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Remember dial telephones? Adding machines? Carbon paper? They're relics of the past, proof positive that the business world we live and work in changes. At times seemingly overnight. Office tools we were satisfied using lately are grossly outdated today. And - to no one's surprise - much of the knowledge we relied on yesterday is grossly outdated today.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 roughly of your best band buddies are marching in lock step formation up and down the football field. Got the picture?

But, out of the blue, you decide you don't desire 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 when 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. Either way, they'll soon be way ahead of you. You're left standing there, not going anyplace. Got the picture? Not a very inviting one, is it?

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

Yep, ya gotta keep learnin'!

That learning doesn't have to be fancy, formal or expensive. As well as your lifelong learning doesn't 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 been to in a year or two. Or maybe registering for an industry seminar or workshop. It could even mean searching for an evening course or two at your community college.

Economics, marketing, human resources, team building, another language? Perhaps an instant course to become more proficient utilizing a software program you've been fighting. Perhaps a course in creative writing? Any subject you're interested in but don't know much about is a great place to begin.

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 may never be left behind again. Guaranteed!

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