When people ask me what business I'm in, I often say, I'm in the learning business. It sounds intriguing but truth be told, we're all in the learning business.

But why?

Because as humans, we're learning machines. We're most alive and functioning closest to our potential when we are learning, adapting, adjusting, finding new ways, and approaching new techniques to boost our lives (or the lives of others) in any way.

Change and Learning

Change is all over us. Some say the rate of change is increasing, but whether that's true or not, this is definitely a fact within our business lives. Products change, Customers change, processes and policies change. We're placed on a brand new team, we're entering new markets, and we've set new goals. In every area of our daily professional lives change surrounds us.

For us to deal with this change, we must be willing to and be in a position to change. And learning is a key component in developing that ability.

When I discuss continuous learning or lifelong learning, I'm not suggesting everyone needs to take a course at their local college or get back to school for a brand new degree. Continuous learning can be an attitude that enables us to succeed in our ever-changing environment and is the only way to turn into who we want to be tomorrow. Change requires learning and conversely, there's no learning without change.

So if lifelong learning doesn't suggest the "professional university student" and doesn't require us to be the person who was always asking questions in every class we ever attended, what are the behaviors that make up a true continuous or life-long learner?

The Behaviors

There are a few common traits among those that actively learning and growing as professionals (and humans). Life-long, continuous learners:

A beginner's mindset

In the event that you approach anything with the mindset of an expert, you'll learn nothing. With the expert's mind, you are seeking confirmation and validation of what you already know. A starter, on another hand, looks constantly for just one new tidbit, one or more ways to expand on their current expertise. In other words, expert or not, they don't really think that way, simply because they know that only having an open, beginners mind, would they benefit from the learning opportunity.

Making connections

Peter Drucker, the famous and influential management thinker wrote, "To make knowledge productive we will have to learn to see both forest and tree. We will have to learn to connect." Continuous learners do that. They continue to think about what they have learned in one single part of their life and how it relates to and connects with challenges, problems, opportunities, and situations that occur in other parts of their life.

Being flexible and adaptable

Learning requires change, so continuous learners know that they should be ready to adapt and change if they wish to grow.

Always learning something

Continuous learners learn new things just because. They've always desired to play guitar, so that they take lessons. They want to ride a unicycle, so they try it. They learn to quilt. They learn a brand new language. These individuals don't invest the full time required just for them to play "Love Me Tender" or say "Good morning" in Chinese. Additionally they get it done simply because they realize that our brains are like muscles. The more we exercise them the stronger they will be.

Continuously curious

One of the very powerful learning questions we use is Why? Why is the question of the curious. Continuous learners remain curious about people, places, important and mundane things as well. By cultivating their curiosity they're adding with their knowledge and perspective while exercising an essential section of our learning brain at exactly the same time.

Learn in multiple ways.

In school, we learned in a comparatively limited amount of ways, which inturn leaves some people who have a restricted view of learning. Continuous learners know that they'll learn by reading, by listening, by trying through others, with a mentor, etc.

Teach others.

Something magical happens once you teach someone something, suddenly understand it better yourself. Continuous learners teach others not just to greatly help the other person (or showing them how much they know) but simply because they know it helps them deepen their mastery of their particular learning.

So tell me, what did you learn that changed your life?