Preamble

I can’t believe that it was a decade ago that we were talking about the next millennium. It was November 1999, with just over a month to go before every computer system in the world could be a potential time bomb. Just a month before that, I was on board a flight to The Netherlands with my wife Jasmine, my six year old son and my four month old daughter to embark on what was to be the biggest adventure of my life.

Having grown up on the ‘wrong side of the line’ in Apartheid South Africa, many opportunities were not freely available to me. I was 25 when Nelson Mandela was released in February 1990, after spending 27 years in prison. He was in jail my entire life. During this time we worked under many restrictions. There was job reservation, the Group Areas Act to keep people of ‘the same kind’ together and of course separate education.

Having passed high school with an average pass in a poor educational system, how was it possible to be able to secure a job as part of a ‘highly skilled’ migration initiative of a first world country? (I went to the Netherlands based on their shortage of ‘highly skilled’ information technology workers for the ‘millennium bug’.)

Before I continue, I want to make sure that you understand that this is not a romantic novel. When I speak of these achievements, it seems to take on a romantic flavour, which is purely unintentional. It was a lot of hard work to get to that point, but the process is simple – find something you love and become the best you can at it.

This simple philosophy enabled me, a previously disadvantaged individual with a poor education, to compete with the best on the international stage.

After Nelson Mandela was released from jail, my whole mindset had to change. While I was not an anti-apartheid activist of note, I was obviously affected by the politics of the country and made certain choices based on this. With Mandela’s release and impending changes in our country, I had to decide what the future would hold. I realised that I could no longer use the laws of the country as an excuse and should stop fighting the institution. I had to find a way to go forward.

Many of the anti-apartheid activists are very wealthy today because of the employment equity and black empowerment initiatives and not because of the contribution they made to society. This was not the route I wanted to follow.

Coincidentally a recent public spat between two ANC officials led one of them to say the following to the media:

‘Since 1994, I’ve seen many good comrades corrupted by power in government, business or both…’

This has validated my decision to earn by ‘giving’ first.

Luckily, I married my wife who was an educator at heart, (co-incidentally in the same year that Nelson Mandela was released). She has dedicated almost her whole adult life to learning and teaching. In fact, it is now 5.30 a.m. on a Saturday morning and she is busy studying while I am writing this.

She has not stopped learning. But more importantly, she has not stopped teaching. Even though she is no longer a school teacher, she is still involved in education, as she now works as an Education Specialist in the Parliament of South Africa.

She taught me the value of lifelong learning and introduced me to Mind Maps. I then became the ‘evangelist’ of Mind Mapping and started using it everywhere, from motivation to goal setting, from time management to memory, from note taking to note making. There was almost nothing I did that wasn’t affected by Mind Mapping.

Mind Mapping enabled me to also get onto the bandwagon of lifelong learning.

It enabled me to go from 1994, when the first democratically elected government was put in place, to The Netherlands in 1998 as a Senior Oracle Database Administrator, passing all the technical tests and requirements to work with a team of Database Administrators from all over the world. It also enabled me to get a Dutch second language diploma within a year.

While my stance did not bring me tons of wealth, it enabled me to experience things that money could not buy.

It was not my intention to give an autobiographical account when I started writing this article, but I hope that it could add some value to your life. I’ve therefore decided not to edit it out.

Let’s get back to the topic at hand, preparing for 2010. I am really going to try and convince you that you need to embark on a programme of lifelong learning. We are so serious about this that we’ve actually developed a Learning Management Programme, that covers a broad spectrum of learning and learning how to learn.

The programme was tested on individuals as well as in the classroom and has now been put online. This has been proven to be more difficult than I imagined, but it is beginning to shape up nicely. We will probably be honing it and improving it for years to come. While it may not make us rich, it does fit into our ’stubborn philosophy’ of first giving before getting.

This was also not meant to be a sales letter. Those of you that have been following my weekly articles for the last year,  will know that this is not a weekly sales letter. It is simply my attempt to use my knowledge and experience to add value to as many people’s lives as possible.

The following topics are covered in our Learning Management Programme. I am going through them here so that you can use this knowledge to develop your own Learning Management Programme if you want to. You can do this by research, as most of the information can be found on the Internet or in various books. Of course, you could also join our Programme and get access to all of this in one place!

It is important to note that spending some time on how you are going to manage your learning will be time well spent.

Motivation to Learn

Motivation is obviously one of the most important, if not the most important, aspects of learning. You need to find out how you can become motivated and stay motivated to achieve what you want to in life. Beware of the motivational tricks offered by many of the motivational gurus, which leaves you ‘pumped up’ while watching them or reading their books, but actually gets you to take no action.

if you’ve ever encountered some of them and felt that you are going to change the world after that, yet remained exactly where you were a few months later, then you know exactly what I mean.

Time Management

There are many time management theories out there. All of them work. Pick One! Picking a method and using it is the best advice I can give you. No, it is the second best advice. The best advice is ‘Things which are more important should never be at the mercy of things which are less important!’

Reading

While you have been reading all your life, how much time have you spent improving your reading skills? Are you still using the same reading methods you used when you where seven years old?

Improving your reading skills is one of the biggest investments in yourself that you can make. With the information overload today, it’s not a case of having access to too little information, it’s a case of having access to too much information! By improving your reading speed and comprehension, you will be able to get through more, understand more and remember more.

Note Taking

By now you should obviously know that I promote Mind Mapping as a note taking method. If you are still using boring linear notes, then Mind Mapping or any other method that introduces colour, imagination and spatial awareness will drastically improve your results.

Mind Maps engage both the left brain and right brain, both the logical and creative side of your brain. I have written a lot about this on MindMapTutor.com.

Perfect Memory

Many scientists believe that our memory is actually perfect. By learning how to improve your memory, you will be able to remember more with less effort. While you may not get to reach the perfect memory state, any improvement will give you an advantage in life.

Learning Methods

There are tons of Learning and Study Methods around. Once again, I recommend that you choose one and work through it. They are like diets. All of them work, but you have to stick to it to make it work.

Exam Technique

If you plan to embark on any formal learning, then learning some exam techniques can really ensure that you get the best results possible. Many learners focus on ‘putting the information in’ and very little time on how to get it out.

Learning these techniques can be beneficial to you whether you are studying formally or informally, as you still have to recall what you put in.

Sound Mind, Sound Body

Looking after your physical and mental state is of the utmost importance. You can do everything else right, but if you ignore this, you are bound to achieve below your true potential.

I really hope that this inspires you to put together a plan for 2010 as soon as possible. Explore some of the concepts in this article and then choose a subject that you love, put a plan together and learn as much as you are capable of throughout the year.

The rewards will come…

Finally, I leave you with a quote that I’ve used frequently and sums up a lot of what I am trying to teach:

Your ability to learn faster than your competitors may be your only sustainable competitive advantage – Arie de Geus.