Competitive Learning Practices*: 9 Practices for Continuous Learning

Guidance and tactics to learn effectively and competitively in this new era of global competition.

We are in a new era of knowledge work, where folks that I learn with call “IR4” or the 4th Industrial Revolution. What IR4 means and why it’s important, is that we are in the most technologically advanced and fastest moving marketplace in human history. All driven by the global use of computers to coordinate, cooperate, and — most critically — to compete on a global scale. This means that your competitor in India, China, Europe, is now competing with you in business.

Real estate development is a local game: local politics, zoning, land and capital availability, and local markets. Given this, we are competing with new technologies that demand our attention, and most importantly, our being oriented to effective learning practices, something the folks at the Aji Network call: Competitive Learning Practices. This set of practices is an ongoing, continuous, strategic, effective and competitive learning process, where you will utilize your computer to learn continuously. Realize this: you are competing in the most rapidly changing marketplace in human history, where your competition is using the computer daily to coordinate, cooperate, and collaborate with others to generate new business, while also gaining new strategic knowledge daily. Particularly, when it comes to the use of new #fintech and #proptech, financial and property technologies, we do compete globally for capital and technologies. Technologies would include such concepts and practical tools such as crowdfunding or Bitcoin ICO’s. When we want to take advantage of these, when we want to exploit these opportunities, we now compete globally, and the level of competition in the market will demand that we keep up. And if you don’t want to participate in continuous learning? Well, you’ll be left behind, plain and simple.

Here is a list of 9 practices for continuous and competitive learning:

• Read articles daily about markets, technologies, trends, changes in the market daily. Use a news aggregator site, such as Google News, where you can set up specific topics for the aggregator to collect and deliver directly into your news feed.
• Read one book a month about the RED process, historical accounts of RED, and past market cycles
• Read another book a month about economics and market cycles
• Read another book a month about sales and selling. This is to refine your soft skills amongst other things, you will spend your entire career in RED trying to convince other human beings to do what you want or need. Statistics demonstrate that high level performers and CEO’s of major companies, read around 60 books per year, or 5 books per month. Are you reading at this level? Your competitors are, that’s what's important.
• Sign up for and attend as many real estate oriented conferences as possible
• Sign up for and attend as many real estate oriented training webinars as possible
• Build yourself a professional network of peers in the RED business. Don’t think of folks as competitors in this instance, if they also are in RED, but as collaborators and offers of help for your career and strategic knowledge. Some people call this a “Mastermind” using the Napoleon Hill terminology. One practice I use is to have other RED folks in my peer groups, that are in similar project domains, but in different geographic markets.
• Get yourself one or more mentors in the business.This is similar to #7, but more focused on you and and your career. Make sure to be a valuable offer of help to your mentor in any way you can. Too many times people ask to be mentored, but don’t offer any value. The Top 1% performers you want as your mentors, don’t have the time to “coach” you for free, the need help too, figure out what that is, and make an offer.
• Sign up for and attend a high level discourse on strategic knowledge. Examples of this would be: The Aji Network or Grant Cardone Training Technologies. These will cost you real money, but they are worth it.

Regarding money you will spend in your career for learning, training, knowledge, know this: The average Top 1% performer spends 3% of income on learning. If you are not spending that percentage of your income for this, your competition is, and they will beat you in the game. Competitive learning practices are a requirement in the fastest moving, most technologically advanced marketplace in human history.

*Competitive Learning Practices is a distinction created and owned by Toby Hecht and the Aji Network.

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Scott Choppin is the Founder and CEO of the Urban Pacific Group of Companies, which focuses on urban infill real estate development and real estate development advisory and projects services to family offices, landowners, and commercial businesses.

Urban Pacific was founded in 2000, and focuses on the development of multi-family rental projects throughout California and the Western United States. Urban Pacific has developed real estate projects with a total historic deal valuation of over $900M.

Urban Pacific Realty Advisors, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Urban Pacific Group, provides real estate development advisory an project services to family offices, landowners, and commercial businesses. A recent and ongoing client is the San Pedro Fish Market, where Urban Pacific was hired to facilitate multiple real estate development and construction management projects.

Urban Pacific is based in Long Beach, CA