Too many feel once they are working, they don’t need to learn anything new. Or once they been working five years, ten years, fifteen years…whatever…they can sit back and coast to a paycheck.

Examples?

Truly understanding your equipment. Knowing how to adjust settings like picture profiles or understanding all those little numbers on that lens you have your hand on all day long. Understanding a wave form monitor. Even knowing something simple like how to solder. I can hear it now…"why would I ever need to know that?" Because sometime, somewhere, those skills will keep you employed. Either as a staff employee or running your own business.

Learning the newest and latest edit system…even if it’s not as good as the one you’ve been using, or think you should be using. If you’re staff, it may be the system some corporate suit has decided everyone will use even though they themselves don’t have a clue about what is really needed or "best". You’re stuck with it so you need to learn it.

Knowing computer file types and how to convert them so they can actually be used in your finished product, still look good and STILL make deadline!

Lighting. Not just lighting with a gazillion lights but lighting with just one or two lights to make your product look better than the other guy who is also just using one or two lights. Understand where to put the lights…or not put lights…to quickly and efficiently get your job done and still make your video look better than the citizen journalist waving their iPhone around.

Best for me is seeing so many of the newer kids on the block. They’ve been out of school for a couple of three years and, at first, felt they knew it all. Knew so much more than the old farts who didn’t start out when computers were used to edit or Live U’s were strapped to every kids young back in place of a live truck. They were confident they were the new breed and sit back feeling like they’ve made it.

All of a sudden they are finding out they aren’t the newest and brightest. They are, too quickly for them, becoming part of that old fart crowd. Now they too have to keep up. And that’s a shock for some who assumed they knew it all…but now there’s more to "know". Something many of us who have been around for twenty or thirty years…or more…have been doing all along!

You need to be proactive about learning and keeping up. Too many expect to have their hands held. To be trained by their employers so they can remain employed. If the employer doesn’t offer that training, then they for some reason they think it’s the employers fault for not training them so they don’t need to learn on their own. Wrong.

Not much of a secret, yet again missed by many, you have some of the best teachers in the world right under your nose. They’re back in the engineering department. Full of knowledge and, if you take the time, they’re willing to share it with others. Instead of sitting in the newsroom surfing the net or updating your facebook page, head back to the closest engineer and see what they are doing. The little things you can learn from them would surprise you and make you better at your craft. Even help you take better care of your own equipment which, when others have gear that fails, you know either how to protect it correctly or understand why it’s not working and possibly even be able to work around the issue and keep shooting when it’s really important to continue shooting.

All these little things add up and, someday, can very well make the difference between you keeping your job or losing it.

Many of you already know this basic truth. You never stop learning. You never stop adapting. If you do, then it’s best for you to start thinking of what your next career will be because those who don’t embrace learning, lose. Always. 😉