At the end of this month, I’m running the Impact Hub Crawl – In a warm-up to this peer-to-peer (beer-to-beer!) learning event, I wanted to share with you three ways to learn from your friends.

 1) Teach to Learn

When I was a teacher in Japan, the joke was always – “Who learns the most in school?” “The teachers!”. OK, that’s not something that our global education systems should be proud of, but in traditional education it’s true.

Why is this true? Because to be able to teach something well, you have to know it really well. And if you know you have to teach it, you’ll really concentrate when you are learning it! What could you teach your friends?

Who’s really learning here?

“We Learn…

10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
70% of what is discussed with others
80% of what is experienced personally
95% of what we teach to someone else”
William Glasser

2) Make and Spend Time with Them

To learn from your friends you have to make time to spend with your friends.  Last year I was so interested in this idea I set up a group on Facebook called “Finding a CoLiveWork House” because I wanted to be living with friends that motivate and inspire me.  It worked! I ended up living with Brenna, an excellent writer and travel blogger, and Mike, a specialist in social business and investment. I recommend making time to form your own intentional community, and then spending time in it.  If you are interested in the same things as me, join my Facebook group, or start your own.

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”

Jim Rohn

3) Ask and Give Back.

“He that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another than he whom you yourself have obliged.”

Ben Franklin

How do you learn from your friends?  Let us all know in the comments.