A Super Awesome Way of Improving Yourself: Lifelong Learning

When looking at the world around you, do any of you ever think how fortunate you are to be born as a human being? Be it your ability to speak and communicate (Imagine being married without this), your ability to understand humour (Lord, life would be so dull otherwise!), your ability to adapt to anything (I mean, we have inhabited some extremely harsh regions, from frozen lands to deserts) and of course your ability to learn and comprehend (What would the world look like if human babies couldn’t be trained to become civil!).

Most creatures in the animal kingdom don’t possess these abilities. Have you ever wondered how unique our ability to learn and process information is? To quote Devdutt Pattnaik from My Gita, “Scientists now speak of how the human part of the brain is a recent development and sits on top of the older animal brain. The animal brain is rooted in fear, and focuses on survival, while the human brain is rooted in imagination, and so seeks to understand itself by understanding nature.”

Our quest for understanding the world around has made us take so many leaps! We are at a point in time where we understand so much more about our universe and life as we know it. Our urge to get an insight into where we came from, how we got here and what influenced our journey to this point has led to immense technological advancement. And all of this can be traced back to the human tendency to want to understand, to know how things function and how we can contribute to make life more efficient.

This inherent urge for understanding is embedded into our genetic make-up and makes us curious as children when we are trying to explore various feelings, sensations and experiences. It is also what drives us adults to learn and continue to grow in our own unique ways. Today I am going to talk about this very important ingredient of our kickass Life Résumé: Education or Lifelong Learning as I like to call it.

What is Lifelong Learning?

Whenever I say education or learning I am sure most of you think of ‘formal’ ways of education like school, college and university. But learning goes beyond just what you learn at school. If I were to sit in front of you and ask, ’When was the last time you learnt something new?’, would you be able to answer me right away? Most of the time, we think of ‘learning something new’ as a task. Something that has to be done when you are sitting in a class, or doing a course. What we don’t realise is that every day, you are learning tons of things. Just the other day, I was watching The Big Bang Theory and I learnt that Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb (Mike drop!). I know, I was pretty shocked too. But, I digress.

Lifelong Learning is your ability to constantly learn new things in order to support you in your career, your personal life and any damn thing that you decide to do in between (Though I seriously doubt knowing Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb is going to help me much, I mean beyond crossword puzzles). Especially in these times of the internet, we all have very easy and quick access to a lot of information and resources that provide us some excellent means to improve ourselves on a daily basis.

Be it learning a few new facts, learning a language or a new skill or even reading about a new topic contributes to your Lifelong Learning. Which brings us to the next part of this discussion.

Why is Lifelong Learning Important?

When you speak about personal or professional development, working on improving yourself is one of the most important aspects. And it takes a lot of motivation and self-discipline to implement. So why should you focus on learning throughout your life?

1. Lifelong Learning makes you smart

According to this article on the impact of learning on brain, Dr. Daniel Amen states that “Each time you learn something new and practice it, your brain will either change the structure of its neurons (cells) or increase the number of synapses between your neurons, allowing them to send and receive information faster”. Which means, that even as you age, you can still work on keeping you mind fresh and sharp if you keep giving it a good dose of regular learning.

2. Lifelong Learning will improve your social life

Have you even been in a social situation where you are in a big group of people and you notice that it is usually only a handful few who drive the conversations? Why do you think that is? Because these are the handful few who are actually taking the efforts to update themselves. When you are constantly working on improving yourself by learning something new, you will never run out of topics to discuss. You will always have fascinating insights into a wide array of topics.

3. Lifelong Learning adds to your skillset

In this dynamic world of ever-evolving technology, no matter how smart you are today, there will come a time soon when you will have to update your skillset. This is true if you are computer programmer or a writer or a musician or a teacher. Working on learning new skills day in and day out will not only help keep you up to date on the latest trends in your profession, it will also give you an insight into how the world works. Additionally, it will help you add new and varied aspects to your Life Résumé.

4. Lifelong Learning boosts your self-confidence

Working on yourself and learning about new things everyday will make you a more confident and self-aware person. It will help to keep you on your toes and give you the confidence that you can get what you set your heart to.

5. Lifelong Learning can help you find your passion

Similar to when we talked about hobbies, Lifelong Learning can also help you find your passion. If Julia Child had never attended Cordon Bleu and studied the culinary arts when she did, she probably would have ended up working as a copywriter all her life. So, go ahead, enrol yourself in the dancing class or arts class or yoga class or business school. Because unless you take the time to explore whether something works for you, you will never find your passion.

 6. Lifelong Learning can help you become more socially conscious

Learning skills such as a new language can introduce you to the various aspects of that particular culture. When you read and learn about the different parts of the world, it makes you a more socially conscious human being and helps you become a more engaged citizen of this global economy. It helps you empathise and exposes you to a social diversity that you would otherwise not have any access to.

Which brings us to the next part of this discussion.

How to embark on a journey of Lifelong Learning?

There are a ton of resources available today through which you can start taking steps in this journey of Lifelong Learning.

Books:

I will never cease to talk about books! Books are a very important source of education. These could be any topical books that talk about specific technology or skill or these could be books that teach you about human behaviours and journey. Whatever it is that you like to read (even fiction counts!), it is always teaching you something.

Movies and Documentaries:

Movies and documentaries are an excellent source of insight into human behaviour. They can teach you about your history, about geography, your evolution, the struggles of a human life and even spirituality.

Podcasts

I have talked about how important podcasts are for your continuous learning here. The wide array of topics that podcasts cover give you the flexibility to listen and learn about any of the myriad topics that are available online.

E-Learning

There are so many resources available today through which you can avail this learning facility. Be it simple DIY videos on YouTube to extensive courses on Udemy or Coursera, there is no dearth of online learning resources which cover topics from all walks of life.

Formal Courses

This of course is a no-brainer. Enrolling in formal education courses is one of the best ways to deep-dive into specific topics.

Coaching and Mentoring

This is one of the most prominent learning tools used in organisations throughout the world today. The learning is through one on one meetings based on one person’s expertise. This method can also be used to cover a wide array of topics from leadership, behavioural skills to technical skills and can be very effective if used in conjunction with a feedback mechanism.

So, we see that there are so many avenues available to you for bettering yourself and taking those tiny baby steps towards building your own kickass Life Résumé. Lifelong Learning is one practice that will change your perspective towards life. Because our ability to understand and the urge to want to understand is what differentiates us from the rest of the animal kingdom.

In the comments let me know if there is some unique aspect of Lifelong Learning that you have realised. Until then, keep learning, keep growing!

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Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash Photo by Nicolai Fedderholdt on Unsplash Photo by darrel collins on Unsplash