Learn Something!

Wikipedia defines the term "learning" as "the act of acquiring new, or modifying and reinforcing, existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information...It does not happen all at once, but builds upon and is shaped by what we already know. To that end, learning may be viewed as a process, rather than a collection of factual and procedural knowledge. Learning produces changes in the organism and the changes produced are relatively permanent."

In other words, learning is not just an instantaneous action but rather a continuous process of better one self mentally through literature, movies, conversations with others, experiences, and failures. The inventor and innovator Leonardo da Vinci once said "Learning is the only thing the mind never exhausts, never fears, and never regrets." When we finish society's conventional institutions of learning (elementary/high school and university) it does not mean we can stop learning. These are actually the gateways to putting that learning to practice in our work life and personal life. In parallel, Albert Einstein claimed that "Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think." In essence, what school really does is put our brain in a state to think for ourselves and create our own opinions and viewpoints to use in post-school life.

Being at a job and/or career you are interested in is a perfect opportunity for learning. You are put in an environment where you are essentially forced to learn. Your boss has a project for you to do. If it is easy, then great, you will be able to do a good job on it, not spend too much time on it, get a pat on the back at the end, and then move on to the next project. On the other hand if your project is difficult or you've got little experience on that subject, then you've got quite a bit of learning to do to get it done. Thus, you are essentially getting paid to learn about that specific topic of your project. If it is an interesting project that you're passionate about, then your boss is pretty much giving you money to think about something you like! Obviously, it will not be easy since you've got to get out of your knowledge comfort zone. But lets all be honest, money is a great motivator to get something done, and in this case learning.

 

When you do not have a job nor are you a student (such as a long term traveler), trying to get that daily dose of learning in your system is much more difficult. You do not have a boss assigning you projects, nor do you have to study for a midterm or final exam, thus you do not really have an "excuse" to learn. You essentially need to self teach yourself that knowledge for the day and the motivation has to 100% come from your desire to learn. You don't have any excuse to use to learn such as "My boss needs me to learn this stuff" or "My professor is expecting me to finish this assignment". All the learning that day has to come from your want to, and thus you are much more accountable for yourself to learn that day since nobody can help you out or put pressure on you to do it. You do not have a boss that is paying you to learn, nor do you have to study for an exam to get you that one step closer to getting that diploma or degree. It's all about learning for the sake of learning!

Another benefit about learning is that no one can take that information away from you after it has been incrusted into your head. Yes, you may forget things you have learned but it often just takes a quick refresher and then it's back in your head. The great western novelist Louis L'Amour once said "The best of all things is to learn. Money can be lost or stolen, health and strength may fail, but what you have committed to your mind is yours forever."

With all this, grab a book, watch an interesting youtube video, or talk to an old person.......and learn something!