A sign at my brick-and-mortar university said, “Learning Is Good for Its Own Sake.” And I wondered, how exactly is learning good for its own sake, if not merely for a credential? Indeed, it’s critical to learn new things daily, whether a new skill, idea, hobby, or talent. Daily learning is as essential as watering plants. No education is ever wasted time. Knowledge empowers us to be our best selves and contribute to the wellbeing of others. With that said, here are some of the many advantages of learning:
Learning helps us synthesize unrelated ideas, which fosters creativity. Finding a common thread, even a common metaphor, that links two distinct ideas is a hallmark of genius. For example, in comedy writing, we can take two different concepts and brainstorm a list of related words for each concept. The idea is to find a word on one list that has similarities to a word on the other list and combine them into a pun. For instance, the word “dough” could unite a wealthy person with a bakery, although this example is cliché. But to be exposed to multiple ideas for creative synthesis in the first place, learning is essential.
Learning keeps us freer from dementia and age-related cognitive decline. That’s because knowledge builds new connections in the brain, which means our brains have more pathways at their disposal. Similarly, learning aids in problem-solving. In a critical thinking course, solving problems includes learning what we don’t know to resolve the issue.
Also, learning gives us a social advantage. I don’t love group work, but I love learning in a group. It’s social and fun, and we can meet new people. As well, learning empowers us to achieve things independently. For example, I am an “amiable” personality type—slower talking and friendly, often dependent on others for decision-making. But since taking a problem-solving course, I can independently model any problem and create a project plan for tackling it.
Learning helps us acquire skills. Next, learning can make us wealthier. Careers require credentials, and AU offers that. Many of the best-paying jobs require at least a bachelor’s degree, and every career demands that we have up-to-date skills to stay competitive.
We’ll be infused with passion when we discover what we love to learn. We enter this world filled with a love for learning. Everything appears new and fascinating. That’s how knowledge is meant to be daily.
Learning increases our speed of learning. The more we learn, the better we learn. That’s one reason why studying full days is more advantageous than cramming. And knowledge brings success. We can achieve all our dreams by committing to hard work and lifelong learning.
So, those are the benefits of learning. But how can we add new knowledge to our daily routine? Here are some ideas:
- Read or take classes.
- Listen to audiobooks and podcasts.
- Acquire coaching.
- Research a topic of interest.
- Teach a topic of interest.
- Apply your learning in the real world.
- Pretend you will be tested on your education and prepare for your exam.
- Build an online course capturing the knowledge you’ve researched.
Most importantly, learning makes us better people. It helps us to rise above our pitfalls by providing us with skills, knowledge, sources of wealth, awareness, and power. Nothing can stop us from achieving our dreams when we pursue knowledge at all costs. And the best achievements are for the selfless betterment of others.