Are You Smarter Today Than Yesterday?

The key to innovation is making sure that you’re constantly open to learning new things. Whether you pick up a new social media skill, a random fact about something related to your industry, a trend that could create new opportunities, or a new vocabulary word, remaining open to letting new things into your head is a great way to stay “fresh” and inspired.

I recently reviewed my final 2010 financials and ruminated on how much wiser I am about certain things than I was a year ago.  Where were you in March of 2010? (Hopefully, you’re not in the exact same place, doing the exact same thing.)

You still have an entire month left before the first quarter of 2011 ends.  That’s 31 more days of getting smart. Here are some simple things you can do:

• Commit to reading one blog post every day.
• Join a peer advisory group that has regular meetings. 
• Attend a conference each month.
• Buy a desk calendar with a new vocabulary word or history fact on it each day.
• Post a fact about your industry on Facebook or Twitter each day.  In researching your fact through Google, you’ll be amazed at how much you learn.
• If you have daily team meetings, have everyone report on what he/she learned the previous day.

 And, to track your progress, you can start a learning journal on GoogleDocs. Write down each day ONE new thing you learned that day.  It doesn’t have to be a brilliant breakthrough…it can be as simple as a lesson you learned from making a mistake or a new shortcut in PowerPoint. But ultimately, it all adds up. And you can be 365 days brighter a year from now!