Curating Knowledge Streams: Strategies for Lifelong Learning

Knowledge is power; it always has been. But in today’s fast-paced world, acquiring it through traditional channels like degrees or training is no longer practical. Even informal methods like reading articles, attending conferences, or joining online groups keep us within familiar circles. These sources might provide new knowledge, but they’re not enough to navigate the stormy rivers of cutting-edge information. Sometimes, you need to disconnect to reconnect, gaining diverse insights and perspectives. This requires systematic curation, enabling us to identify, acquire, and integrate new knowledge into our work and lives to stay relevant through content curation, connections, and experiences.

Curation of Content – Diversify Periodically

In an age of information overload, curation is king. Just like a museum with its permanent and rotating exhibitions, your content treasures need renewal. Content curation involves identifying new sources through various channels including newsletters, podcasts, YouTube channels, chat apps, and social media. There are reliable sources and thought leaders worth following, not just for their significant content but because they serve as bridges to other content treasures. Through them, you’ll always discover new sources, whether by direct recommendation or by exploring their links. Good content often comes via recommendations, so if you’re interested in a topic, think about which of your colleagues or friends are always up-to-date and ask them.

Identifying suitable sources amid the noise is definitely a challenge, so it’s crucial to curate the sources you follow carefully. This is the perfect opportunity to explore content that isn’t directly related to your field but aligns with new topics you want to learn about. Take time to set specific goals for your content curation—whether it’s gaining insights in your occupation, self-improvement, diversifying knowledge, or focusing on development and learning.

For instance, everyone should subscribe to a source or two about Gen AI to stay updated on the innovations and tools emerging almost daily. Even if you don’t check these sources every day, when you do, you’re likely to discover a tip or tool worth experimenting with. Good content is more than just information; it provokes thought and inspires deeper exploration. If you repeatedly find nothing interesting from a source, feel free to remove it from your list. However, if you simply miss reading a newsletter or listening to a podcast, don’t rush to unsubscribe. You might find value next time.

Remember, content sources are constantly updated, so periodically review and refresh your list to stay in tune with the best information available.

Curation of People – Outside the Usual Circles

Most of us interact daily with 7-15 regular people within our operational and social circles. However, talking to the same 15 people every day or week brings nothing new. To gain fresh perspectives, you need to diversify your interactions with people you don’t usually engage with—those of different ages, interests, occupations, and content worlds.

Social media is a gold mine for identifying, following, and communicating with people outside your usual circles. It also helps you discover communities, opinion leaders, and new content. You can find meetings, lectures, and even conferences that you wouldn’t encounter in typical settings. However, the network’s algorithms often create echo chambers, presenting the same people and content repeatedly. To counter this, you need to consciously break the boundaries of fields, viewpoints, and even geographies.

One way to expand your network is by occasionally updating the groups you participate in and proactively searching for new content online. Identify people who are not in your digital circles today, see who they follow, where they are active, and join those spaces. This process will refresh your feed across all networks with new perspectives. From online interactions, you can also venture into the real world through meetings and conferences.

I have a policy of attending conferences outside my usual field of activity. While I can watch online lectures by familiar people, the purpose of a conference is to take me to new places and challenge the known. For example, I currently participate in conferences that explore creative uses of Gen AI and events that gather people from diverse backgrounds to expand my usual circles. Conferences are also a great opportunity to identify new people worth following.

Curation of Experiences – Outside the Area of Expertise

Knowledge gains value when it is applied. Regardless of your occupation, it evolves and now includes areas of content and knowledge beyond the familiar. That’s why we need to reach out and connect with tangential, emerging, and different content worlds to make new connections and draw from diverse, even unexpected fields. Learning is only 10% formal lessons, 20% guidance from others, and 70% experience. Now, more than ever, we must create learning experiences for ourselves.

Gen AI is an excellent example where on-the-job learning is not only possible but necessary. The pace is so fast that no one can teach you or even introduce you to all the tools you could use but don’t yet know about. It’s up to you to discover them. There are two ways to create learning experiences in this area. The first is to learn while working: pause and seek out new solutions for tasks you’re doing, even if you could easily do them the old way. For instance, instead of making a presentation with familiar tools, explore new AI tools that replace PPT and experiment with them. It may take more time initially, but soon you’ll find that you save time and accomplish things you couldn’t before.

And there is another way. Your curated content and connections will continually provide you with tools and ideas, even when you don’t immediately need them. It’s not only possible but also desirable to allocate time, budget, and attention to test interesting tools without the pressure of real-time work demands. This way, when you need to create a presentation, for example, you’ll have 2-3 tools you’ve already experimented with and can now apply to meet a real need.

Our ability to know what we need in a fast-paced world requires a strategy for learning and development. We must curate our own stream of information to fit our interests and aspirations. Unlike formal training, there is no teacher, syllabus, target, or certificate. The most important thing is to enjoy the journey.