It seems as though most people view learning as a period of life from say birth to college and then they are done. Statistically, less then 25% of people ever read a complete book after they graduate from school. I can't believe those figures especially when you research the truly successful people out there, and you realize 95% of them are constantly reading new books, attending workshops or seminars and researching ways to increase their business, better their relationships and increase the impact they have on the world around. Books on dealing with people help in sales, management, leadership or mentoring and running billion dollar companies. Even everyday, run of the mill employees working a mundane job can benefit from books like that.
If we think we know it all or don't need to further our education constantly, I hate to say it, but we are wrong. We know that wisdom comes from life experience, but we can't possibly experience everything in life that there is in order to gain that wisdom? Doesn't it make more sense to gain wisdom through other peoples experiences. Now I don't mean living vicariously through others and never leaving home. When taking on a new business venture, we could just wing it and figure that if it fails, it's okay because we will have gained the wisdom from doing it wrong? A great deal of time could be wasted learning the same lessons that those before could have warned us about. We don't have to get burned by a fire or a hot stove to know it is painful.
As I said before, there is so much opportunity to learn just about anything we desire in so many ways. There are books to read and books on CD for people that have trouble finding time to read, but travel in their car a lot. The average car owner spends between 500 and 1000 hours in their car each year, which is the equivalent of a couple full time semesters in a university. Think about it, can we afford not to be listening to educational programs? The internet is an endless resource for FREE learning. There are endless informational sites, podcasts, webinars, teaching videos, you name it. Even television has some good things. I find myself learning from the history channel, Discovery, DIY (Do it yourself network)
Learning is not something that happens during a time period in your life, it should be your life. The more we learn, the more we grow as people. As we grow we truly experience life. We have better relationships with the people we love and those we may not yet know so well. Our eyes are opened to some of the real needs in our world and we become more compassionate. We quit making excuses for why we can't do more for others, and start strategizing ways to leverage our own efforts and resources and enjoy the experience of changing peoples lives.
If learning more will help you develop additional income by leveraging your time and energy, then you will have the additional time and energy you desire to pursue what really drives you, whatever it is.
That's what living is really about.
I'm in the same situation. I find myself never getting enough information. I read a book a week, search the internet, etc. I wish I had the desire to learn when I was back in high school and college. I've learned more in the last year about life and business than I did in four years of school.
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