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Remember dial telephones? Adding machines? Carbon paper? They are relics of the past, proof positive that the business community we live and work in changes. At times seemingly overnight. Office tools we were satisfied using not too long ago are grossly outdated today. And - to no one's surprise - much of the knowledge we relied on yesterday is grossly outdated today. To keep up, ya gotta step up. Ya gotta keep on learnin'!

Don't believe me? Here's why that is true. Let's say you're a trombone player in your high school's marching band, a band that's playing at some big school event. Homecoming, maybe. You and a hundred or so of your most readily useful band buddies are marching in lock step formation along the football field. Got the picture?

But, out of the blue, you decide you don't want to march any longer. So you stop. Suddenly. Abruptly. Right then and there. Smack dab in the middle of that thundering, music-making herd.

What happens once you stop? One of two things. You'll either get trampled by the marching buddies behind you, or they'll step around you, passing you up. In any event, they'll soon be way before you. You're left standing there, not going anyplace. Got the picture? Not a very inviting one, is it?

Yet that's just what happens once you stop learning. It happens in your career or profession, and it happens in your everyday life. While you choose to stand still, your world - family, friends as well as those you work with and work with - continue to move ahead. The only way you can avoid being left behind, the only path to keep up with them, is to become a lifelong learner.

Yep, ya gotta keep learnin'!

That learning does not have to be fancy, formal or expensive. And your lifelong learning does not have to cost you - or your employer - tens of thousands of bucks like getting an MBA does. Lifelong learning can be as simple as going to that trade show or convention you haven't gone to in a couple of years. Or maybe signing up for a business seminar or workshop. It could even mean searching for an evening course or two at your community college.

Economics, marketing, human resources, team development, a second language? Perhaps an instant course to become more proficient utilizing a software program you've been struggling with. Maybe a course in creative writing? Any subject you find attractive but don't know much about is a great place to start.

None of this is expensive, none of it very consuming. But lifelong learning, a little at a time, does you a world of good. Personally and professionally. It's exhilarating, energizing, mind expanding. Lifelong learning results in new ways to think, at home, at the job, at play. Lifelong learning delivers new alternatives to explore, new ways for you to grow. Try it. You'll never be left behind again. Guaranteed!

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