To-Learn Lists

How many people are reading this with a to-do list next to their computer? Written in a note on your phone? A sticky on the front of the refrigerator?

A concrete set of tasks and reminders can simply help get things done.

Recently, I read Jim Collin’s article The Learning Executive where he raised a challenge:

Look at your personal list of long-term objectives, mid-term objectives, and your current to-do list. How many items fall into the performance genre and how many fall into the learning genre? How many begin with the structure, “My objective is to learn X,” rather than, “My objective is to accomplish Y”?

I love this idea. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks that need to be completed. But, what if we took the time to think about how some longer-term tasks were interrelated, and set an intention to learn. According to Jim, it would open greater opportunities to build a learning mindset.

As a coach, I want to focus on some of these small, tactical ways (“To-Learn Lists”) that decrease a reliance on performance and help pivot perspectives to life-long learning habits.