Life-Long Learning

Frank Tyger said, “Learning is either a continuous thing or it is nothing.” When we feel that we have gained all there is to know about educational endeavors or about simply living life itself, then we truly do have nothing.

Learning is the essence of life that makes life and the pursuit of happiness a “pill” well swallowed. When we take hold of its power, we unleash a force that will penetrate the most formidable barriers and open the pathway to new discovery and opportunities in life. However, it does not come easily. It demands determination, focus, perseverance and perhaps overcoming doubt and fear as well. It simply boils down to personal commitment. 

Learning is more than what we normally gain by the books we read or the studies we explore. It is more than watching a simple documentary or listening to a skilled lecture. Learning is what we actually do with all the many avenues of development and insight that we have been exposed to along our life’s pathway.

As my uncle always said, it is important to “practice what you preach or stop preaching.” Sage words always seem to bring the point forward. In essence, if we fail to grasp and input the knowledge within our mind that we gain from new information or information revisited, then we have fallen short of this very critical assignment.

Learning without action is like placing a milk bucket under a bull. The intent is perhaps good, but the outcome will not be what is expected. 

• With all the distractions that exist in our current environment, how do you stay focused on a process of continuous learning?
• Are there secrets that must be revealed and followed?
• Is it truly that important to strive for greater knowledge even if your current situation is one involving rest and relaxation after many years of constant toil?

While there is no “magic bullet”, there are certainly concrete steps that can be taken to ensure you never have “empty pockets” when faced with learning options.

First, you must have a viable reason to get up in the morning. Now that may sound detached from our discussion of life-long learning but to the contrary, when we have a guiding reason to get out of bed each day, our mind will then propel us toward seeking that end with greater enthusiasm and focus.

We have a goal to accomplish.

We have a reason to open our mind to possibilities.

When your mind is open to potential, then you are more likely to dive into action and pick up insights that broaden your mental sphere. 

As an example, let’s pretend that you have a goal on a particular morning of playing a round of golf. It propels you out of bed with excitement. You have been watching various tournaments and say to yourself that the pros make it look easy. They, however, are not doing anything more in appearance than I am doing, yet they are scoring much better than I. You read an article in Golf Digest and view the accompanying photos covering stance or grip and discover that you have had a foot aligned improperly or a grip that is causing issues. You dig deeper reading more and looking more attentively.

You arrive at the golf course ahead of your friends and go to the practice area to test out what you have read and observed. Though practice will perfect it, you see and even feel the difference as a result of what you learned. It works so well that using it during your round of golf, it improves your score a few strokes. Your friends ask if you are secretly taking lessons, but you comment only that you have read and observed, and the rest speaks for itself.

Having a goal to guide the reason to get out of bed will make a huge difference for you. It causes you to stretch your comfort zone, in many cases, to a point that you build up at times unconscious expectations of attainment. Using our example, the goal of playing golf gave you pleasure, and that pleasure led you to expand your current level of expectation and uncover something that could make that round of golf even more enjoyable. In turn, that excitement you found can also be the launching pad for other discoveries to make your life even better. Thus, having a reason, a goal, for each day sets the learning process in motion.

Second, your mind is like a motor. It must be active to remain useful. It is a known fact that if a motor is not regularly operated, it can become clogged and rusted and not perform when called upon. To remain viable, the motor must be activated and allowed to operate regularly to keep the fluids flowing as well as to ensure that all parts are operating as needed. Your mind is much the same. It needs regular activation to keep it sharp and to allow it to utilize the multitude of cells that help us perform even the most minor of tasks.  

The stimulation we gain from reading an article or exploring our favorite adventure novel, engaging in an online course of interest, or attending a seminar is invaluable to our mental well-being. Those activities keep our mind turning the “wheels of knowledge” so that we gain greater insight into areas which were unknown or that were reclaimed with newer skill. New learnings are the “oil” our “mental motor” needs to function to an acceptable level of performance. It makes the term “use it or lose it” have even greater bearing.

Third, age is not a factor in learning new things. It has been said that, “Age is not a time of life, it is a state of mind.” The story is told about Helen Keller that on her 80th birthday she declared, “One should never count the years—one should instead count one’s interests. I have kept young trying never to lose my childhood sense of wonderment. I’m glad I still have a vivid curiosity about the world I live in.” Perhaps that sums up the essence of this step. As long as an individual remains curious about the world around them and about gaining new information about items that surface, there is youth despite what the calendar may declare.

There was a study that noted information about the lives of 400 famous people. It stated that 35% of the group’s achievements came when they were between 60 and 70 years of age, 23% came when they were between 70 and 80, and 8% came when they were over the age of 80. This clearly illustrates that learning doesn’t stop when college or other advanced education ends. It also shows that it is the desire of the individual, not the age of the individual, that can determine the impact of educational or specialty application toward learning.

When you give up that curiosity for learning, for pushing yourself to expand your expertise to a new level or direction, then you have retracted your ability to remain “young” in your mind’s view. Age should never be allowed to interfere with an opportunity to gain or reconfirm educational learning options. Remain a learner at all cost. Exercise your mind even when your limbs may be challenged. In doing so, you will set into place a powerful mental action that can open new doors of adventure, create new pathways to development, and keep you young and excited about what the future may bring. It is a personal decision and one that must be made with full commitment. You must be “all in” to make it work in your favor. You owe it to yourself to never allow age to shadow your zest for learning. It is never too late for a new beginning.

