As a business owner learning is key, you need to learn it, and nail it!

Imagine if we learned something and were instantly good at it? Wouldn’t it be great if we took one piano lesson and the next day we were playing Mozart or Beethoven. Taking a drafting class and instantly having the ability to design an architectural masterpiece. If it was as easy as that, we would all be learning something new every single day. Realistically, we all know that learning requires practice and practice requires refinement along with repetition. Even for the most talented among us, mastery is usually a lifelong journey.

The human brain is made of two hemispheres, the right and the left. These independent, yet interconnected sections of the brain contribute to operate the human body. Consider them to be like computer banks, storing and collecting information, experiences and images as we learn and grow. This complex network retrieves voluntary and involuntary responses as we experience learning. Fascinatingly, humans can continue to function even if one side of the brain is damaged but yet will never be as effective. To master any skill, we must engage both sides of our brains.

It’s likely you have probably taken an online quiz to find out which hemisphere is more dominant. Those who name themselves “LEFT BRAIN” are usually more logical and methodical. “RIGHT BRAIN” thinkers are more creative and instinctual.

Here are some other characteristics for each side of the human brain:

Left-brained people are said to be more:

• analytical
• logical
• detail- and fact-oriented
• numerical
• likely to think in words

Right-brained people are said to be more:

• creative
• free-thinking
• able to see the big picture
• intuitive
• likely to visualize more than think in words

No matter how you identify, your brain will engage both sides when you learn. It needs to process the information, manage visual input and synthesize audio all at once. Both sides must be engaged in order to comprehend what we’re learning. “The hemispheres after all, are not truly separate: communication between them is enabled by commissural fibers, broad white matter tracts through which a constant traffic of neural messages pass from side to side.” (Sherman, 2019).

When you start to learn a new skill, the two hemispheres battle for supremacy. Neurons in each hemisphere are firing and assigning value to images or information based on your past knowledge and experiences. Synapse wire together to absorb new information that the brain is receiving. Within seconds, your brain begins to convert the new information it is receiving. This doesn’t always go well meaning humans tend to experience confusion when learning something new. When both sides of your brain are at odds with this new information that your brain doesn’t already know. Confusion is unsettling yet beneficial to the learner.

Perturbation and confusion force both sides of your brain to co-operate. This conflation of new inputs heightens interest. If properly fed, this interest can lead to in depth learning and eventually mastery. But yet again, practice makes perfect, we’re unable to master a skill without it. In order for information to become branded into our brains, repetitive action is needed. Repetition allows us to access that skill with ease. Take learning a language for instance, classroom exposure is never as effective as living, working and using the language everyday. In an immersive environment, you are forced to use trial and error to communicate, and when there’s success, you retain the information.

The satisfaction of learning naturally provides an incentive to ‘rinse and repeat’ the behavior. In business, we are often rewarded for mastering a skill. Regardless of the effort to get to a level of mastery we reach for the feeling and the rewards. Learning has other side effects as noted in an article on Inc.com:

Learning makes you happier.

“Several studies have shown that the more ambitious goals that we set, the happier we are. And when we decide our own goals, our happiness is not reliant on others. We pick how many hours we practice, and we take ownership over what we achieve. Personal development is a way to guarantee us serenity from within.”

You become a valuable.

“If you can only sell your product, you are limited by your contribution. If you can sell, build and run operations, now you’ve become irreplaceable.”

You stay humble.

“When we are looking to learn as much as possible, there’s less of a chance that we will come off as arrogant. True charmers don’t make themselves look smart, they make others look smart. And when people see that you are trying to learn from them, it makes liking you that much easier.”

You become a coach.

“As a leader of your organization, you need to make learning a part of your culture. A way to start this is by teaching others what you’ve learned over time. You want to become such a great teacher that your company can run itself without you there. When you’ve achieved that, you’ve truly accomplished the state of mastery.”

As a business owner, learning flies fast and furiously at us as we manage every aspect in our business. Some may come easy, others we learn through costly failures. In order to minimize cost, we need to learn consistently and constantly. The more you learn , the more it is needed to be put into practice. Without action, the information we learn will fade. This is why top athletes practice individual skills, or surgeons get continuous education and as a business owner you must continue to learn it and truly nail it!

At ActionCOACH the world’s largest business coaching franchise, learning is a core value and a cornerstone of what we teach business owners. Only through growing your knowledge can you become the best business owner you can be. ActionCOACH teaches strategies and uses proven and tested systems to educate business owners worldwide.

To learn more about ActionCOACH click this link

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