Learning that Pays

Training That Actually Changes Your Life

Today’s message is simple but powerful: learning must be fun, and it must be continuous. If you want to increase your value, gain skills that matter, and build a career that supports your family and your future, then training isn’t optional it’s your competitive advantage.

Why Learning Should Be Fun

Learning is not supposed to be a dull, white-knuckle experience where you power through material just to finish it. If learning is enjoyable, you continue doing it. You enter bookstores excited. You scroll Audible like it’s a candy shop. You sign up for training because you want to, not because someone forces you. Fun creates consistency. Consistency creates growth.

What Powerful Training Looks Like

There are effective ways to learn and ineffective ways. Basic PowerPoints and lectures create only 3 to 15 percent retention. When we add software, visuals, exercises, and interaction, retention jumps to about 30 percent. But boot camps where we use the EDGE method (Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, Enable) consistently hit 60 to 80 percent. Why? Because people learn by moving, stretching, practicing, interacting, and stepping outside their comfort zones. Passive learning rarely transforms anyone. Engaged learning does.

The Problem With Traditional Education 

I once taught a university class where it took four sessions just to get one student to speak up. Half the room sat on their phones. No energy. No participation. No movement. And these students were spending $60,000 to $80,000 for that experience. Compare that to a boot camp where people stand, participate, practice, and actually enjoy learning. If learning isn’t engaging, people won’t keep doing it. That’s the tragedy of much of higher education today.

Why Learning Pays More Than You Think

The return on investment of reading a single book is incredible. When you apply what you learn, the value you create is often worth $200–$400 per hour of reading time. That number skyrockets if you start a side business or move up in your career. Every great turnaround in my life — going from nearly being fired to training field engineers nationwide came from learning. One book changed everything. Wisdom multiplies opportunity.

You Don’t Rise to Ambition You Fall to Training

There’s a quote I’ll never forget: “You don’t rise to the level of your ambitions. You fall to the level of your training.” When life gets tough, plans fall apart, or projects crash, you fall back on your habits and skills not your hopes. Strength comes from the foundation under your feet, not the goals in your head. I learned that the hard way as a struggling field engineer until I committed to real study and implementation. Training lifted me out of failure and into leadership.

Choose the Right Books and Implement What You Learn

Not all books are created equal. Excellent companies like Hensel Phelps and DPR curate book lists for a reason they only promote resources that work. When you read solid books on leadership, teaming, habits, lean construction, and personal development, they point you toward more great books, powerful methods, and tested systems. But reading without implementation is useless. Learn, teach, learn that cycle locks the knowledge in.

Whatever Path You Choose, Keep Learning

Whether you take university courses, trade school classes, online certifications, read books, or learn on the job, the key is simple: enjoy learning. A person who loves learning will outperform someone with a degree but no desire for growth. Skills matter. Attitude matters. Ethics matter. Humility matters. And continuous learning elevates all four.

Key Takeaway

If learning is fun, you’ll keep doing it and if you keep doing it, you will outgrow, out-earn, and out-perform almost everyone around you. Training is the fastest way to increase your value, reduce struggle, and build a better life.