Fourth, “I just don’t have time,” is not an excuse. The reality is that we have plenty of time to do what we truly want to do. Whether it is watching sporting events, shopping, vacationing, attending kids events or simply being a “couch potato,” we always find time to do those things that appeal to us personally. As Robert Hastings once said, “The great dividing line between success and failure can be expressed in five words, ‘I did not have the time.’”

There is a great story told that deals with time and getting things done. There were once four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. An important job had to be done, and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it and that Somebody would do it. But Nobody realized that Everybody thought Somebody would do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

It is not necessarily the time but the “desire” to do it that matters. You have to take the “bull by the horns” and get it done. You have to be that person who pushes past the time excuse and makes things truly happen.

It begins with a simple schedule. What would happen if you took 30 minutes each day between the hours of 7 AM and midnight and devoted that 30 minutes to reading a book or magazine article or even watching a podcast or recorded presentation? That is a span of 17 hours every day where you would only set aside 30 minutes to better your learning potential. Again, it is not that time is not available; it is simply that we don’t have the desire to the level it needs to be or that we simply don’t understand the availability. That 30 minutes each day could provide insight into a new vacation destination, or a new shopping area or new restaurant to explore, and much more. The benefits of learning could virtually transform your common daily routines to new heights. The value we give every minute of every hour in our day will have a great impact on the life we live and how we live it.

Fifth, you can’t fight change. You need to embrace it. In our modern world, things change. They change perhaps more rapidly than ever before. If you do not remain relevant in an effort to address those changes and keep pace with them, you may find yourself outside the scope of even your closet support group. Life-long learning enables you to at least have some level of exposure to life’s changes. Whether or not you agree and strive for a level of functional knowledge or even expertise is your decision. However, you suffer by taking the ostrich approach of “sticking your head in the sand” and hoping that it all goes away. Sorry, it will not. Such an approach will only leave your brain “full of sand.”

Life-long learning will help you alter your destination. There are many things that control your movements in life. Like a ship on the high seas, we all need a “rudder” to direct us. When we embrace the new and improve the constant, we launch ourselves toward new “ports of development” that we never dreamed possible. It is so very important to not simply sit around hoping that the horse and buggy makes a resurgence but to move forward with our options to change, learn, and grow so that we are able to meet the new demands of our current times. Failing to do so will eventually bring about stagnation, lack of relevance, and eventually elimination.

Sixth, it is OK to have some fun. Quite often people feel that learning is a serious undertaking. Of course, it is. You may feel that many professionals in various areas did take their educational process seriously. However, seriousness doesn’t guarantee performance. There are many factors in that equation. But we must understand that learning is fun. It may be a real challenge to absorb the facts and figures that are often attached to gaining new insights, but it is also fun to learn something new. Even learning that it is OK to have fun in learning should put a smile on your face and a nifty step in your gate. When we understand putting fun into a developmental exercise can also help the mind to absorb the new information in a more distinctive manner, we will find greater confirmation of our undertaking.

It was once noted, “Education is the light that shines in the darkness and is a lighthouse during a storm.” When you add a fun-driven approach to learning, you grasp the attention of the participants in a manner that is conducive to gaining greater acceptance and focus. It opens the mind to more effective brainstorming, creativity, and a sense of accomplishment. Thus, by our learning in a fun manner, we can unleash the subconscious mind to absorb valuable new information and springboard our passion for life, success, and over-all happiness to extreme heights. Be serious about your application of learning but be open to the many avenues you travel to gain that educational expertise. It is OK to have some fun along the way.

Finally, your legacy matters more than you may think. In every way during every day, we are building a legacy. The presence we display to others, whether within our family, our immediate professional or social circles or to others outside those arenas, is being observed and ingrained in their mindset. How others see us can, and most often does, influence their behaviors promoting various actions. In personal examination, each individual must make a decision concerning the legacy they wish to have follow them. 

Perhaps consciously or unconsciously, each individual desires to have themselves respected by others and to build fond memories within all they encounter. A commitment to be well-rounded and versed in many subjects can be a valuable heirloom to make available for others to claim. When you are seen investing time and energy in reading a book, taking a class, or passing along varied subject historical insights, that can be inspirational to others. In essence, you are communicating your leadership prominence in doing so. Your influence is invaluable. Noted leadership expert John Maxwell regularly says, “Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.” That is a powerful reality.

A legacy of life-long learning is tied directly to leadership. It too is influence. Influence that is utilized to crack new discoveries, unlock centuries of mystery, or improve on current realities can transform even the most modest learner into a state of euphoria. It does so by building skills, growing financial success, and delivering scholarly enrichment. By building a legacy that recognizes the importance of life-long learning, a curiosity for innovative possibilities is cultivated and personal accountability is set in play. 

Whether appreciated or not, there is an obligation to pass along our personal insistence on the values of investing in life-long learning to those individuals who walk through life with us. Through others’ observation of our educational undertakings and the substantive results we are able to demonstrate, it should be quite evident that modeling our output will deliver strategically sound results. As Peter Strople said, “Legacy is not leaving something for people. It’s leaving something in people.” The power of life-long learning is a legacy well placed. 

Life-long learning enables even the most enriched individual to find greater strength to carry forth with life’s learning demands. Such continued focus on gaining new knowledge and maximizing learning options will promote broader improvement and gainful exceptionalism in all learning experiences.

As Eric Hoffer points out, “In time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The unlearned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”