Control Your Own Learning

The Wisconsin School of Business Center for Professional & Executive Development is proud to partner with Deanna Singh and Justin Ponder of Uplifting Impact to provide diversity, equity, and inclusion programs to professionals who are committed to creating environments where all employees can thrive. The following blog by instructor Deanna Singh was published on the Purposeful Hustle blog on June 9, 2020.

You are in control of your learning! But sometimes, with the day-to-day demands of our lives, we forget to add learning opportunities into our schedules.

Feeling Stuck?

Many people wonder, how do I move forward when there are so many things that I don’t know. Well, guess what? We live in the information age. And what that means is that we’re living at a time where access to knowledge is super easy. The question is, how do you go about making a learning plan that allows you to grow in the areas you’re having some challenges; or grow in the areas that you need to move forward?

New Knowledge for Transitions

We often discuss transitions, and one of the big things that happens during a change is that you must consume new information. You have to bring that information in, process it, and then implement it. A lot of people get stuck on how to do that. Remember when we were in school, and our teachers would give us lesson plans? Those plans would help us understand how to engage in learning. Often, when we get out of the school setting, we don’t know how to do that for ourselves.

How to Create a Learning Plan

What I want to encourage you to do is to think about learning the same way that your teachers thought about it for you. What would it look like for you to make a syllabus or a learning plan specific to your interests? Who would you talk to? What would you read? What would you listen to? Then, I want you to take the answers and ideas that you come up with and turn them into an actual plan.

Think to yourself, I’m going to make this big transition into this new space, into this new company, into this new division, back into my old job, but with a NEW idea of what COULD be and what IS possible—whatever your transition is going to look like in the coming weeks. What do you think could set yourself up to grow during this period? For example, if you said you were going to give yourself four weeks, what do you think you could accomplish in that time? After you come up with the goal, I want you to set aside some “class time” to do the learning! Please put it on your calendar.

Successful Leaders

All great leaders are intentional about building learning opportunities into their day. You can do the same thing. I highly encourage it! Continuous learning is what makes people purposeful hustlers. Knowledge allows for people to live more completely and fully in their purpose. Because they’re out there deciding and being intentional about what they want to learn and how they want to consume that information.

Take Action

So, go ahead, make a syllabus! Put together your learning plan! Set aside some time and decide how you want to grow. Take the first step-it is not that hard, and it could make all the difference. Hustle with purpose!

If you’re ready to incorporate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion into your learning plan, join Deanna for an upcoming professional development program. Programs in the Professional Certificate in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion will show you strategic approaches to assemble, onboard, and foster an inclusive team while learning how to be an authentic ally.


About the Author

Deanna Singh is a business consultant, speaker, and podcaster who is internationally recognized for her work in leadership, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Deanna helps clients create more equitable and inclusive work environments and engage more authentically within their internal and external communities.