I have come to a personal conclusion that you have to develop and implement a continual learning process in life. I don’t think it is enough for us to finish school and/or university and be satisfied that our learning is complete and to be comfortable with what we pick up from nine to five.

I’m not talking about a formal learning process, a process of continual self-education.

With that said, I have decided to personally adopt a 52 week challenge and read 52 business books. In doing so, I will challenge myself to read a wider variety of business related topics.

This came about from watching a video on YouTube recently from Brian Tracy on about ‘How to become an expert at anything’. He made the distinction that in order for someone to have a PHD equivalent in something, they had to read the equivalent of 50 books on a specific topic.

How is that going to help really?

That for me makes a lot of sense now with benefit of hind sight. 

If I had read 50 books about stock market investing before I bought my first stock, it’s more than likely that my initial years would be much more successful. Starting off in October 2007 could not have been worse timing to start getting active investing in stocks!

Truth be known, just like any DIY investor out there, I would have saved myself a lot of money through mistakes. You learn through your mistakes obviously but you can also learn how to avoid them too. Especially the big ones.

Initially investing through one of the worst bear markets of all time can make you sort you stuff out really quickly!

A wonderful side effect from doing this

Something unexpected has come from this.

I feel like my brain is working overtime and generating ideas non-stop. All day long I can see opportunities where there were none before.

It feels good and I feel more positive than before and can honestly say that I have more energy.

This may be because I am currently reading several hours per day.

Investing time in a continual learning process

I can’t recommend enough trying this. Time is short and knowledge is everything.

If you finished studying 15 years ago, I bet there are areas of untapped knowledge just waiting to be unleashed again. Formal education doesn’t have to be the end of it.

A recent positive experience

I was thrown into managing a medium sized project last week. So I went out and bought a copy of Project management for Dummies from Amazon.

I implemented the processes suggested and had fellow colleagues thanking me for my initiative in thinking about their immediate requirements.

I don’t think of this as a coincidence. I put it down to thinking positive and positive things will flow on their own.

How is the challenge progressing?

As at 13/08/2015 I am keeping up with one a week.

Take the challenge, let me know your experience on it.

Even try for three months and see what benefits you gain!

The information provided on this website is general educational information only. It does not take into account your investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs. You should consider your own investment objectives, financial situation and particular needs before acting upon any information provided on this website and consider seeking advice from a financial advisor if necessary. Investing involves the risk of capital loss. Not all investments are appropriate for all people