Is the fitness industry showing us the path education will take in the not-so-distant future?

It’s January, and like other gym-goers, I can’t help but notice the uptick in attendance. The classes are a bit more crowded; it’s harder to find an open treadmill or an empty lane at the pool. It’s New Year’s resolution time, after all, and everyone is getting in shape, signing up for personal training services, and squeezing in shoulder to shoulder in hot yoga classes.

Being in the gym at this time of year has gotten me thinking about the many parallels between fitness and education, as well as the striking differences in how these services are delivered and consumed. I’ve started wondering whether the fitness industry might be showing us the path that education will take in the not-so-distant future.

Exercisers Are Like Lifelong Learners

As both a committed exerciser and a lifelong learner, I can see obvious similarities between these two types of self-improvement/self-maintenance. First, both are habitual practices that are developed over a lifetime. Both physical fitness and mental sharpness are best maintained as part of an overall lifestyle, not in one-off binge sessions or by cramming.  

Second, both exercising and learning require willpower and self-discipline. It’s not always easy to get out the door to go to the gym, just as it’s not always easy to work through a difficult reading assignment or tough problem set.

Education Is Not Personal Fitness…Yet

Despite these similarities between lifelong learning and lifelong personal fitness, the differences between these two pursuits remain stark. Much of education is delivered in one-size-fits-all packages, where a one-time achievement (earning a degree) is singularly important and sets a learner down a path that may be difficult and costly to change later on. We know this because while every job announcement lists which degrees an applicant ought to hold, almost none request applicants with an ongoing practice of learning or ask what an applicant has learned in the years since graduation from a degree-granting institution.

Applying the same logic to exercise, no one would hold up the college athlete who has fallen woefully out of shape as the paragon of physical fitness. So why do we consider the one-time achievement of earning a degree so much more important than the learning a person continues to do throughout a career and a life?

From a Hobby to the Basis for Hiring

In a recent column in EdSurge, Amy Ahern mused on her experience using a digital fitness app to augment her exercise habits. Unlike fitness apps, she observed, online classes too often feel isolated and removed from experiences and practices that take place outside the digital classroom. While she often found it hard to find the time to complete a MOOC, she was excited each day to log miles in her fitness tracker. As an instructional designer, Ahern was interested in how online courses could create this kind of “stickiness”. Like Ahern, I believe that education could learn from fitness.

Today nearly everyone knows that developing an exercise habit is a good thing to do, and methods for establishing that habit abound. Gyms offer equipment you can use on your own, group classes in disciplines ranging from Pilates to kickboxing to weight lifting, personal training, and specialized preparation for competitive races. Books, apps, home workout DVDs, and streaming services add more ways a person can develop an exercise practice on terms that work for them.

So, what would it mean for education to look more like fitness?

First, we could start by recognizing the importance of lifelong learning not as a fringe hobby but as a vital pursuit integral to a full and healthy life and a successful career. What I love about MOOCs is that they open up possibilities for individuals to direct their own learning efforts.  

Second, education companies could expand their delivery methods. Just as physical fitness takes a variety of forms, so could education.

Open access courses such as MOOCs are a great start. Education apps could help keep people motivated. In the vein of group classes at the gym, social learning opportunities, such as in-person meetup groups, facilitated projects, online office hours, networking, etc., could make learning more enjoyable and help people stick with it.  

Finally, employers could shift their focus away from brand-name degrees and toward objective performance. Just as it doesn’t matter whether I run on the treadmill at 24-Hour Fitness or on the one in my basement, it shouldn’t matter where or how I learned to conduct a net present value analysis or an A/B test. As the lifelong learning company Degreed proclaims in its mission statement, “There is no single path to expertise…The challenges of the future won’t care how you became an expert, just that you did.” Ideally, employers would learn to take advantage of the expanded educational landscape and the multiplicity of paths to expertise, becoming more able to assess a candidate using objective measures, taking into account the skills he or she has developed outside of any institution.  

“Hold on,” one might argue, “aren’t the stakes different between exercise and education? In one case, you’re talking about entirely personal goals (health, wellness) and in the other you’re talking about goals that affect a person’s career trajectory.” Indeed. My fitness level is primarily important to me, while my education level, my smarts, and my skills are important to the people who would hire me. Which is why it is all the more important that education become more like fitness, with employers more able to evaluate candidates’ ongoing learning efforts and continuous skills development, not just the work they did before entering the workforce.

Looking ahead, I am optimistic. I predict that the education industry will come to adopt some of the attitudes, techniques, and modes of delivery that have come to characterize the fitness industry. In the process, we all stand to win.

Not everyone is capable of succeeding in a self-directed business education.  Do you have what it takes?

Let’s face it. Not everyone is capable of succeeding in a self-directed business education.  I have used this blog to chronicle my journey through a self-made, MBA-style business education, which I put together using MOOCs and other free and low-cost resources. Along the way, I have worked with many other self-directed learners (some of whom you can meet by joining our Facebook group).  I have seen a number of people experience great success with self-directed business education, from gaining confidence at work, to scoring promotions, to launching businesses. Unfortunately, I’ve also seen a lot of people who start out with great intentions fail to see it through.

In my years of studying business and working with self-directed learners, I have noticed some common characteristics, behaviors, and ways of thinking that define those people who do succeed with self-directed learning. It turns out, the people who are most successful pursuing No-Pay MBAs have a lot in common with entrepreneurs.

Based on these observations of successful independent business students, here are six ways acting like an entrepreneur can help you get a career-launching business education without breaking the bank.

How Acting Like an Entrepreneur Can Help You Succeed In Your Business Education

1. Don’t be satisfied with the status quo.

Entrepreneurs don’t take the world as it exists today as a given; they are constantly thinking about how things can be improved. Likewise, don’t assume that the holding (or lacking) a particular credential is the most important factor in your success. Entrepreneurs inspire people with their vision of the future. Can you imagine a future in which your skills and abilities are more important than the credentials you hold? So can I.

2. Take calculated risks.

Many people erroneously assume that entrepreneurs are unbridled risk-takers. It’s true that entrepreneurs take risks, but rather than simply betting the farm on whatever prospect comes their way, successful entrepreneurs take smart, strategic risks. Pursuing a self-directed business education rather than an accredited MBA is certainly a risk. But if you’ve done your homework on your industry of choice and the expected financial return on a degree, it could be one of the smartest risks you ever take.

3. Decide when to play by the rules and when to make your own rules.

Sometimes it pays to follow the established path. Other times, it makes more sense to drop out of Stanford and pursue your own dream. Maybe it makes sense for you to get a traditional degree. Then again, maybe you’ll be better of making your own way.

4. Remain curious about the world and open to the fact that you always have more to learn.

Rather than assuming your current skills and abilities are fixed and unchangeable, adopt the attitude that you can expand your horizons, adopt new skills, and seize new opportunities. Many entrepreneurs get bored quickly and are constantly seeking out new problems to solve. Don’t get stuck in a rut. Seek out new ways to learn and grow.

5. Learn from failure.

Perhaps one of the hardest things entrepreneurs have to do is to pick themselves up and dust themselves off after a failure. So you failed Advanced Credit Risk Management on your first attempt? Take a hard look at your approach, tweak it, and try again.

6. Develop deep self-confidence.

Entrepreneurs believe in themselves and their ideas, even after experiencing failure, and even when those around them question their decisions. A rock-solid belief in your ability to learn, grow, and succeed will serve you well in your self-directed business education.