One of the comments I hear over and over when giving presentations is that people know they should invest more time in learning about new technology tools, and simply have not done it. They shake their head in resignation as if I will somehow make them feel better – or even justified – in the fact that they have been too busy, or too confused, or whatever the excuse of the day is, to make themselves learn. I simply do not give them any sympathy. In most cases, these are not housewives, or retired people making the comments to me, they are business people in the prime of their careers with man-years left in the game. For this reason, no excuse is good enough…

Having skills with the use of personal technology tools makes too much difference at this point. There is no option for simply opting out of learning to use them. Aids like mobile devices, social networking, information management, communication software, and collaboration systems are today what staplers, “while you were out” tablets, and rolodexes were twenty years ago. Yet many reasonably smart career people are choosing to be too lazy, or just plain resistant to force themselves to make the time and energy investment necessary. Intellectually, I understand the issue. Even I get burned out on trying new software applications and setting up new hardware devices. Just to prove that I understand the people that do not want to subject themselves to the pain of learning, here is what I see…

People that have no picture in their minds as to what life could be like with heavy integration of tech. I am pretty sure that if people were able to see what their life would be like after a technology makeover, they would be excited to get to that state. Much like a physical makeover, if you show someone how they would look in a perfect state, they become willing to work hard to get there. The picture becomes clear to them – and attractive. The dynamic would be the same with a technology makeover. The bottom line is, many people are ignorant of the return they would receive for the efforts of learning.

For others, there is a fear of failure, or a fear of looking stupid. I have known really high IQ people that quake at the thought of having to setup an iPhone. In order to avoid the possible self-realization that they are clueless about tech, they just stick with old school methods for doing everything, and rationalize it to people around them as their love of being retro. My observation is that retro works as a design concept, but sucks as a philosophy for personal productivity tools.

Still others just have a mistaken set of priorities. These folks normally signal themselves clearly when their first excuse to me is that they do not have time to invest in learning new tech tools. That makes about as much sense as saying you do not have time to take an antibiotic when you have a bad infection. Technology is not the cure for everything. It is clearly a valuable solution for helping people be more productive and to have a higher quality of life.

There is one last excuse that I get from time to time and that is from the person who is just on overwhelm and simply cannot find the mindshare or energy to invest in learning something new. We live in a fast paced world and situations can arise where someone has way too much on their plate to regard learning new tech tools as a priority. For most people in this situation, I can give them a pass. As long as it is temporary, and the overwhelm is not a self-inflicted state of life.

So now you know I understand your excuses if you are one that is avoiding the difficulty of making yourself learn. Don’t mistake my understanding for acceptance however. If you have been holding off learning that new application, or buying that new device, now is the time. Make the investment in your future…

Scott Klososky
Scott@klososky.com