I frequently hear from people who are trying to learn new skills.

They know I create a lot of content around customer service training, so they ask me for some recommendations. Can I suggest a class, a blog, or a book to help them?

I usually don't recommend any of those, at least not right away.

This might seem like strange advice coming from someone who makes a living from online training classes, has a blog, and has written several books. Yet, I've been an adult learning professional for nearly 30 years and have spent most of that time trying to figure out how people learn best.

I also enjoy learning new things myself, and I usually follow a very specific process.

Right now, I'm picking up a few new skills. On a personal level, I'm learning navigational skills to use while hiking. Professionally, I'm improving my networking skills.

Here's how I learn new skills, and how I advise others to learn them, too.

The author scrambling over a rock in the desert. Climbing up this remote mountain required a few navigational skills such as reading a topographical map, using a GPS device, and finding trail markers along the way.

Set a goal

The first step on any learning journey is to define the problem you're trying to solve by setting a goal. There are a few reasons why having a goal is critical.

Learning takes effort, so it helps to have a reason.
A goal provides context, so you can apply what you learn.
You can make better learning choices when you have a goal.

You can set your goal using a formal process, like the ABCD method, but it's not required. In many cases, I find it helpful just to focus on the specific reason I want to learn a new skill.

For example, I'm planning a backpacking trip this winter to a remote desert wilderness. The trail isn't clearly marked in places, so I'll have to navigate my way to avoid getting lost.

Professionally, almost all my keynote speaking business comes from relationships. I've set an ambitious goal of increasing my keynotes by 50 percent next year, so that requires me to network with people to create new relationships and strengthen the ones I already have.

Having a clear sense of purpose helps you stay focused on your learning journey and make good choices about the next steps.

Start small

Once you set a learning goal, find just enough training, advice, or content to get you started.

Many people try to consume as much content as they can, but it's often wasted. That's because knowledge is use it or lose it, so if you consume too much content at this stage, you'll quickly forget most of it.

I focused my quest to improve my networking skills by creating a visual map of the relationships that led me to all my clients and current sales prospects. The map helped identify specific people who have had an outsized impact on my success.

Now I can focus my attention on building stronger relationships with those key people and creating new relationships with people who fit a similar profile.

Gain experience

Experience plays an incredibly important role in the learning process.

It reveals exactly what you need to learn.
It provides a feedback loop for making iterative improvements.
You don't learn a new skill until you use it.

That last one is the most important. Learning is just theoretical until you apply it.

For example, I could read a blog post about navigating on the trail. I might even think I understand the concepts. But I won’t really know until I use the skills in a realistic setting.

So I recently went on a hike in the desert that tested my skills. It was a relatively short trail, and there was little chance of getting lost, but the trail itself required a bit of navigation. It was a perfect chance to gain some experience.

The experience helped me understand that I was fairly adept and reading the faint trail and using GPS, but I needed to improve my skill using a compass and topographical map to get more precise routing in certain situations where the trail is poorly marked or GPS is unreliable.

I enjoy following David Kolb's experiential learning model. Here's a high-level summary:

Gain experience.
Reflect on what happened.
Decide what to do next time.
Experiment with new ideas.

Using this model makes learning an iterative process, where you quickly build new skills on top of the skills you've already gained.

Find a guide

Now that you've set a goal, tried a few techniques, and gained some experience, it's finally time to search for more content or guidance. You'll be able to make much better decisions about what is right for you now that you better understand your needs.

Your guide could take the form of a class, blog, or book. It also could be someone you know who is willing to act as a coach or mentor.

As a hiker, I've gotten great advice from hiking bloggers such as Cris Hazzard. Hazzard creates incredibly detailed trail guides for his Hiking Guy blog, and each post features tons of navigational advice. I've also found some helpful blog posts on the REI website, like this one on how to use a compass.

When it comes to growing my keynote speaking business, I rely on the advice of several successful keynote speakers. I've been fortunate to build relationships with people who have all given me terrific ideas for growing my network and growing my business.

I'm also reading a very helpful book from Keith Ferrazzi called Never Eat Alone. Rather than reading the whole thing at once, I'm taking it one chapter at a time and implementing each lesson.

Conclusion

Yes, classes, blogs, books, and other content can play an important role in the learning process. The key is setting a goal and starting your journey before deciding what content can best help you.

You'll be far better equipped to search for content that can help you continue your learning journey once you've gone through these four steps: