How can you turn your learning into cash? Why not check out this recommended book below

01 Learning will be a lifelong necessity

As an ordinary person, I have two strongest feelings about the development of today's society.

One, the average life expectancy of people is getting longer and longer, and living to old age means working to old age.

Secondly, the level of technology is developing rapidly, and living to old age means learning to old age.

The former tells us that, with the advent of ageing and the delay in retirement, everyone must be prepared to work long hours and stay at their jobs.

The latter tells us that the knowledge learnt in our reading days has long since failed to cope with our present-day work and development, so we have to keep learning, and if we don't learn and knowledge is not iterated, we will be eliminated by the times.

Now that the hours of work have been extended and the importance of learning has increased, have you thought about how to learn?

Do you know how to learn effectively for yourself after leaving school?

These questions are answered with reference in the book "Learning for Real".

The author, Hisako Shimizu, was a team leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a consultant trainer after saving lives in a major apparel company. 2013 saw him set up his own business as an insider and outsider training instructor, specialising in project management, core skills and leadership skills, and he has been described as an "expert in nurturing experts".

In his book 'Learning to Cash', he proposes 'three learning tools and four learning steps' to help adults quickly master learning methods, turn learning into money and create valuable career value.

Shimizu makes a very realistic point: adults must be money conscious in their learning.

In other words, your learning has to be valuable and realisable.

02 There is a way to learn

There is a method to learning.

Adults need to learn new things throughout their lives in order to improve their abilities, keep up with society and meet the demands of their careers.

Not only that, but they also have to speed up and there is no time to lose.

In this process, good learning tools can help us get twice as much done.

In his book, Shimizu introduces three learning tools.

1) Information maps

2) Learning Roadmap

3) Learning Journal

An information map refers to clarifying what you are studying and in what area.

For example, which area of knowledge do you want to learn about, computers, artificial intelligence, business administration or communication skills?

Once you have decided on a field, you need to compile a list of books that you must read in that field and list them in an EXCEL sheet.

Refer to the catalogue of books in separate categories, you can refer to the catalogue and book reviews on the website.

The purpose of this step is to allow you to net the necessary sources of knowledge, and then to go on to purchase these books, marking which ones to read intensively and which ones to read just for a number of chapters.

The second tool is the study roadmap, which is, frankly, a study schedule.

What time of day do you read?

How long does it take?

What do you think and what do you get out of it?

This is a step that stimulates us to move from input to output, and the output can reinforce our input.

Shimizu recommends using a blog to keep a learning journal. I don't think this method is necessarily suitable for everyone, but everyone has their own handy recording tool that they can use whenever they want to record.

The content of the log must have these points: keywords + personal observations + book reviews

03 Four learning steps

Once we have studied for a while with the aid of the three main tools, all that remains is to follow these four steps to accept the results of our learning.

Step 1: Absorb a lot of expertise quickly

Step 2: Try out what you have learned and gain experience

Step 3: Apply the knowledge in different ways and perspectives to demonstrate professional practice and competence

Step 4: Express all the knowledge learnt in one sentence to guide others and create professional value

Shimizu himself is in the career consulting and training industry, so he takes what he has learned, makes it into a PowerPoint, makes it into a presentation and keeps sharing it with others who need it.

Either for free or for a fee, it's all a value.

These four steps can also apply to us ordinary people.

Especially in these days of super developed smartphones and the internet, everyone can become a knowledgeable person in certain fields, turn on their mobile phones and showcase their talents.

When we have accumulated a certain amount of practical experience, we can in turn guide us to continue to input efficiently.

To put it bluntly, we all re-process and secondary-process knowledge to make it easy to understand and spread more quickly.

In addition, the book offers some tips for efficient learning, and I personally found these to be very good, and I use a similar approach.

The first tip, stick to 30 seconds a day.

No matter where you are and how busy you are, take 30 seconds out to study.

Of course, you will certainly end up spending more than 30 seconds, maybe a minute, maybe three minutes.

The core of this technique is not the length of time, but the "persistence".

At the very least, you have to stick with it for 30 seconds.

The second technique is to read 20-30 books on the same topic at the same time.

For example, when I focused on personal awareness and growth a while ago, I read 12 books in one sitting.

The good thing about books in the same category is that they quickly help us gather all the important information on the subject.

I think 20-30 books might be a bit difficult for many beginners, 10-15 books is still possible.

If not, five high quality books on the same topic is still a good idea.

04 Conclusion

In Learning for Real, we are introduced to commonplace learning methods that will allow us to move away from "low-level diligence", study efficiently, develop habits and realise value through learning.

Chapters 3, 4 and 6 of this book are especially important to read if you want to read efficiently or if you have a need to continue learning.