Learning something new can take time

Whether you join a cohort based course, attend a workshop, receive coaching, or read a book — it can take months, if not years, before you master the knowledge and skills.

And when you get to this point, you discover you’re always learning anyhow! 😅

Progress is not always linear.

On the way you might feel like you’re not making any progress at all.. mmm... or even have the sensation you’re going backwards.

But then, if you keep going, there are aha! moments that bring glimpses of light, hope, and fist pumps.

At some point, when you keep going long enough, something clicks, and you get it! Woop!

There's excitement, perhaps even relief at this milestone. But it's not always so straightforward going forwards from this point either. 🙈

What marks each 'get it!' stage of learning is a new level of confidence that comes with a greater sense of mastery.

The confidence brings a flow and resilience to hang in there with the ups and downs and continual learning.

Continuous Learning

No matter how many times I learn something new, I like to think it’ll be straightforward and not too much effort.

But the reality couldn’t be more different.

Enter the 'Dunning-Kruger' effect. That is, my lack of knowledge and skills in the new subject causes me to overestimate my own competence.

The reality is my learning of the new subject will be a cycle of trial and error experiments sprinkled with wins.

The real win is to be curious and continually learn.

The thing that enables us to continually learn?

The ability to keep going.

How to keep going (as sheer willpower won’t carry you)?

A mix of multiple factors and touch points that are unique to you will spur you on, such as:

• Emotions like curiosity, fear, or pain.
• A vision, purpose, or goal.
• A sense of being on a learning journey with others on the same journey as you.
• Helpful feedback that helps you take your next steps with more confidence and clarity.
• A sense of accountability, support and empowerment from others.

Empower others to keep going, and keep learning

Each time you teach, coach, write a newsletter, write a book, consult, facilitate, lead a community of learners, give feedback to a friend, offer support, share an article, or write a social media post — you are offering an opportunity for someone to keep going on their learning journey.

With learning being an ongoing process with multiple access points — your learning product, by definition, has the opportunity to create recurring revenue.

You can offer this in light ways or bigger ways, and in multiple ways depending on your business model (more on this in next week’s newsletter).

It’s easy as educators to make the mistake of thinking of your courses, books, workshops or content as an end point.

The curse of knowledge

The curse of knowledge is a well known cognitive bias.

The curse of knowledge means when you teach, you might not be as effective as you could be.

Why?

1. You might no longer remember the difficulties that a beginner encounters when learning the subject.
2. You teach from your perspective, and so assume students have more knowledge than they do.

How can you prevent the curse of knowledge from happening as a teacher?

Ask students to verify whether your teaching is effective.

The curse of knowledge can also apply to how you think about the support and resources you provide students before, during or after your learning experience.

Thus, you don’t see the ways you can elevate what you can do for students which enables recurring revenue opportunities.

Elevate what you can do for your students, and enable recurring revenue opportunities

Sales and education can get confusing sometimes.

You don’t want to be teaching with an agenda.

You genuinely teach to empower others.

I get it. I'm on the same page. I’ve also felt, and can feel this way.

When this comes up for me, I remember this quote from Daniel Pink, he sums up what selling is really about:

It’s a win-win

If we didn’t sell to our potential or current students, they wouldn't get the opportunity to learn what we can teach them, and keep going.

Imagine what’s possible when a student uses what you teach to improve their life, and in turn the life of others.

It’s also a win for you —

Charlotte Crowther 🕸 @CharlotCrowther At some point, the way to keep growing isn't to learn more, but instead shift our focus from personal growth to contribution. By shifting our focus to helping others, and guide them through what we've learned, we start to grow again. Contribution is the key to continued growth. 1:17 PM • Nov 14, 2022 7 Retweets 28 Likes Read 1 replies

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You can learn more about your subject through your students’ questions, experience and contributions.

The act of communicating your knowledge is a forcing function to reflect, discover what you know (and don't know), and structure your knowledge, experience and perspectives.

You grow together.

You also learn other skills, such as writing, public speaking, facilitation, how to build your credibility, how to build a website, and how to build a business.

The more successful you are at helping your learners to be successful, the more they will keep going — which will help you keep going too.

It’s a win-win.

For you and your community as a teacher, and for your students’ and their communities too.

This quote from Daniel Pink sums up it up nicely:

I relate to you

These reflections and lessons learned come from what I've discovered on my own journey as both a lifelong learner and a teacher.

For 10 years I ran an award-winning practice called Learn to be well. Here’s the younger me in front of my Notting Hill studio in London (looking stylish!).

As a Grinberg Method Practitioner, I taught skills to my clients that enabled them to achieve their goals and be well. The sorts of goals clients might have included: recover fully from a physical injury, manage stress levels better, or perform better in a certain situation, like giving a presentation.

Through my own life journey, I realised that I had to develop my own agency and skills to navigate tricky situations, recover from a set back, or create what I want, like fulfilling relationships.

Being well is a skill set. It is not something we're born with. We need to learn the skills to develop and sustain a sense of wellness and growth for ourselves.

When I ran my 10-year award-winning practice I had to figure out fast how to teach, and how to run a business. The better I taught my clients, the more frequent and long-lasting their results were. The more my clients progressed, the more they recommended me to their friends. The more clients I took on, the more I could sustain my business, and invest in doing my job even better. Win-wins all round! 🙌

MySnapshot Method

Next week, I'll very excitingly(!) share MySnapshot's methodology in the first ever public version of MySnapshot's Visual Mental Model.

I'll share insights on how you can elevate what you can do for your learners before, during, and after your learning experience and create win-win recurring revenue opportunities.

Does this resonate?

Do any of the topics I've shared here resonate with you?

How are you leveraging, or could you leverage win-win recurring revenue opportunities for your learning product?

I'd love to hear your thoughts, questions, and experience!

Speak soon,

Charlotte