Why and how communicators should be lifelong learners

As my co-worker, Laura Petrolino, recently wrote, professional development and keeping your skills fresh through ongoing learning are essential for today’s communicator.

I have a friend who, at 4 p.m. every day, shuts down what she is working on and opens some sort of learning.

It may be a course on Coursera or Lynda. It could be an article she’s been meaning to read. It might be a webinar she downloaded but hasn’t been able to watch yet. Or it could be some sort of hands-on training that helps her do her job more efficiently.

It’s for only 30 minutes, but she does this every single day. She has an appointment in her calendar and nothing—and I mean nothing—prevents her from “attending” that meeting.

Though it’s only half an hour a day, I’ve watched her grow in many ways because of it.