Continuing education doesn’t have to be formal to be effective. As people and as financial advisors, we should never stop learning.
No matter how much you know, there’s always more to learn.
- How many non-fiction books have you read this year?
- Do you take notes when you read? Or re-read a book 2, 3, 5 or 10 times?
- Do you write in the books and jot ideas and implementation strategies?
- Do you love Amazon.com or your local Barnes & Noble bookstore?
- How many biographies have you read?
- How many audible books and/or audio CDs have you purchased, and then listened to their contents repeatedly?
- Are you on the Nightingale-Conant preferred-customers list?
- Do you obtain any industry-specific information that is available?
- Do you subscribe to all the helpful business tip websites?
- How many DVDs have you purchased and watched?
- How many business DVDs do you have?
- Do you go to many seminars?
- Do you go to every industry-specific seminar?
- How much would you spend for a seminar? Would $2,000, $3,000, $5,000 or $10,000 be too much? Why?
- What types of seminars would you and have you attended? Is it time to ‘learn outside the box’ and explore other subjects?
- Have you ventured outside of your comfort zone?
- Do you share and obtain ideas regularly?
- Have you thought about returning to college?
- Would a MBA or different certifications/licenses help achieve your goals?
- Do you have any mentors?
- How often do you talk to them?
- Do you know their strengths and weaknesses?
- How’s your peer networking?
- Do you talk with at least three people per week who are doing something better than you?
- Do you talk to successful people outside your ‘normal’ circle of acquaintances?
The most successful people I know do several things religiously:
- Read the biographies of successful people.
- Read often.
- Keep a dictionary on their desks and search for words they don’t know or use consistently.
- Break from their own ‘paradigm’ to look at things in new ways.
- Talk to people who are more successful than they are.
- Listen more than they talk.
As soon as you stop learning, you stop growing. Look for new information and always apply it to your business and life. Avoid learning just for the sake of it, but learn for a purpose and apply the information quickly.
Need new inspiration so you never stop learning? Check out the resources available at Advisor Wealth Mastery.