Today’s quick thought is inspired by the preface to Dale Carnegie’s classic How to Win Friends & Influence People. Carnegie wanted his readers to do more than just absorb his ideas—he wanted them to change their behaviors. So, he wrote a preface with nine specific steps to take in order to act on the principles in his book.
Many of us engage in professional development activities like reading books, attending seminars, and talking with mentors in our field. But, I know that frequently I am not as intentional about doing something with these experiences—certainly I don’t have as disciplined an approach as Carnegie offers. I suspect I’m not the only one.
So, today’s quick thought is to become more intentional about learning from new experiences. After engaging in any kind of professional growth, ask yourself what you can do to put your learning into practice. It might be applying a skill to a current project, reviewing a topic with the explicit goal of viewing it through a new conceptual lens, or teaching someone else what you learned in order to check your understanding.
By becoming intentional about learning something from an experience, I hope to become even more effective in my work—and I think you will too!