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- Learn, do, succeed. Are you a MASTER in entrepreneurship?
Learn, do, succeed. Are you a MASTER in entrepreneurship?
Successful overnight...
Wouldn't it be great if we learned something and were immediately good at it? Take one piano lesson and you could play Mozart or Beethoven. Take one drawing lesson and you would be able to design a high-end building. Kick a ball once and become a professional footballer.
If it were that easy, everyone would learn something new every day. The truth is that learning requires practice, and practice requires both refinement and repetition. Mastering a skill is often a lifelong journey, even for the most talented among us.
The human brain consists of two hemispheres. These independent but interconnected parts of the brain help control the human body.
Think of them as your 'hard drives'. They collect information and store our experiences and images as we learn and grow. This intricate network prompts voluntary and involuntary actions and reactions as we learn.
Interestingly, people can still function when one side of the brain is damaged, but they will never be as effective again. We have to use both sides of the brain to master any skill.
Both sides of the brain
You have probably taken an online quiz to determine which part is more dominant. Those who call themselves "RIGHT BRAIN" are generally more logical and methodical.
Those who identify as "LEFT BRAIN" are more creative and instinctive. Science continues to evolve on this topic. This concept is called neuroplasticity.
- Analytical
- Logical
- Detail- and fact-oriented
- Numeric
- Probably thinking in words
- Creative
- Freethinking
- Able to see the big picture
- Intuitive
- Probably visualising more than thinking in words
Regardless of how you identify, your brain involves both sides when we learn. It has to process information, manage visual input and interpret audio at the same time. Engaging both hemispheres of the brain is crucial for understanding.
Learning a new skill
When you first start learning a new concept or skill, the two hemispheres of your brain compete for 'power'. Within seconds, your brain starts receiving and deciphering the new information.
This encryption does not always go well and people often experience confusion when learning something new. This is when the right and left sides of your brain conflict over the information because it does not match what you already know. This confusion can shift to anxiety or disruption, which is both unsettling and beneficial to the learning process.
Disruption
Disruption and confusion force both hemispheres of the brain to work together. This merging of new inputs increases interest.
This interest or curiosity, if nurtured properly, can translate into deep learning and ultimately lead to mastery.
But we will not be able to master any new skill unless we practise and act on what we have just learnt. To perpetuate learning, repetition is crucial. Repetition not only helps form connections in memory, it also allows us to make the skill easily accessible.
You see this in immersive language teaching. Exposure to a language in the classroom is never as effective as using language in a living environment.
In a living environment, you are forced to communicate by trial and error, and if you are successful, you remember the information more easily. The satisfaction you get from learning naturally gives us an incentive to 'repeat' the behaviour.
In business, we are often rewarded for mastering, or being proficient in, skills. Regardless of how easy or difficult it was to achieve a level of mastery, we strive to duplicate the feeling and rewards as we continue to learn to progress. Learning also has side effects, as can also be read in this article at Inc.com
Learning makes you happier
Several studies have shown that the more ambitious the goals we set, the happier we are. And when we set our own goals, our happiness does not depend on others.
We choose how many hours we practise, and we take responsibility for what we achieve. Personal development is a way of ensuring our inner peace.
You remain humble
If we want to learn as much as we can, we are less likely to appear arrogant. Real charmers make sure they don't seem the smartest themselves; they make others seem smart. And when people see that you are trying to learn from them, it becomes much easier to be liked.
You become a coach
As the leader of your organisation, you need to make learning a part of your corporate culture. One way to start doing this is by teaching others what you have learned over time. You want to become such a great teacher that your company can run itself without you. When you have achieved that, you have truly reached the state of MASTERY.
How much are YOU learning as an entrepreneur?
As a business owner, you learn at lightning speed because you need to master all aspects of your business. Some skills you learn easily, others you learn through costly mistakes.
To minimise failure costs, you need consistent and continuous learning. The more you learn, the more you will want to put into practice. Action is the result of learning and without action, information tends to disappear and fade away.
This is why top athletes practise individual skills, surgeons receive continuing education to learn new techniques and, as entrepreneurs, we need to keep learning to really master entrepreneurship!
Kurt Vervloet
Kurt Vervloet is a business coach, blogger and speaker. Since 2017, he has been coaching businesses around the world, ranging from solo entrepreneurs, SME companies to executive management teams at large organisations. His clients choose to work with him because of my proven, no-nonsense approach to optimising and scaling businesses. By achieving great results with his clients, he has already been rewarded with several Awards.
