The strict definition of an investment is, “the action or process of investing money for profit or material result” according to the Oxford Dictionary. Not all investments are monetary and when it comes to training, we invest aspects of our lives to improve. Training can be an investment of time which we know we borrow each day. Training is also an investment of our energy which adds up over time. Investing in good training also requires honesty as anyone can throw money around, attend a class, and stand in a group photo but the level of training may not fit the level of the student. It pays to be wise with your training. For this week’s blog, I’m helping you ask the right questions to get the most out of your investment be it financial, time, energy, or something else.

Travel

If only training took place all in the same place close to home. The reality is, it doesn’t. There is no such thing as a one-stop shop for all the training you want to do. Training is expensive and after you factor in the cost of airport parking, airfare, rental cars, hotels, and meals away from home, it can get VERY EXPENSIVE. Travel is time away from home and you typically have to build in a day of travel on the front and the back end of the training days. Factor in delays and training becomes a bear. Bring your family along to train with you or participate in tourism where your training takes place to make your training trip a family trip.Required Gear

Always ask what gear is required. You may need to borrow it or purchase it and if you don’t plan on continuing your training, you may end up with gear that just sits around. In some states, certain gear like standard capacity magazines are restricted. This may force you to use low-capacity mags which affect training. Other gear may be difficult to find if supplies are short in the area. Sometimes, the gear you use will be provided by the trainer but many times this isn’t the case. Difficulty

We all want to perform at the top of our game. However, it does us no good if we don’t challenge ourselves in training. If you have too much skill and outperform everyone else, you are a sandbagger. If you have too little skill and simply want to cross off courses taken, you will slow down the rest of the course or be asked to leave. Unless you are taking a fundamental course for fundamentals, you should otherwise match your level with the level of training offered.

Training Time

There are 24 hours in a day and a typical work shift is 8 hours. Some activities can drain your energy in less than an hour making private 1 hour training sessions feasible. Other activities barely scratch the surface in 8 hours. You must ask yourself how many hours are being used in a training day for actual training. What amount of time is used for administration at the beginning of a class and the after-action report at the end? How much time is used to introduce new skills and how much is used to allow for practice? Time is limited, invest it wisely.One and Done

There are some activities and experiences you won’t ever be able to recreate on your own and they only exist in a training space. There are some you can experience over and over but with less return on investment each time. Some training experiences rely on the interaction with a particular instructor. It is great to say you trained with someone or learned a skill set from someone you can carry on. Getting feedback on your ability to demonstrate a particular skill from a person who is known for it is incredibly rewarding. At some point, every instructor throws in the towel. Will you train with them before they’re done?Fun

Training isn’t always fun but when it is, you tend to retain the information presented more clearly. Whenever training is enjoyable, you tend to want to do it again. One of the ways to make training more fun is to train with a friend with who you can bounce ideas off. From medical courses to survival to shooting and all points in between, having a training partner who you can laugh with about the shared experiences guarantees two minds recalling what was presented. Relevant

Not all training is relevant but it can be fun. A couple of years back, I dropped to the prone and shot a Soviet-era machine gun at a sedan. I’ll likely never need to tap into that experience in the future but I had a blast skipping rounds. Some training is not relevant but the experience is unique. Call it LARPing or whatever you want but be honest with what it is. Ideally, the training you partake in should be directly related to your life. A wilderness first-aid course makes sense for an outdoor guide. A concealed carry course is great for a person who can’t carry overtly in an outside-the-waistband holster. A survival course makes sense for anyone looking to be more confident in the outdoors.

Class Size/Structure

There are some courses/classes that should not be more than a dozen people in size. Typically, the easier the course, the larger the class size can be. As the difficulty increases, there should be fewer students who have completed the previous level. The most difficult courses should therefore have low numbers or at least a good number of instructors to create a good student/instructor ratio. When you invest in training, you should consider the structure of the course. Ask if you are stuck inside watching videos, if you are learning from someone who is a true expert or merely a presenter, find out if you are being spoken at instead of talked to, learn what the structure of the course is, and reflect on the type of learning you remember being the most impactful. Be careful trying to fit into a structure that doesn’t fit your learning style.

Reputation

If a class sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t. Ask around and see if you can speak to someone who has invested in it already. Look to see if the instructor has class photos and realize some instructors have assistants helping them who look no different than students in photos. See if any course AARs have been posted online and find out how long your instructor(s) have been teaching. I recall one SCUBA med course I attended that ½ of the students almost walked out on when we realized the instructor just read slides to us instead of teaching us authentic skills. Only later that evening did I search for the instructor and course provider and discover the terrible reputation. Had I known earlier, I would have avoided the course. Life is filled with choices and you should choose training rather than leveling off. That said, make sure you invest in yourself wisely as there is no shortage of training that doesn’t cut it. Then again, you can participate in a lot of training that will allow you to level up. I would suggest checking out the courses here and decide for yourself if it is right for you. Maybe I’ll see you there.