By  Nana Dooreck. Founder at Rubicore – @RubicoreCo

My dad is 78 years old. He’s usually the first person to tell me about the new features of an iOS update or a recently launched platform. How does he know all this? Well, he always says, “not a day goes by without learning something new.” From photography to astronomy, he seems to have an infinite amount of knowledge on random topics. Here’s what we can all benefit from this approach and never stop learning (at any age).

Become More Creative

Do you ever notice that you become much more excited when you’re visiting a place for the first time? Your heart beats faster, your mind begins to wander and you’re more likely to take in the different sights and sounds of the environment. The same holds true when we learn new information. By entering uncharted territory, our brains are forced to react differently. This often leads to more creative thinking and will help you finally finish that project you’ve been stuck on all week.

[Related: Concentration Drives Intelligence]

Increase Your Value

My friends and family are always amazed by how much information my father knows about the tech industry. He worked in a completely different field for over 40 years, as a dentist, but has always been an early adopter for the latest products. For this reason, he’s been the go-to person for an honest review of Apple TV or 4K video camera. By trying out new things, he can relate to anyone and has become a valuable source.

Increasing your value is not only great when it comes to friends and family but it can even help you advance in your career. For example, if you’re a website designer at a company and want to apply for a new front-end development role that just opened up, retooling can definitely provide the leverage you need. Most companies will offer educational credits so make sure you take advantage of programs like Skillshare and One Month.

Adapt to Changes

Websites and apps are constantly pushing out new updates, on a yearly and sometimes even monthly basis. Some of these changes may seem confusing at first but others can help you become more efficient with your work.

Given the speed of innovation in technology, keeping up to date can be very important. Learning more about new discoveries like smart contracts may not seem relevant to you today, but when it starts getting more popular, you’ll know exactly what to expect.

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Nana Dooreck, founder of Rubicore, has worked to improve people management through recruitment, learning and development and performance feedback. She now helps companies build amazing user experiences for their websites and apps. Follow her on Twitter.

Original article posted on www.ellevatenetwork.com