
Ready to learn? Then let’s do it!
(To access the full framework below, you’ll need to be a paid subscriber - but it will only cost £10 for this month)
Let’s get stuck in. Starting with a question…
Most people, most of the time, don’t have an answer to this question.
And that’s fine. It’s perfectly possible to have a healthy relationship with learning, without having a formal plan.
BUT like other things that happen organically, there is a danger that our plans to developing our own learning are…
Too one-dimensional. Because we get stuck in our head that we need to focus on one specific area of opportunity or weakness, rather than taking a step back.
Too non-committal. It’s extremely usual for learning to be a part of people’s list of priorities, but the least solid or prioritised element on that list!
Our aim here is first to help you explore four different dimensions of learning and staying ahead - and then to give you a framework to help you to maintain momentum.
Staying ahead on four dimensions
Staying ahead isn’t just a straight sprint! Here are four different dimensions of the mid-career journey to stay ahead of change.
1. Reconnect and Recombine
As human beings, often driven by furious neuroticism, we tend to obsess with what we can’t do, what we need to do better, what we think other people do better than us.
So, we’ve intentionally decided to start in the opposite place - because to build a plan to stay ahead, you probably need to start by falling back in love with learning itself.
Maybe that means not lurching directly into your areas of greatest discomfort, in the most judgemental environment you can find! Perhaps instead, let’s start with some of those skills and passions that we let slip somewhere back down the road.