Never stop learning.
By Irene Basson
As we start the New Year, kids all over the country are polishing their school shoes and setting out with new stationery and bright smiles to start a new school year.
University students are planning their studies and looking forward hopefully to career opportunities. It is the learners, those willing to open their minds and augment their skillsets, who will be poised to succeed in the future. This desire to learn and to grow is essential in our country, not only for the children and the students, but also for adults who are already emerged in the world of work. Why don’t you challenge yourself to learn something new this year?
After a long day at work, DSTv sounds more appealing than spending one or two hours diving into a book that challenges you to think deeply about what you do and who you are. That said, complacency does not lead to success. In today’s networked age, companies and jobs rise and fall in a matter of months. That thing you do? There’s now an app for that, for free. Or there will be soon. The concept of getting and holding a job in one industry for decades is outmoded, a byproduct of the industrial mindset. Nowadays it’s not unusual to hear of drastic career changes like a CEO becoming an importer of yachts or a yoga instructor.
By embracing a student-like mindset and learning to turn self-education into a daily habit, you can hone your current skills and develop new ones while enriching your mind. Here are some ways to ignite and sustain a passion for learning:
1. Start with heroes from the past.
Having heroes gives you something to live up to, a higher standard. You can pick someone in your field and always point toward them. “That is what they do every morning to make sure they get their work done.” People like Nelson Mandela, Richard Branson and Steve Jobs have inspired many. Heroes can motivate you to find your own rhythm and exert a bit more effort. So get a book on someone who has reached success and read about their journey.
2. Take advantage of free educational resources.
Technology has transformed us into excellent gatherers of information. From books, podcasts, blogs, online courses, and tools that provide access to whomever you’re trying to connect with, you can study any subject. The access to tools that can bolster our desire to learn is incomparable to any other time in history. The tools and platforms that facilitate self-directed learning are growing by the day. Websites like CreativeLive, Skillshare, Lynda and Khan Academy provide content that is invaluable to our education. It’s easy to overlook the value of the tools and options that we now have compared to 20 years ago. Take advantage of them.
3. Make learning a habit.
Joi Ito said “Education is what people do to you and learning is what you do for yourself.” A desire to learn is a fruitful asset that will fuel you throughout your life. Without this unquenchable desire to grow our understanding of ourselves and the world around us, we stagnate. We become comfortable with what we know and may feel that there isn’t anything else to learn. Of course, that kind of thinking is poisonous: there is always something that we can learn that will improve how we lead our lives and do our work.
So make 2016 the year of learning. Be curious, be engaged and challenge yourself to grow.