Accountability is the fastest way to improve your wine learning

Happy Weekend,

One word to make your wine learning faster: accountability.

I’ve found the 3 best methods to guarantee wine learning accountability are:

1) Money

2) An Exam

3) A Buddy

Let’s examine the benefits of each, and hopefully, we’ll uncover which is best for your wine learning.

1) Money is the Ultimate Motivator

When you pay a lot for something, you have to justify the cost to yourself.

I used money motivation to my advantage early in wine.

When I was starting out, I spent big on wine exams. I went as far as booking a hotel, airfare, and rental car in Florida for my Intro Sommelier exam.

With thousands of dollars on the line, I was determined to pass.

Why? >>>> Because, I imagined what it would be like to fly back to Chicago without passing the exam and facing my friends, family, and coworkers in the wine shop.

The result: I studied my ass off.

So, if you’re not in the wine industry, how can you use money to motivate you?

Throw down some dollars. Purchase a wine course, lavish wine dinner, or a big wine trip. To maximize your value, you’ll want to hit the books and be prepared.

2) Testing Is A Familiar Form of Validation

Wine tests do two things for you.

1. They signal to other people that you’re serious about wine learning.
2. They prove to yourself that you know something about wine.

Simply put: they work.

But more important than the pins and certificates is the work you put in to earn them.

Taking a test is a lot like training for a race, and you can’t cram for your own wine marathon.

It takes patience and persistence to show up and pass on test day.

But, if you’re not in the wine industry, how can you test yourself?

Well, you can use practice tests online. Or you can use some of  the evaluation techniques I talked about a couple weeks ago .

3) Get An Accountability Buddy

My best wine learning came from working in the wine industry.

Being surrounded by wine is a huge lift for anyone.

But, the people were far more important. So many of us were focused on learning new things, and you could always glean knowledge or share something cool you read.

Tasting groups and wine friends are the key to wine learning success.

But, if you’re not in the wine industry, how can you find wine accountability buddies?

This is the hardest for people outside the industry to come by, because most regular folks aren’t that serious enough about wine.

For example >>>> Would you show up to a 10am Monday tasting and drink 6-10 different wines?

I’d guess not, and your boss would probably frown upon that.

But, you can organize your own tasting group and find like-minded people at local wine events.

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Accountability is the Fastest Ways To Speed Up Your Wine Learning

Here are three ways to stay accountable:

• 1) Spend money on a trip, course, or event to motivate you to prep
• 2) Sign up for or create your own wine test to push you to pass
• 3) Find a wine drinking friend and build each other up

Which of these methods do you plan on using?

Study wine hard my little wine nerds.

Your friendly wine tutor,

Brian