Learning Daily As A Lifestyle
Each day we live, we have countless opportunities to learn something new. As a matter of fact, learning is one of the evidences of our existence and living. Which means, someone starts to die when they decide to quit learning. So you will be right to infer that learning has become an integral part of the human existence. However, what you learn is almost entirely dependent on you. Learning goes beyond just what you are taught in school, to even what life itself teaches you. Life teaches, situations teach, people teach, and everything can also be a tool of learning.
It is worthy to note that you can learn from anyone, even the people that are in lower age and echelon than you, so do not feel that knowledge is specific to, or a function of age, neither is it determined by one's social status. Another thing to note is that when learning, you should not limit yourself to just a particular field; like your field of specialisation. You may not know where the knowledge you are acquiring today may be very useful, so keep getting the knowledge. You do not have to depend on only what you are taught in school to grab knowledge, you have a responsibility to go far and wide in terms of getting knowledge.
A few days back, I went with a friend of mine to a get-together and after a while of discussing, the discussion entered politics. Every other person was contributing excellently, but I noticed that my friend was totally cut off. She was so quiet as long as that particular discussion lasted. At first, I thought that she did not feel like contributing because of some reasons, then I signalled her to ask why she has suddenly stopped contributing when the topic was changed. She whispered into my ears that she has just very limited knowledge of politics. Well, I had to change the discussion just because of her, because everyone noticed that she was cut off. This is part of the reasons you should keep yourself informed with what is happening - learn daily. Even though you cannot be omniscient and you cannot possess all the knowledge in the world, but make attempt to know more than you do.
It is worthy to note that, as time passes, a particular knowledge can become obsolete, so one needs to keep learning so as to keep being relevant. Obviously, your relevance is directly linked to and related with what you know and the level of information you possess. Take this instance: a few years back, if you have knowledge of the manual typewriter, you will be very relevant in the world of commerce and bookkeeping. However, in this era that we are seeing advanced computers with insane computational dexterity and even Artificial Intelligence, if the only thing you know is just that same manual typewriter, then your relevance has gone into obsoletion.
As you learn, it should be continuous. The world is not only evolving, but it is doing so at an incredible speed. So in order not to become obsolete or having your value and ultimately, your worth drop, you have to update and upgrade your knowledge. The truth is that the world will not wait for you to gain knowledge before it moves, neither will new and emerging trends wait for you - you should take up the lifestyle of daily learning; learning everyday and what is relevant.
Learning is good, but much more than that, you have to focus more on what is relevant to the particular era you live in. Learning about how to operate the ancient steam-powered locomotive train, in this era where we are witnessing high-speed electromagnetic trains will not be relevant at the moment. You have to try to flow with the trend, so that you will not be swept off by the trend. There are many things that people celebrated as "cutting-edge" knowledge before, but are nowhere today. In this world that is basically ruled by information, your access to relevant and timely information is a very great asset. This is the reason you have to see an opportunity to learn as an opportunity to grow in value and in power. No wonder this popular quote says:
Knowledge (or information) is power
The more you learn, the more you grow in knowledge, and the more you realise the need to learn more. In addition to this, the more you learn, the more you are aware of your ignorance and the more you discover how limited your knowledge had been. Nothing keeps one at a spot like ignorance, but nothing wads off ignorance like learning. So keep learning.
Thanks for reading
