Emma reflects on all the learning she’s done so far throughout her career.
Throughout life, we often hear the phrases, ‘Every day’s a school day’ or ‘You learn something new every day.’ But how true is it? Back when I was in school, I’d hear these phrases and want to roll my eyes, but now that I’ve finished formal education and I’m in a full-time job, I’ve realised that I do learn something new every day. I often learn whilst giving a new task a go, googling for an answer, but I find I learn more when I’m working in the office with other members of the bunch. There’s nothing better than picking up new skills and ideas from those around us.
Everyone at Rambutan has their own unique set of skills and qualifications, so it’s always interesting to sit down with someone new and develop my own knowledge. I love it when we’ve hired someone new, because it brings a whole new knowledge and way of doing things/problem-solving. This can help everyone to develop in new ways.
I’ve completed lots of formal learning throughout my time at Rambutan, having started out as a Marketing Executive Apprentice, gaining a level four qualification and later going on to do a level six Diploma in Professional Digital Marketing. This Diploma was a recent huge achievement of mine, which I was extremely proud of, as I completed it alongside my full-time role at Rambutan. It felt challenging at times, going from an eight-hour day to using much of my free time to work on assignments, but that’s what made it feel like such an accomplishment. It also helped me to increase my confidence and solidify my understanding of various aspects of Marketing.
In November, we celebrate Lifelong Learning Week to remind ourselves that learning doesn’t just finish after you graduate. It’s a reminder to be curious, continue to grow and stop your brain from ‘collecting dust’. The people who thrive in our ever-changing world are the ones who keep learning, adapting and evolving. If you think about how quickly AI has taken over, the ones who thrive on it are those who take it as an opportunity to continue to learn and develop, integrating it into their daily lives.
Some great ways to continue your learning, without having to take on any formal education, can be to:
- listen to podcasts – they’re perfect to listen to whilst you complete other various tasks, or you’re walking somewhere
- sign up to free webinars – I see these advertised all the time now, with some great ones on AI and our changing environment
- take a short, free course – these are great to refresh your knowledge and test yourself, or even pick up something new
- read an article or watch a TED Talk – something we love to do at Rambutan is to regularly share these with other members of the bunch when we see something we think they’d find interesting. This is an easy way to share learnings with each other
- teach others something that you’ve learned – a fantastic way to engrain something new into your own brain, is to teach it to someone else. Not only does this mean you share knowledge, but it also helps you to remember it
Why not find something new to learn? After all, lifelong learning does give lifelong benefits!
What are you going to commit to learning this year?