I'm often asked how do you keep up with what is happening in your business?
The answer is a dedicated commitment to learning, everyday. The information, insights and ideas are moving so fast that it is almost impossible for any one person to be the eternal fountain of knowledge. Similar to a commitment to taking a lunch break, smoking break or a trip to the gym - I've always dedicated a 30-60 minute block of time through the course of my day to sponge as much information as I can. At a recent Ad:Tech, I heard Rishad Tobaccowala from Denuo talked about that he sets aside 4-6am every Saturday morning to learn about what's happening and Jeremiah Owyang from Altimeter Group recently talked about that he read about what's happening pre-6am, everyday. Well, I am not sure I can commit to that because I like to sleep, especially on Saturday's but I do find the time in the morning and or late at night to dive in. Also, I use aggregators, technologies and mobile applications to keep myself informed and up to speed.
Twitter has also become a great big suck of information into my brain. I love following people that are much smarter than me and tapping into their intelligence. I really believe that my time on Twitter is an investment in my knowledge.
I also read a ton. My Kindle has streamlined this process for me and I am reading almost 2-books a week because of the ubiquity of having my books digitized. The key is having a trusted mastermind group for which you follow their twitter feeds, blog posts or articles they write.
My advice is to find the time. In fact, I even tell the people that work for me that your success doesn't rest on what you do with your 'up time' but how you make the most of your 'down time' or your in-between-moments. As Gordon Gecko said, "Money doesn't sleep."
