Personal and professional life is all about learning. From a very young age, we start learning things from our parents and relatives, then our teachers and classmates, and eventually we learn from peers, mentors, and coworkers. But somewhere along the way, some of us stop. We no longer view ourselves as students of life and we get complacent with our expanded, but still relatively limited knowledge. I believe that learning is a lifetime process that everyone should aim to practice in some way.
Academics
What if one day in the third grade, you suddenly shrugged and told yourself “I think I’ve learned all I really need to know about mathematics. I can count, add, and subtract numbers.” You would know more about mathematics than some people, most of them younger than you. But you’d never really take the chance to learn about multiplication, division, algebra, geometry, calculus, and all of those other fun subjects that you dreaded in high school. You’d be so limited in your capabilities, and you’d be so ignorant to very useful and valuable information.
Hobbies
This concept isn’t only applicable to academic subjects. It could be applied to anything. What are some things that you enjoy doing? Cooking, fishing, playing tennis, hiking, and singing are just a few generic hobbies people enjoy. I’m not suggesting that you should make tennis the focus of your life and try to become the next Roger Federer, but it would only be to your benefit to learn as much as you could about the subject of tennis. Reading books about tennis, watching tennis matches, and playing tennis with experienced players would make you a better tennis player and feed your body and mind with new information.
Skills
In addition to hobbies, spending your life learning about high-value skills will bring you financial and professional success. If you enjoy tinkering with small engines, learning as much as possible about them could enable you to start your own business as a small engine repair shop owner. If you learn about sales, you could become a successful salesperson. If you begin studying different financial markets, you could start investing your savings and building long-term wealth. This is the primary reason people enter different programs of professional study, but it doesn’t even have to be that formal. You could easily go online and find free study materials and earn certifications across numerous industries.
Philosophy
Let’s go a step further and apply this learning principle to different philosophies. On top of learning about leisurely activities and lucrative skills, you could spend time developing a positive mindset and outlook on life. I’ve read books that have brought me to a deeper level of consciousness and understanding. I’ve watched videos and listened to teachers that taught me the steps to laying the foundation for a happy and peaceful existence. I’m nowhere near where I’d like to be in my thinking, but at least I feel like I’m on the right track.
Never Stop Learning
Learn something new every day. It doesn’t have to be about geometry or literature. It could be as simple as a new pasta recipe or a piece of wisdom. Life is chock-full of lessons, but it’s our responsibility to be conscious of them. It’s been said a million different ways a million different times, but a failure really isn’t a failure if you learn from it. The only true failure is giving-up when you could’ve kept going. If you stop expanding your knowledge, you start risking complacency. There’s a huge opportunity cost associated with complacency. Who would want to look back on life knowing that there was more that could’ve been done but simply wasn’t due to complacency?
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