7    

Search Far and Wide

Help! There is too much information out there and it’s growing every day. How do you find the best resources and experiences for learning? How do you even know what to look for?

It’s tempting to use the first resources, people, and experiences that cross your path because that’s often the easiest option. You use the class, app, or coach your friend recommends. You jump right into a project you’re told you can “learn something” from without thinking about the value. You always take a class, get a book, experiment on your own, or click on the first or second result in an Internet search when you want to learn. “That’s my style,” you say.

It’s tempting to take the first resource or experience option that comes your way when you want to learn something. But unless you are sure it will be the best use of your time, resist the urge. Step back and use learning 4.0 methods to lead with questions, use scanners, be resource-versatile, and be open to the new.

Lead With Questions

Before you decide exactly what and how you will learn, ask yourself two important guiding questions:

• What knowledge, skills, and other qualities will help me reach my future vision?

• What resources—experiences, tools, information, media, and support—can I use to help me learn?

Unless you are an expert in your learning area—meaning you know what’s going on and where to go to stay current—plan to go broad before you go deep. This means being curious and open: leading with questions.

Curiosity and questions dominated your world as a child. Somehow, many adults replace this quality with a need to look good, be perfect, and be certain. (Remember the fixed mindset we discussed in chapter 2?) The rapidly changing world begs you to rekindle your curiosity and nurture your growth mindset.¹ Curiosity is also important for your health and vitality. It may be one of your most important defenses against brain atrophy and dementia.

Be curious about what you need to learn and what’s available to help you learn. Ask:

• I wonder what skills and knowledge I should focus on?

• I wonder if I need to modify any attitudes or beliefs?

• I wonder what experiences I can put myself into?

• I wonder what other learning resources and support are out there, and what will work best for me?”

When you are curious, you become an exploratory learner. You position yourself to stretch beyond your current self and world view. You tell your conscious self and your automatic system that you are willing to step out of your comfort zone and into an expanded zone of possibilities. This revives the energy that stimulated all that brain development you experienced as a child.

Leading with questions means looking for and following clues, much like a detective. You may start out thinking you need to learn one type of skill or knowledge, only to discover that there are different ways of thinking than you imagined. You will probably discover resources for learning that were not obvious at the start, which may even lead you to change your future vision as you learn more. Let this exploratory perspective lead you into the next phase of your search.

Use Scanners

The goals of your search are greater clarity about what to learn and a list of the best resources for learning it. There is a vast array of resources at your disposal when you want to learn something: books, articles, online material, coaches, mobile apps, games, videos, podcasts, lectures, workshops, retreats, meetings, developmental job assignments, and more.

How do you find what you need in this information overload? Fortunately, you can turn to scanners—people and services that help you sort through the sea of information. Scanners don’t take over your learning; instead, they help point you toward what you need while you orchestrate the search. Your job is to stay curious, opening your attention and brain to new perspectives and information. Figure 7-1 lists some scanners that can help you find resources for learning and refine your future vision. Go to one or more of these scanners before you jump onto your learning path.

Figure 7-1. Scanners

One amazing scanner that is always working for you if it’s primed with a meaningful future vision is your own brain. Remember that your brain doesn’t like unfinished business (see chapter 6). When you have a future vision that is different from where you are today, your brain works to resolve that gap. When you are looking for something or wanting to be better at something, your automatic system will keep looking for help and answers. If your brain is primed, you will notice opportunities at work and in life related to your future vision that you would otherwise ignore. Set your brain up as a scanner.

Keep track of the learning activities and resource ideas that scanners help you discover. Refine your future vision to reflect any relevant insights you gather along the way.

Be Resource-Versatile

Learning 4.0 is highly versatile learning. This has implications for how you think about, select, and use resources for learning.

Expand Your Range

Information is increasing at accelerating rates, and so are the ways of packaging it. You can get the same learning content in many formats. Be open to the broad array of learning resources, and be ready to embrace more as they are invented. Figure 7-2 shows some of the kinds of resources you will find in your search.

