Learn or leave the market

WHAT TO LEARN
AND HOW TO LEARN IT
The need for education today is greater than ever. Until very recently 
people followed the same scenario: study, work, retire. But this 
doesn’t work anymore. For example, if you are already retired, 
it doesn’t mean that your life is over: there are still a variety of jobs 
for you. Nowadays, you need to learn over the course of your entire 
life. This does not mean that you need to get 3 or 4 degrees and spend 
30 years listening to lectures at college: the important part is trying 
and learning, not acquiring degrees. Your career will not advance 
unless you want to learn new things.

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First, you need to master the skills you need to work with the latest 
technologies in your industry (otherwise, you won’t stay relevant for 
sure). These skills will also help you to start your own business or work 
as a freelancer.
More and more companies and employees prefer a flexible and inde-
pendent relationship, such as short-term contracts or freelance work. 
This leads to a transformation in our workplaces and work time. Accord-
ing to the McKinsey Global Institute, 20 to 30 % of employees work 
in this manner, and their number is rising.
Modern technologies allow you to establish direct contact with your 
customers, without having to pay a fee to middlemen. Secondly, you 
need to master skills that will help you expand your horizons, get new 
perspectives and opportunities. First and foremost, these are skills and 
knowledge that:
▶
allow you to adapt to constantly changing conditions, such 
as creativity and entrepreneurial skills;
▶
help you simplify complex systems, such as design skills, systems, 
and design thinking;
▶
make life in the world of communication technologies easier: for 
example, research skills and the ability to process information, 
digital skills, media literacy.
In particular, you should develop:
▶
hard skills — specialized professional skills;
▶
digital skills — knowledge and skills that enable you to use digital 
technologies in your work;
▶
soft skills — skills that we talked about in our previous lesson. They 
can be mastered during the work process and applied in social 
activities. For example, such skills are speed- reading, time 
management, teamwork, planning, etc.

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Lectera will touch on all three skills. Our platform and all of its units, 
courses, and events, practically all our activities, are aimed at helping 
people acquire these skills. After all, only a combination of hard, digital 
and soft skills can be the key to a successful career, a profitable busi-
ness, and ultimately to a happy life in the 21st century.
The development of new skills should be approached systematically. 
First, make a list of skills that you want to learn (no more than 10 to 15). 
Remember, people can usually learn no more than three new skills 
at the same time, and the effectiveness of your training will plummet 
if you try to increase this number. Therefore, you should prioritize the 
skills you need to master first. In order to do this, rate them on a scale 
from 1 to 10 on each of the following parameters:
What is more important to you now: increasing your income, 
having a good time or growing spiritually? Usually, each skill 
helps you to solve one of these objectives. Determine which 
skills help you progress in the direction that matters to you 
most.
How easy will it be to learn the skill that you are interested in: 
you may have an aptitude for this particular task or there may 
be a huge discount on courses that you have been thinking 
about taking for a long time? Perhaps your friends or relatives 
are already doing whatever it is you are interested in and will 
help you take your first steps in this new undertaking.
Do you have enough time and energy to learn something new? 
Avoid overexerting yourself. For example, if you are currently 
swamped with work, then you might simply not have enough 
strength left for learning.
Will you be able to devote enough time to develop a new skill? 
For example, if you need to go somewhere for training, will you 
will be able to do it?
It is better to learn gradually but regularly, rather than rarely but trying 
to absorb huge chunks of information that you simply can’t digest 
in one sitting. Lectera provides you the opportunity to acquire