Episode 36: How to continue learning

We constantly seek the feeling of mastering a skill or part of our job. The challenge with that is you eventually get to a point of becoming comfortable with our jobs - perhaps even on autopilot.

While getting to the autopilot stages is amazing, you must remember that when you’re comfortable, you’re not learning.

Feeling comfortable for too long is a good reminder that you aren’t in a learning environment anymore. Here’s what I do to never stop learning:

Invest in understanding the way you learn - books, conferences, etc

The first step of the process is understanding how you learn best. Every person's learning style will be different, and it can vary depending on what you are trying to learn.

When I first started learning about product marketing, I attended the conference every year. The agenda covered all aspects of the job, from getting the gig to getting promoted to working better with partners to getting smarter about research. Equally as helpful as the content was meeting so many people in the space.

Many of them were just getting started in their careers like me. For me, chatting with people 1-1 and brainstorming the best approach to the work helped all the information we were learning actually sync in.

Over time, the session content became less relevant, but I had the opportunity to become a speaker and share my experience. Now it’s the connections I made from those days that I reach out to regularly 1-1 to pressure test my understanding.

Use your professional development budget

Most companies offer a professional development budget with a very generous description of what it can be used for.

Once you have learned how you learn, it is time to start seeking out the resources.

Here are ways you can spend your PD budget:

1. Books

2. Paid webinars

3. Paid communities

4. Podcasts/Masterclasses

5. Conferences (can be flight, accommodations, ticket etc)

6. 1-1 mentorship (pay experts for their time)

Even if you don’t have a budget today, make the justification on investing in your development and how that will ultimately help the business.

 Find mentors in your space

There are three types of mentors everyone should have - one at your level (where you are), one slightly above (where you’re going), and one much higher (where you want to be).

Reaching out to an expert in your space can feel intimidating, but offering to compensate them for their time changed the game for me. Now, it turns the conversation into a consultation.

You bring a project/problem to the expert and spend 30-60 minutes workshopping the problem together. You get to see live how they would approach the problem and they are compensated for their time.

If you need help workshopping a cold email / if there is anyone I’m connected to that you’d like to chat with let me know.

As always, feedback is a gift and I welcome any/all feedback on this episode. See ya next week 👋 !

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✅ Find all resources here.

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✨ Special thank you to Gigi Marquez who suggested I start this newsletter 🙏