The Perennial Student is the person who focuses only on learning more without applying the insights.

The key to improving performance is not accumulating knowledge. The key is to learn, tweak, and apply. Learning from other people is important. Try to do it every day. Then ask yourself what you can adjust or add to what you have learned that will make it even more effective for your situation. Then apply that learning. The Perennial Student wants to read every book and attend every seminar and sign up to be mentored by every senior executive in the company, but then he or she doesn’t want to apply that knowledge. That’s a huge waste of an opportunity for the person and for the company.

Two Questions to Avoid The Perennial Student Disastrous Leadership Approach

1. What did I learn today that can in some way improve my performance or the performance of our business?

2. How will I apply this learning in some way over the next 48 hours?