Why Constant Learning is the Key to Your Job Security
The following is an excerpt from Gig Mindset by Paul Estes.
I had a good friend and mentor — Matt Bencke — pass away not long ago of pancreatic cancer. He was the CEO of an AI startup called Mighty AI here in Seattle. Just an incredible guy, a force of nature. I think I never truly realized just how influential he was for me.
I remember walking with him some time ago, and I was complaining about some politics that was going on in the office. I was frustrated about some meeting or something equally ridiculous. The everyday annoyances all piled up, and I was ready to be done with it.
There was no time for me, for personal growth. I felt like I was so far behind there was no way to catch up, and the thought of that knowledge gap infuriated me. Matt laughed. He asked me when I’d lost my perspective. Then he taught me something that sticks with me to this day.
He showed me the power of insatiable curiosity. Always be curious. Continue to learn and continue to grow. He told me that would help me stay relevant. That would help me feel safe. And that would help me find purpose.
Matt was passionate about the idea of a world full of experts being able to accelerate technological advances and make the world better. He taught me that time is precious and fleeting. He made me think about how I spent moments — not days, weeks and years. And he taught me to fight: for time with my family, for time with my friends, to have a career that had purpose.
Somewhere between joining the corporate world and getting tangled in the Busy Trap, I’d forgotten that learning was fun. That being curious is freeing. That being curious allows you to be empathetic and to listen and to truly embrace diversity of thought. That curiosity allows me to respect everyone’s ideas and what everyone can bring to the table, because the chances are that it will make the idea better. That it’ll make the work better. That I’ll learn something.
Matt inspires the work I do every day. The most important lesson I learned from him, what I’ll always carry with me, was insatiable curiosity. It’s the most powerful piece of career advice I’ve ever received. So if I can leave you with only one bit of new knowledge, it has to be this: continuing to learn and grow is what has given me safety and made me believe that I’m going to stay relevant.
The Gig Economy is as big as the internet, as big as the mobile revolution, as big as a PC on every desk. Every person in every company needs to have a Gig Economy strategy. Matt was very passionate that a world full of experts could accelerate technological advances and make the world better. He dedicated his time as CEO of Mighty AI to that cause.
Tomorrow morning, I hope you’re going to wake up and feel refreshed. You’re going to pick a task and reach out into the gig marketplace to find your expert and start to build your trusted network of freelancers. You’re going to do amazing things, and you’ll see just what is possible when you reset your defaults.
Tomorrow, you’re going to have a virtual assistant book your travel, or engage with an expert to research a difficult topic, or build a team to organize your website, or find the right person to train you on starting a podcast. You’ll start to build a network to research competitive strategies, design presentations, or pull content that fits your company’s brand. It doesn’t matter what your passion project is, the right people are out there waiting to meet you.
Change starts with action. A lot of us feel stuck, feel like we’re caught in the Busy Trap. We have no time for ourselves, no time to reskill and pursue the goals we really want. What I’m doing now would have seemed impossible to me just a few years ago. What you’ll do tomorrow will change your life.
For more advice on becoming insatiably curious, you can find Gig Mindset on Amazon.
Paul Estes is an unstoppable advocate for the gig economy who is dedicated to creating opportunity for everyone, reskilling by doing, and bringing diversity to our work. After twenty years of driving innovation in Big Tech, Paul transitioned into working as an independent, remote freelancer. He shares his insights from main stages as a keynote speaker and offers his thoughts and advice through articles on LinkedIn. By engaging with freelancers, Paul gets exponentially more done at work and has more time for his wife and two daughters.
