Being inspired by all is to gain nothing at all

Connie C
6 min readApr 13, 2023

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In this article, I will break down and share:

(i) 1 formula for any achievement (3 elements)

(ii) 5-step learning map for real growth in the shortest amount of time possible without information overload

Last time, I shared about why “it’s not about how many books you read” and what it’s really about, and the difference between consumption and learning in “why do we learn to learn”. If you have not read these yet, I would suggest you go through those first before proceeding with this article so you can have the right context.

I have discovered a formula for any achievement in life — large or small:

Achievement = desire x capability x opportunity

(1) desire

There must be the component of self-initiative in any achievement. That is the fuel, inner motivation to do anything. It is the “I want….” element where you first need to figure out what do you really want when setting a goal.

(2) capability

Achievement cannot be done without capability — the ability to do that specific subject matter. If you want to be a business owner, you cannot avoid acquiring the capability of analyzing financial statements, team management and leadership, business operation. These skills and capability are essential to be a business owner. One cannot be a business owner without these capability (or else the business won’t stay long).

If your desire exceeds your capability, you could feel anxious and overwhelmed. If your capability exceeds your desire, you could feel bored. Therefore, your desire needs to match with your capability.

(3) opportunity

To be able to catch an opportunity as it comes, you need to have the desire and capability that is matching with the opportunity. For example, when an publisher comes to you and ask you to publish a book, you would not be able to grasp the opportunity if you either do not want to publish a book or if you do not have the relevant capability on the subject matter to publish a book on.

So any achievement would made up of (1) desire, (2) capability and (3) opportunity.

How is this relevant to the learning map?

Learning is the active pursuit of the solution.

So, what’s the problem we are trying to solve and actively finding the solution for? That would depend on our desire — what do we want to achieve.

The difference and gap between what we would like to achieve — i.e. the goal and the reality — i.e. where we are now, is the problem we are trying to solve.

For example, we would like to build a 6 figure business and we are now making 3 figures, the problem we are actively looking for solution is : how can we scale the business from 3 figures to 6 figures.

Hence, the desire would define our problem.

Once we define our problem based on our desire, we can identify the relevant capability required to match with our desire. We have mentioned that our desire needs to match with our capability before. Now it’s time to match it — what capability would we need to acquire to match with our desire? What capability would we need to have to go from where we are to where we want to be?

Using the same example above, scaling a business from 3 figures to 6 figures could mean (a) better sales and presentation skill (b) better product design skill and © better marketing skill.

These would be the skills to acquire, but what would be the most important skill out of the list?

It would depends on your situation (which one is the key blockers to more profits in your business), if you do not have a pipeline now, it could be that the 80/20 key is in better marketing skill so you have more people to sell to. If you have a decent pipeline now but a low conversion rate, then the 80/20 key could be better sales and presentation skill. If your existing customers are not satisfied with your current product, hence leaving below par comments and hinders your business growth, then the 80/20 key could lie in better product design.

Once we identify the key capability to acquire (that align with our desire) — we are halfway through our learning plan.

A learning plan should consist of 5 elements:

(i) the capability to be acquired

(ii) description of that capability

(iii) means of learning

(iv) expected learning outcome

(iv) how we evaluate the capability

Again, using the example above, assume that the key capability to acquire is sales and presentation.

For (i) the capability to be acquired = sales and presentation

(ii) description of that capability = to present and sell product x to y via phone / email / what means (be very specific here — the more specific, the more effective the learning map would be)

The purpose of this part of the learning plan is that you can define the problem that you are actively solving by learning.

(iii) means of learning

There are 4 means of learning — book, course, coach and experience. List out the specific means of learning for this part of the learning map — if it involves reading books, which books would you read and why, where could you get it, what are you looking for in each book, how long do you estimate to spend on each book. If it is a course, when is it, how much is it, is the whole course relevant or just part of it, how long do you estimate to take to learn from the course? If it is working with a coach, who would that be, what’s the plan of working together, have you communicated your learning goal with him or her, what time would you work together and how long would it take? If it is experience, would it be others or your own experience, do you have the information on hand or do you need to reach out to others to get the information, what is the plan and how long do you think is needed? It could also be a mix of 2 or more of the means of learning e.g. book + course, or book + coach, or coach + experience etc.

The purpose of this part is to provide a clearer actionable plan so that you can focus on your learning goal without information overload.

(iv) expected learning outcome

What is the outcome you want to have to consider learning mission successful?

This would be similar to setting the model answer for your test so that you know how far you are from it, and you have a reference point to compare when grading your learning.

(v) how we evaluate the capability

What is the key measurable metrics of the capability? For example, for presentation and sales, conversion rate could be one of the measurable metrics.

The purpose of this part is that you would be able to objectively know whether you have grown in that capability, rather than satisfying with yourself that you have spent x number of hours on the subject matter and feeling that you must have grown (but in fact you have not, ended up feeling frustrated and overwhelmed with information overload).

All in all, this is how I created my learning map and accelerate growth in life and business. As you can see, it is a very active and specific process in search of solution, rather than aimless consumption of content everywhere.

Being inspired by all is to gain nothing at all.

Read Next —

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Connie C
Connie C

Written by Connie C

yogi, swimmer, writer, online educator, work smarter not harder, Diamond Wisdom Seminar Series: https://simplifiedbusinesscoach.kit.com/54a711b20b

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