Customer requirements. Profitability analysis. Marketing strategies. New HR policies. Company updates. New information be coming at us all day.
What if you could learn the same set of information twice as fast?
Immediately recall best practices from a prior project. Better remember critical details from a customer meeting. Remember your boss’s birthday.
What would that do to your performance at work?
Thankfully, we don’t have to be supercomputers to get smarter. We just need more awareness with the most essential part of internalizing information at work:
How we each learn.
School taught us information
Memorize this stuff. There’s going to be a test on it later. School taught us information.
Nothing against school, mind you, I took 18 years of it.
But I never took a class on how to learn. Did you?
“If knowledge is power, then learning is a superpower.”
– Jim Kwik
To supercharge our performance at work, we have to know how we each learn.
The 4 Primary Learning Types
According to science, there are 4 primary learning types:
- Visual: Learn best through charts, diagrams, and other visualizations of information. You love PowerPoint.
- Auditory: Learn best when they can hear information presented vocally. No camera for you on Zoom calls.
- Reading/Writing: Prefer written information. You’re printing your handouts and slide decks.
- Kinesthetic: Hands-on learners who need to take a physically active role. Think guy up at the whiteboard with a marker helping facilitate the discussion or back of the room playing with one of these. (Side note: While the smallest bucket of the 4 types, most salespeople are kinesthetic learners).
Why Knowing Your Learning Type Matters
When information isn’t presented in your primary type, you know you need to supplement. Don’t settle for the current format. You can change it.
Draw doodles diagrams. Write notes. Record it and listen later. Print it out. Ask engaging questions. Your brain will thank you.
We often miss the fact that while there isn’t a test later, most of our workday is spent learning. Surprise! When we become aware of our personal learning style, it’s like having our own personal cheat sheet.
Time’s up. Pencils down.
What’d you learn?