Many disturbing numbers of people don’t respect experts. They think they are smarter. After all, doesn’t everyone have access to all knowledge in the world? Why would we need experts?

I have great respect for information. I believe that learning can be transformative. It requires a lot of humility to understand that my knowledge is just a tiny sliver of what’s out there. And yet even this measly amount has radically changed my life. I am in awe of the power of knowledge. I truly pity those who think they are finished learning or who think that those who continue to learn are somehow “lesser.” What a dull life such arrogant people must lead!

In college, my professor Jerry Fecht was one of the smartest people I ever met. He could offer a robust and well-reasoned argument on pretty much any topic you threw at him. One day he told me that he was going on a sabbatical to learn. I thought that was odd since he knew so much already. Now I realize that the reason he was so educated was because he never stopped learning. That insight had a huge impact on me and is probably why I’m writing this piece today.

Cause and Effect

When somebody tries to infuse new knowledge into their life, the results can vary – putting it mildly. How might an isolated fact react with your mind? How will a particular managerial approach affect your team? How might a campaign affect sales? If these changes don’t work out, you’ll need to keep tweaking them until they do. No single factor will ever be perfect a perfect fit from day one. Applying knowledge is a process – frustrating and tedious as it may be.

When we take action, there will be both immediate and long-term effects. Part of the learning curve is understanding the upstream and downstream effects of any decision. That’s easier said than done. Drinking a cocktail after work, eating a plate of nachos, or spending an hour on social media might give you shots of dopamine. But keep in mind that each of these seemingly innocuous actions will have ripple effects across the ocean of your life.

The learning curve is steep at the beginning, but it levels off over time. Yet, just because it gets easier doesn’t mean there is an end to learning. There’s always something else to absorb, even when you hit the point of diminishing returns. That’s because you’re not the only person in the universe. No matter what sector you’re in, everything is always changing. If you don’t keep up, you might be left behind. Equally, the people in your life are always changing as well. The way you interact with your toddler will be lightyears different from how she needs your attention when in her teens. In other words, just when you think a learning curve is over, there will be parallel ones you may not have noticed or new ones will pop up.

If you have ever fallen in love with someone or made a new friend, there’s a learning curve there, too. You must learn what kind of language is acceptable around them, whether they want to be left alone after a challenging day, how they like to be listened to, and myriad other factors. For some jobs, the learning curve can be steep or flat. A fresh employee may take a couple of minutes to get up to speed or a couple of months, depending on the responsibilities.

The Whole Picture

The most complex part of any learning curve is understanding how each piece of the puzzle fits into your own life. There are so many little building blocks that go into success.

Thankfully, there is a long history of people who have done this before. These folks were so excited about what they learned that they recorded it for future readers. You know the technology I’m talking about. Books, magazines, documentaries. Most of this recorded knowledge is available for free online. Let me put it another way: Do you think you’re the first person to live your life? Of course, you aren’t. So, learn from other people. Tap into their knowledge.

Books

I love books. Books are a great way to disconnect from everyday distractions and focus on something that really matters to you. It’s wonderfully easy to get lost in new ideas tucked deep inside books and learn new strategies for achieving a goal. I always start my day by reading either a self-help book or a book about my industry. I also read often about ways to raise good kids because that is one of my goals. And in these days of social media, forcing yourself to read something for an extended period helps develop a greater attention span.

Subscribe to newsletters

I subscribe to a handful of newsletters and I read every single word. These are primarily about what my colleagues are saying about personal development and success. Every industry has people who write on key topics and act as thought leaders. Even if you don’t agree with them and have lots of contrarian thoughts of your own, it’s usually a good idea to stay abreast of what the wider sector is saying or doing. You never know is an opportunity might appear that no one else can see except yourself.

Podcasts and YouTube

YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google (because it is owned by the Google parent company, Alphabet). You can learn almost anything on YouTube. There are surprisingly deep and insightful videos on investing, how to fix a car, how to raise kids, and even step-by-step guides on how to repair whatever brand/model of washing machine you happen to own. I’m serious, it’s probably there. Almost every day I fire up YouTube and scroll through what it has to offer. Since many people don’t enjoy reading books, podcasts, and audiobooks can deliver the same information through different media.

Feedback

Sometimes, no matter how many books you read, no matter how many YouTube videos you watch, there’s nothing like getting feedback about your path from someone you trust. They might be a business coach, a wise friend, or a psychologist who knows you deeply.

Take the opportunity to ask everyone for advice, even those above you in life. For people in a corporate setting, it’s important to seek out advice from good leadership rather than falling into the trap of seeing leaders as the enemy. Ask them how you can move up the value chain or for tips on doing your job better. Most importantly, listen to their answers. Everybody loves being asked for advice. And your boss desperately wants you to perform at your highest ability since that’s what makes them the most profitable. Why not knock on their corner office door tomorrow?

Do you want to know a secret? Many people don’t ask for feedback. This means if you’re making the effort to do so, you’ll be one of the 0.001% who actively aim to improve their lives. In other words, your competition is almost non-existent. At the bare minimum, most people will stay still while you advance rapidly toward your goals. The most secret of all secret knowledge in the universe is that you really don’t have much competition at all. Strange that no one tells you that at school, right?

In fact, the only questions most people ask tend to be victim-minded, such as: Why me? Why is it so hard? Why can’t I get ahead? Motivational speaker Tony Robbins pointed out that successful people ask better questions and, as a result, get better answers. After you set a goal, lay out a set of questions that you need answers to. If you want to start a company, ask for advice from someone who already has succeeded in business. Ask the business associations for help. Ask Google. Ask YouTube. Ask Amazon for a list of books. Ask, ask, ask. I firmly believe there is an answer to every question.

Mentors and Coaches

For bigger goals, it’s important to engage with mentors, coaches, consultants, and even attend masterminds. Throughout my career, I have met amazing people who helped me flatten the learning curve considerably. They told me where to focus and what to ignore. They taught me efficiency and different methodologies. Every athlete needs a coach to implement the right routine and to push them they need encouragement. Even though I believe all motivation ultimately is self-motivation that does not mean that we don’t need help from time to time.

Reminders

Just because you know something or just because you have something in the back of your mind does not mean that it’s easily accessible to you.  There are a handful of books that I read over and over again.  I know the concepts, but sometimes my attention is somewhere else.  Relearning and reminders are important because they refocus the mind. At different points on the learning curve, you will inevitably process in a different way.  You have a different mindset.  You have a different approach.  You have a different perspective.  You might gain insight or make sense of something that didn’t make sense the first time.

Deep thinking

In his book, Stolen Focus, Johann Hari worried that modern humans are losing the ability to really think deeply. Before the internet came along, we used to get lost in books. Now, we just scan the headlines from a bunch of articles and pretend we know what’s going on in the world. All this scanning does is steal our focus away from the necessary information that we need. Hari described one study in which the people who read fiction showed more empathy because they learned how to put themselves into characters’ lives.

When I read a book, I am immersed in it because my computer program reads it aloud to me. This slows down my speed and forces me to concentrate. It’s not possible for me to scan. I’m forced to hear EVERY SINGLE WORD. Plus, my computer is in my home office which is the only place I can work by myself, unless I work in my head. Yet, when I am on YouTube, I find myself watching a couple of minutes of one video and then jumping to another. The challenging part of learning is finding the information that resonates most with you and being committed to using it to improve your life.

If you can develop a reverence for information, a thirst for more knowledge, and the skills to find which information is right for you, that’s half the battle of becoming a better person. And it’s a giant step in the correct direction for creating success.