This article is taken from my speech during our last Toastmaster meeting.

Do you know what is the only thing that will never stop until you die other than the pumping of your heart?

You will never stop learning from the day you were born until the day you end your life. Learning is a continues process for you to develop a certain skill set to do something effectively to achieve a desirable result.

Learning can happen in 3 ways.

Firstly it can happen instantaneously using the subconscious mind like a baby trying to stand up for the first time by holding the edge of a table or a chair to lift its body up and stand before falling on the floor. But later on will try again and learn to balance its body until it can stand up comfortably.

Learning can also happen by force as what we have gone through in school. Like it or not, we have been forced to go to school and obviously all of us have adapted to this type of learning.

Another type of learning which I will talk about in my speech today is self learning which is the best type of learning just because it originated by your own initiative. When a person opted to develop him or herself, automatically the commitment and the dedication will come out by itself. A great example is here in Toastmasters. I’m sure no one is here by force or just happen to be here because your subconscious mind brought you here. We are here because we have chosen to develop ourself to be a better speaker and at the same time develop leadership skills for our career or personal needs.

Self learning is about how you want to develop yourself in whatever way you want by yourself. You can learn by reading books or articles, by attending talks or courses, by reading and leaving comments in blogs or participate in forums and etc. You can also learn by joining clubs such as Toastmasters or just do something positive to get out from your comfort zone.

The “Law of Entropy”, one of the fundamental universal physical law stated that anything that is left to itself, organized system will get less organize and unstable as time advances. For example if you abandon a new car for a year or more, you will notice a flat tire, broken windows, corrode parts and etc. Similarly, if you are not continuously learning and developing yourself even currently you are at your peak, you will not be at your best in the future.

The question most of you will be wondering now is what is the best way to start a self learning process.

The answer is “Just focus on your strength”.

Many leadership gurus have shared many ways on how to kick off a self learning process. For example by Stephen Covey in his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” where the Habit # 7 is Sharpen The Saw.

A saw will only be effective as long its teeth are sharpen diligently. The strength of the saw is determine by how sharp its teeth are. Similarly to us, our effectiveness will be determined by our strength not by our weaknesses. Going back to the analogy of the saw, if you diligently sharpen the wrong side of the saw, yes in the long term it may eventually get sharp of course after some great effort but it will  be useless in a short term.

Hence, as a start, you can begin by assessing your self learning needs by identifying your strength. To avoid being bias, get feedback from your family and close friends. You will also need to be very honest to yourself and should be ready to leave your comfort zone. You will need to remember this is a self assessment, no one will be there to tell you if you are doing the right thing or not.

Once you have completed this assessment, you should have a good understanding on your strength.

Next it is time to sharpen the saw. Focus on activities that can enhance your strength. I’m sure in no time, you will start to have a very sharp saw, literary.

So in the future, if you want to start a self learning process just focus on your strength.

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Employers are looking for workers who have that special something: the skills, tendencies and attributes that help to keep productivity and profits up.

What are they? Businesses are looking for employees with strong “personal” skills, according to ACT research. Keep these in mind, because employers certainly are.

• Carefulness: Do you have a tendency to think and plan carefully before acting? This helps with reducing the chance for costly errors, as well as keeping a steady workflow going.
• Cooperation: Willingness to engage in interpersonal work situations is very important in the workplace.
• Creativity: You’ve heard of “thinking outside the box”? Employers want innovative people who bring a fresh perspective.
• Discipline: This includes the ability to keep on task and complete projects without becoming distracted or bored.
• Drive: Businesses want employees who have high aspiration levels and work hard to achieve goals.
• Good attitude: This has been shown to predict counterproductive work behaviors, job performance and theft.
• Goodwill: This is a tendency to believe others are well intentioned.
• Influence: Groups need strong leaders to guide the way. Influence includes a tendency to positively impact social situations by speaking your mind and becoming a group leader.
• Optimism: A positive attitude goes a long way toward productivity.
• Order: “Where did I put that?” A tendency to be well organized helps employees to work without major distractions or “roadblocks.”
• Safe work behaviors: Employers want people who avoid work-related accidents and unnecessary risk-taking in a work environment.
• Savvy: This isn’t just about job knowledge, but knowledge of coworkers and the working environment. It includes a tendency to read other people’s motives from observed behavior and use this information to guide one’s thinking and action.
• Sociability: How much you enjoy interacting with coworkers affects how well you work with them.
• Stability: This means a tendency to maintain composure and rationality in stressful work situations.
• Vigor: This is a tendency to keep a rapid tempo and keep busy.

If you have any other personal skills that were left out from the list above, please share in the comments below. Please also tell us why do you think they are important.

Thanks