Figure 7-2. Learning Resources

Versatility Over Learning Style

Learning 4.0 is agile across the full range of resources. Be ready to select the best resources for your learning—don’t limit your search to the resources in your comfort zone. This is a challenge because, like most people, you probably prefer some learning resources over others and have developed favorite ways to learn. For example, you may prefer reading, conversations, courses, games, or learning through experience. You may like to think about ideas before you try something new. You may prefer to learn on your own instead of in conversations and team learning activities. You may think of yourself as a visual or auditory or tactile learner. These preferences are part of your learning style.

It’s useful to know how you like to learn and the media you prefer to use. But learning today requires high versatility across many different types of resources and learning styles. If you limit yourself to what you are comfortable doing, you will fall behind.

As a 4.0 learner, you can’t be tied down to specific resources, media, or approaches. Stretch your capabilities to learn in any situation, whether it’s with and without others, conceptually through reading and listening, or reflectively by analyzing what’s happening. Put aside any preconceived ideas about workshops or online learning and explore new learning formats. Be ready to use anything you encounter in the information field so that you can broaden your horizons beyond your resource comfort zone.

Don’t Forget Opportunities in Daily Life

Don’t overlook the embedded learning value in your everyday life and work experience! Your daily life is filled with learning opportunities. This is especially true for physical, interpersonal, personal, and intellectual skills. If you want to develop your physical stamina, you can walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Develop your listening skills by spending three times as much time listening as you do speaking. Strengthen your budget and finance knowledge by participating in the first stage of budget planning. Any situation with boisterous children or an annoying colleague will help you develop your patience. If your goal is to improve your decision making, you’ll have many opportunities to do that on the job.

When you are searching for learning resources, think about options you have in your daily life or that you could access with a bit of stretch. Ask people who know your work and life situation to help you identify natural learning opportunities that are available to you now.

Experiment with the full array of learning resources around you and be on the lookout for more to appear every day. See yourself as a self-service learner and move around the information field—with or without help—in formal or informal learning situations. If you need to know something, Google it. If you find a great article, read it, even if you don’t see yourself as a reader. Try out a new skill in a role-play exercise, even if it pulls you out of your comfort zone. If your company requires an online course, take the opportunity even if you stopped thinking about yourself as a student long ago. Make every life and work experience into an opportunity to learn.

Be Open to the New

It’s tempting to see this search phase as a chore or a sideways move. It may bring back memories of spending hours in the school library. But you are out of school now, an adult facing learning challenges, time pressures, and trade-offs in the many roles you play. It makes sense to search before you invest your learning time and energy.

So, approach this search phase as a 4.0 learner. Make it a time of discovery; a time in your learning process when you let your curiosity and questions roam, when you follow your needs and interests as you buzz across the information field. It can be a time of real flow—of getting lost in your curiosity and enjoying what you find. Your neurochemicals will surge as you find answers to your search questions (dopamine), explore ideas with others (oxytocin), and enjoy being exposed to something new (endorphins).

Maybe you experienced some of these feelings the last time you did an online search. You had a question, launched an Internet search, roamed around the search results, checked out some of the more relevant items, and hopefully got what you needed. Maybe your search even changed your view of what you wanted to find.

The discovery experience is one of the most important benefits of your search activities.

Search, in Brief

As a 4.0 learner, you know that the learning resource field is far too vast for you to navigate alone. So take some time to search for the best resources and experiences before you commit major time and effort to your learning. Lead with questions, step back to see what resources are out there, and turn to scanners who can help you decide what to learn and direct you to the best resources for your needs. And don’t forget to turn the spotlight on learning opportunities in your daily life. Think of these as the low-hanging fruit that is ready for you to pick and turn into new capabilities. You are resource-versatile; don’t be limited by resource preferences or the learning style you’ve developed over the years. Instead, choose your learning material based on what’s relevant for your needs.

Searching in this way helps you deal with the information overload around you. It allows you to start creating a mental framework for organizing your learning and setting up support networks that you can access as your learning unfolds. You continue to shape your future-vision.

And, you get a bonus. The search phase is often a fascinating time of exploration—a learning journey in its own right. Because you are taking a broader, search-oriented view, you’ll discover ways of thinking that stretch you, and you might even change your view of what the learning project is all about.