As school starts, remember learning is for life.

When you think of a learned person, who do you visualize? A professor perhaps? Or a highly schooled professional with certificates on their wall and letters after their name?

The topic of learning, might instantly make us think of schooling, exams, degrees etc. But the reality is we all have the potential to increase and apply our learning every day. Understanding that there’s always more to learn, at every stage in your career, is fundamental to personal development, adapting to change and, ultimately, success.

Reflecting on my learning journey

To be honest, I’ve never used to see myself as a person who learned and developed throughout my career. My ethos has always been focused on working hard and getting the job done as well as possible, no matter what – which is a philosophy I stand by and have built into the culture of Catapult Print.

But when I look back, it becomes clear that it’s actually been my vulnerabilities that have been a catalyst for learning – lack of self belief and fear of failure have driven me to learn from others, learn from mistakes, and learn how to play to my strengths. When I consider how far I’ve come, it’s clear that continuous learning has been fundamental to both my career journey and the success of Catapult, and has been inherently linked with leveraging my natural abilities, enabling me to take risks, and giving me the confidence to push myself to achieve more.

Playing to your strengths

I don’t subscribe to the school of big words and smoke and mirrors. Those who know me, know I am all about saying it how it is, being clear, and cutting out the BS to make things happen. I know where my strengths lie, and where I’m not so strong, and being clear and confident about that means that I never try to blag my way through.

I think learning about your own strengths and enabling your team to play to their strengths is one of the most important aspects of personal development in business, which can drive productivity, staff retention, and motivation.

Let me give you an example. In a former role, I was one of the highest performing sales people in the company, constantly winning new business, which helped the company grow. But as the business grew, it became more corporate and wanted all sales people to fill in reports, complete spreadsheets and do a hundred and one other admin tasks that I wasn’t good at. As a result, I spent more time jumping through hoops and less time doing what had made me – and the company – so successful. The result? Fewer sales, demotivation from doing the things I hated rather than enjoyed, and lower productivity.

What’s the take home from that? Learning is a personal journey for every individual – success isn’t about turning you into something you’re not; it’s about making the most of your talent.

Be inspired

Looking back, I’ve always been good at learning from the knowledge and habits of great people that I’ve looked up to during my career.

Academic learning has its value, but, for me, lifelong learning isn’t always about text books; it’s about people and life skills, so learning from great people is key. I love to meet new people, and hear their stories of how they’ve created success in their sector and the mistakes they’ve made along the way. I take new learning from all those conversations.

Learning doesn’t have to be a formal process on a development plan – there are opportunities to learn every day, from every interaction. Understanding who you are and what you believe is fundamental to cherry picking the golden nuggets of knowledge that can help you develop throughout your career – no matter how many years of experience you have, you will never know it all!

Every day is a learning day

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, especially if you use it wisely. Every success and every hiccup provides an opportunity to learn. Nurturing a listening culture and focusing on what you can learn to improve is central to being a better manager or business owner.

Throughout my career, I’ve continually put myself under pressure to succeed and challenged myself to go beyond my comfort zone. When I look back, I realize that approach has also been central to my learning and development – every single day is a learning day.