ONE HOUR IS ALL IT TAKES TO BE THE BEST

BY ROSHAN THIRAN

Start small The American author Earl Nightingale wrote, “One hour per day of study in your chosen field is all it takes. One hour per day of study will put you at the top of your field within three years. Within five years you’ll be a national authority. In seven years, you can be one of the best people in the world at what you do.” “ I said to him, “Wow, you spend two days’ worth of time each week on your phone – I can see why you don’t have much time to learn!”

About a month ago, I was having coffee with a friend of mine who mentioned he wanted to learn more but didn’t have the time these days. “We hear a lot of talk about businesses being ‘future-proof’, but nowadays, with the economic climate so uncertain, we really ought to be focusing on future-proofing ourselves.”

It’s a good point and one that came off the back of our discussion that much of what we learned in university all those years ago is now obsolete. As the world evolves, so does the knowledge required to understand it. It’s precisely why the phrase ‘lifelong learning’ is popular with successful people such as Bill Gates, Michelle Obama, and Warren Buffett who – at the age of 90 and a net worth of US$80 billion – continues to learn every day.

Investing one hour As my friend and I were talking, a notification popped up on his iPhone telling him that his daily screen time for the past week averaged out at seven hours. I said to him, “Wow, you spend two days’ worth of time each week on your phone – I can see why you don’t have much time to learn!”

Following a friendly debate back and forth, he suddenly said, “You realise that I do a lot of work-related tasks on my phone? If there’s a way to fit in one hour learning time each day, feel free to sign me up! There’s only one condition – I hate being tied to my laptop. If I have spare time to sit down with a coffee and learn something useful, I’m sold.”

We worked out that, out of his seven hours per day on his phone, five of them were work related, and the remaining two hours were, in his words, “pretty much scrolling through YouTube and watching reruns on Netflix”.

“When I told him the pricing, his eyes widened. “Too expensive?” I asked. “No,” he replied. “I just realised that the price of one whole year’s subscription to Necole is less than I spend on Grab food in a month!” Allowing for an hour of leisure phone time, that left one hour to learn every day – almost 30 hours of learning in a month. I said to him, “Let me introduce you to Necole”, showing him an amazing online learning experience that empowers people to learn, wherever they are, at their own pace, and in their own time.

Necole invites keen learners to read, watch or listen to videos, articles, podcasts, webinars and interactive courses (one user I know really ‘learns on the go’, using Necole during his treadmill runs in the gym). Subjects and topics are delivered by world-renowned experts, and the best part about Necole, in my opinion, is that all of the learning is practical, applicable, and aligned to the Top 10 skills of the future as outlined by the World Economic Forum.

As we find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic, the need to improve our skills and knowledge has never been more urgent than it is now. The ability to adapt and develop an array of transferable interpersonal and practical skills is crucial if we are to ‘future-proof’ ourselves. Most of us have already needed to plod through figuring out some new skill as we adjust to working from home.

Make the most of that hour If you’re anything like me, having to learn something without much guidance can feel like a painful slog. We get there in the end, but it would have been great to get some expert guidance to expedite the learning process and really make it stick.

Necole is an amazing platform for several reasons, not least of all because it acts as a mentor and companion as you go through your learning journey. And with time being scarce, it really is a blessing to be able to learn on the go and at your own time.

My friend was quite impressed as he looked through what Necole has to offer. “OK, so it looks good and I could definitely upskill in a lot of areas...but there’s always a catch. How much am I going to have to fork out to get full use of this app that I can use anywhere I go?”

When I told him the pricing, his eyes widened. “Too expensive?” I asked. “No,” he replied. “I just realised that the price of one whole year’s subscription to Necole is less than I spend on Grab food in a month!”

Quite literally, food for thought.

ROSHAN THIRAN Roshan is the founder and CEO of the Leaderonomics Group. He believes that everyone can be a leader and make a dent in the universe, in their own special ways.