Lifelong learning will make you better every day. It can groom you for success, love, wisdom, and happiness. It can make you smarter. It will keep your brain healthy as you age, preventing cognitive decline. And, best of all, it can make your dreams come true.
Here are actions you may want to adopt to become a lifelong learner.
Read every day.
Just a half hour reading a day can bring you into the green zone. As a bonus, a home with big book libraries bodes well for your children’s education. The bigger the library, the better the grades, according to studies. If becoming a book hoarder is a concern for you, I’ve got a remedy. Just place your book hoards on bookshelves, and it suddenly normalizes.
Take courses.
Courses that lead to a degree, diploma, or certificate are staples for lifelong learning. But once you achieve your goal, what next? You seek out more courses that will advance your career or interests. Line your walls and pad your resume with certificates and credentials. They’ll take you places you never imagined.
Subscribe to Industry Magazines.
Lifelong learners take their interests or pursuits to heart by investing in industry magazines. If you want to become a CMO, buy marketing trade magazines. If you love racing BMX bicycles, buy BMX magazines. And if you want to be a Petroleum Engineer, buy the trade magazine. Trade magazines will give you insights you may never get elsewhere.
Listen to podcasts.
Lifelong learners listen to podcasts during downtime, whether it be driving, eating, or cleaning. Not just any podcast, though, but podcasts that lead to self-enrichment.
Access memberships to organizations.
Joining an organization is a big bonus for a lifelong learner. As an example, communications specialists require all kinds of organization affiliations just to get employed by the municipal government. It’s almost a criterion. So, as soon as you can, get involved with organizations that advance your personal or professional agenda.
Pursue dreams.
Dreams are often the motivation behind lifelong learning. Lifelong learning can help you cure a disease, carve out a vocation, find true love, win esteem, achieve success, or hone a craft. The path to any dream can be carefully carved through lifelong learning.
Create projects that stretch you.
Are you the kind of person who’s always cooking up a project? Reminds me of a dancer I know who is gaining fame, mastering cooking, acquiring top marketing roles, and developing expertise in every one of her chosen new endeavors. Lifelong learners pick a project—a challenge—and attempt to master it to the best of their ability.
Become a producer of knowledge.
This last point is critical. Lifelong learners can end up as vast knowledge consumers rather than producers. They read, take courses, and study, but fail to put the knowledge into practice. This is where projects and dreams come into play. Project and dreams turn knowledge into output. Best of all, sharing one’s knowledge is the highest forms of giving, next to the sharing of love.
Lifelong learning ignites miracles; lifelong learning launches your dreams.